MAY
2001
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2001 |
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Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan Story by Sam Stark One UAW member had a severely ill mother-in-law; the other had a 2-year-old daughter in child care. But Jenny Moree, of Local 2145, and Arnita Newby, of Local 1781, were both helped by work and family benefits negotiated in 2000 by the UAW with their employer, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan, the state’s largest private health care insurer. The UAW-initiated Work and Family program recognizes the stress that job and family responsibilities place on every worker. When her mother-in-law had emergency surgery in Florida, Moree, an account servicing representative in the BC/BS Grand Rapids office, turned to the Referral and Resource program. “Neither my husband nor I could get away right then,” said Moree, who decided to try the Blue Employee Life Line phone number in the Work and Family brochure. The resource and referral representative offered to give Moree the numbers of services to call down in Florida or to place the calls for her. At Moree’s request, the resource and referral person arranged for a visiting nurse to assist Moree’s mother-in-law after she was released from the hospital. “She called us every two hours and kept us posted on my mother-in-law’s status. She took care of everything,” Moree said. Arnita Newby was concerned about a different issue: the high cost of child care. Placing 2-year-old Jasmine in a quality program cost the Southfield-based BC/BS customer service representative $6,720 a year. The Family Care Fund portion of the Work and Family program reimbursed Newby $600 for direct dependent care costs. “It’s not enough, really, but every little bit helps. I’m hoping that the next round of bargaining will raise this amount,” said Newby, who also serves her local as a bargaining representative.
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