Very few people doubt that the face of America is changing in that more and more companies are changing the way benefits are provided to employees. The automotive industry is probably the biggest example of this change. Along with the automotive companies themselves, the changes effect all the companies that are intertwined with the big auto companies.
But it is not just the automotive companies. The same is happening in the airline industry, other transportation companies, and all phases of manufacturing. These changes include changes to wages, health care, retirement, and other benefits.
NewPage Corporation is a company that makes paper products. The Dayton Daily News recently ran an article wherein it reports on a change being made by NewPage in the way it handles health-care benfits for its premiums as it relates to their retirees.
The Dayton Daily News article is titled “Retirees sue NewPage Corp. over health benefits”. The article reports that retirees of NewPage have filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against NewPage over its plans to phase out subsidies for their health-care premiums. The lawsuit alleges that NewPage’s decision breaches collective bargaining agreements for workers in its Wisconsin paper mills.
What appears to be the reason for the lawsuit is that NewPage is reducing the subsidies that employees over 65 years old and who retired after 1985. In 2010, retirees will receive 66% of the premium subsidy they received this year, then 33% in 2011 and then will disappear in 2012.
The company says these changes are required for the company to stay in business.
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