[West Coast time means a bit of delay sometimes…]

So, various news organs are reporting today that, in fact, the UAW has agreed to changes in health care coverage at General Motors. The New York Times (registration required) is carrying a report that says, “G.M., which is one of the biggest providers of health insurance outside of the federal government, said it would reduce its health care liabilities by about $15 billion, or 25 percent, under the deal with the U.A.W. The company’s annual expense for providing medical care for 750,000 employees, retirees and their family members would decrease by $3 billion before taxes.

To partly offset those reductions in health care, G.M. said it would deposit $3 billion into a voluntary employee health benefit fund in 2006, 2007 and 2011. The company may put more money into the fund if it meets certain financial goals.”

That doesn’t tell us much how each worker is going to get hit. The Wall Street Journal’s piece doesn’t say much either in terms of individual impact: “The tentative health-care pact, subject to finalized language and UAW-GM member ratification, is projected to reduce GM’s retiree health-care liabilities by about $15 billion, or 25% of the company’s hourly health-care liability, the company said. It also said it will cut GM’s annual employee health-care expense by about $3 billion on a pretax basis. Cash savings are estimated to be about $1 billion a year, GM said.”

This is a terrible blow to UAW workers and I think will be a signal to other employers to go after health care in an even more aggressive manner, particularly where unions have achieved superior health care coverage. Though, as one of my UAW insiders pointed out to me, UAW members have enjoyed a level of health care coverage that simply doesn’t exist today. Some would argue that this was just a matter of time–though it’s a sign of the times that we just shrug and assume that people have to give up their health care coverage.

But, as I’ve written last week, a critical question is: does the union get a commitment from GM to lead a serious campaign for national health insurance. All the Journal says is this: “GM said it will continue to work with the union to lower health-care costs further, but called on state and federal politicians to take a ‘more proactive’ role in addressing what the company called a ‘U.S. health-care crisis.'”

Not much comfort there. Which means what did UAW members get? I’ll try to find out more and report.