_http://www.uaw.org/story/promises-broken-detroit-diesel-retirees_ (http://www.uaw.org/story/promises-broken-detroit-diesel-retirees) Elections make a difference. That difference affects everything from legislation on whether workers have the right to choose a union to whether a company has the right to turn its back on workers. In the case of more than 1,000 Detroit Diesel retirees and their surviving spouses, it made a difference between whether the company stood by its guarantee of health care for life or whether retirees would have to spend thousands a month for health care. Detroit Diesel promised that retired workers and surviving spouses would have health care for life when it contracted in 1993 with the UAW to establish the Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA). The arrangement affected workers who retired between 1993 and 2004. Then the company changed its mind. What happened next showed the difference in how the retirees fared when Republican judges heard the case. • In 2005, Judge Denise Page Hood issued a preliminary injunction requiring Detroit Diesel to pay the full cost of the retiree health care. Judge Hood, a U.S. District Court Judge from Detroit, was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton. • Detroit Diesel appealed Hood’s preliminary injunction order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. • In 2007, a panel of three Sixth Circuit judges upheld Hood’s preliminary injunction. One of the judges was a Clinton appointee. • The case was returned to Hood in Detroit. • In 2009, Hood entered a final decision in favor of the retirees and ordered the company to permanently pay the full cost of retiree health care. Detroit Diesel appealed to the Sixth Circuit. • In 2010, a different panel of Sixth Circuit judges heard the case. All three judges were appointed by Republican presidents. Two of the three sided with the company and reversed Hood’s decision. The two Republican judges ruled that the company could limit its contributions toward the cost of its retirees’ health care, which meant huge monthly bills for retirees and their families. Appeals exhausted, the UAW continued to fight for the retirees. The union sued Detroit Diesel and won provisions to limit the impact of the decision on retirees – including a settlement that the company must reimburse retirees who find more affordable health care. "Having the union fight for you every step of the way makes a difference," said Detroit Diesel retiree Jimmie Parker. "But it also makes a difference about the judges who make decisions on your life and your pocketbook. It is all so transparent. There is an obvious bias against people like me who have worked hard all these years and expect the company to hold true to its word." Parker, who retired in 2002, was told his monthly bill would be $1,256.13. He said he and his wife, Doris, were stunned. "That was just impossible for us to pay," he said. "We couldn’t do it. We had to turn it down." At 60, Parker is too young for Medicare. So he and his wife are exploring benefit options, including his military benefits or his wife’s employer-provided medical coverage. Whatever they end up with, Parker said, "It’s a long way from what the company promised us. After all those years, Detroit Diesel just walked away." When David Murawski of UAW Local 163 retired from Detroit Diesel in 1999, he depended on the company’s promise of health care for life. "I was a good employee and believed in the company," said Murawski, who was a machinist. "What the company promised me was something that my wife and I decided we could live with." Murawski worked there for more than 33 years. It was the only real job of his adult life. And when the company guaranteed that his heath care would be taken care of during retirement, he trusted that. Russell Pierce of Howell, Mich., worked over 30 years with the company. His letter came a couple weeks after he underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery. "If the letter had come before the surgery, I think he might have had a heart attack," said his wife, Carol Pierce. Since retirement, Russell Peirce has had a knee replacement, and his wife said he may need another. Then there is his heart condition and her high blood pressure to consider. His pension and Social Security nets the couple $2,600 a month. Detroit Diesel wants them to pay $1,092.22 a month for continuing health care. "How are we supposed to live on that?" Carol Pierce asked. "That’s almost half what he gets every month. It is just ridiculous." Sandra Davis
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