The statement did not specify the length of the new contract.
Blue Cross CEO Dan Loepp said in a statement issued late Tuesday that he and UAW President Shawn Fain "have agreed in principle" on a new deal to end the union’s strike against the insurer.
In the two-paragraph statement, BCBSM said “several phone calls” between Loepp and Fain over the past week resulted in “the construct of a new collective bargaining agreement" and that bargaining teams would meet Wednesday to formalize the tentative deal.
The UAW said the strike would continue until members vote to ratify the contract.
Roughly 1,100 UAW members walked off the job at Blue Cross on Sept. 13, at odds with the Detroit-based insurer over wage increases, increased healthcare benefits and the return of certain jobs that were outsourced as well as BCBSM’s multi-tiered pay structure.
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The union had said outsourcing was a prominent issue in the talks.
“Our main thing we’re having some concerns with is outsourcing," Janice Hilliard, president of UAW Local 2145 in Grand Rapids, told Crain's the day workers walked off the job. "Currently a lot of our work gets outsourced to vendors, including out of the country, such as El Salvador and the Philippines. This is work in our claims area or customer service area, so we wanted to get some type of (contract) language to pretty much stop that, so to speak.”
Under a proposal offered in late October, Blue Cross offered a $5,000 ratification bonus, a new minimum hiring wage of $18 per hour, moving workers to the maximum pay level within their jobs within 10 years, and 7% automatic pay increases when an employee gets promoted. The proposal also included earlier benefits enrollment, slightly higher tuition reimbursement and remote work expansion.
The previous contract contained a $15-per-hour minimum wage, 20 years of service to reach the maximum salary range and a 5% automatic raise for a promotion.
Outsourcing remained untouched in that proposal, according to documents provided by BCBSM.
Details about the outsourcing protections in the tentative deal are not yet known.
This story first appeared in Crain's Detroit Business.
