Over the past months, actions taken by the Company have had a significant impact on the status of healthcare for our British Airways Retirees. This has led to your Union pursuing a resolution through the filing of a grievance which is currently pending at the System Board level, and which had previously been scheduled to be arbitrated today in New York.
Due to recent discussions between the Union and the Company, an interim agreement has been reached that will facilitate coverage for some of the affected individuals depending on verbiage contained in their respective Company communications. There are approximately 165 Retirees under the age of 65 and based upon the verbiage in their retirement letters the group is split between Category A, those staying with their current Aetna coverage for calendar year 2017 and the subject of continued discussions and absent agreement subject to arbitration or Category B, those that need to complete open enrollment by December 15, 2016, find other insurance alternatives and qualify and/or become eligible for the RRA also subject to continued discussions and absent agreement subject to arbitration.
- The Retirees in Category A received retirement letters that did not contain verbiage stating the Company had the right to terminate coverage.
- The Retirees in Category B received retirement letters that did contain verbiage stating the Company had the right to terminate coverage.
All retirees will be communicated with directly by the Company concerning their respective situations in the coming days.
This development however does not solve the remaining issues and disagreements that still exist. To that end, additional dates have been scheduled to continue the dialogue in hopes of achieving an amicable resolution. Beginning on January 17, both parties will begin talks to address these issues and disagreements.
If these talks produce no agreement, then the Arbitration will proceed with future dates reserved on February 8 & 9, 2017 so as not to delay any further. The Union will still be using the services of Guerrieri, Clayman, Bartos, & Parcelli PC.
As always, if you have any questions about this process, please give me a call at (859) 653-4037 or email me at . With best wishes, I remain
Sincerely and fraternally,
James M. Samuel
GENERAL CHAIR
