FAIRFIELD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 2003--General Electric Company today issued the following statement regarding the two-day strike (Tuesday, January 14 and Wednesday, January 15) planned by the International Union of Electronic Workers/Communications Workers of America (IUE/CWA) and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) concerning changes in employee health-care costs:
"Rising health-care costs are a national issue," said Bill Conaty, GE's senior vice president for human resources. "It is difficult for businesses to stay globally competitive while sustaining the double-digit percentage increases that we have seen in recent years and expect for the foreseeable future.
"Recent surveys show that 75% of employers are increasing employee contributions and cost-sharing provisions because of rising costs," Conaty said. "We're asking our workers to share less than 10% of the increases experienced by the company. Our changes are moderate and GE's health care benefits remain among the best offered in the nation.
"Ninety-five percent of our worldwide workforce will be on the job this week serving the needs of our customers," Conaty stated. "We value the contributions of all of our people, and we will be glad when these union-represented employees are back on the job on Thursday."
End Statement
The two unions, which represent 17,500 GE employees, decided to strike over a relatively modest increase in co-payments for employees enrolled in the GE Health Care Preferred plan. GE announced last summer that certain co-payments in Health Care Preferred would increase beginning January 1, 2003. The average increase in out-of-pocket expenses for an employee is expected to be about $200 a year.
GE's average annual health-care costs are expected to be $2,350 higher in 2003 than in 1999. Since 1999, GE's total health-care costs have risen 45%, from $965 million to $1.4 billion in 2002. These costs are anticipated to increase another 15% in 2003, and this trend is expected to continue for the next several years.
Employee enrollment in the Health Care Preferred plan increased last fall after the changes were announced. The changes made January 1 will remain in effect.
GE has planned for this action by the unions and will continue to serve its customers. The two-day strike is not expected to affect GE's first quarter results.
For more information on this issue, visit www.ge.com/healthcareinfo.
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CONTACT:
General Electric Company
Gary Sheffer, 203/373-3476