Blue Cross, UAW reach tentative deal to end strike

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan announced late Tuesday that it has reached a tentative contract agreement with the UAW that would bring an end to a strike involving more than 1,000 Blue Cross workers.

The Blues issued a statement saying several phone calls over the past week between Blue Cross CEO Daniel Loepp and UAW President Shawn Fain resulted in a verbal agreement for a deal.

The deal is to be formalized Wednesday and later ratified. The Blue Cross workers have been on strike since Sept. 13 and would stay on strike until ratification. Their jobs include customer service, billing, claims and maintenance.

“President Fain and I have agreed in principle on the construct of a new collective bargaining agreement that would deliver significant income and job security for our unionized workforce,” Loepp said in the statement.

“On Wednesday, our bargaining teams will meet to formalize our agreement — bringing our employees one step closer to returning to work. I congratulate and thank President Fain for reaching out and working directly with me to get us to the starting line of the ratification process.”

According to the UAW, the tentative deal contains "significant general wage increases" and would shorten the time to progress the wage scale from 22 years to five year.

More: Blue Cross shares how much it would pay workers to end strike

It includes $6,500 ratification bonuses for Blue Cross workers and $5,000 ratification bonuses for Blue Care Network workers. There would be inflation protection bonuses of $1,000 per year of the contract. (The statement didn't specify the contract's duration.)

In addition, negotiators gained stronger contractual language to protect jobs from being outsourced, according to the UAW.

"Wage progression and job security were concerns that we knew we had to fix during this round of bargaining,” UAW Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock said in a statement. “Twenty-two years to reach top pay is unacceptable. Because of our members’ solidarity on the picket lines and our negotiators’ hard work at the bargaining table, we were able to address many of our demands."

The contract would cover about 1,300 UAW members from four local unions: Locals 2500 and 1781 out of Detroit and Locals 2145 (Grand Rapids) and 2256 (Lansing).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Blue Cross, UAW reach tentative deal to end strike