Amtrak Agreement covered employee health and welfare contributions (“cost sharing”) will be $189.53 per month, effective July 2012. The monthly employee contributions are set by Agreement at 15%, subject to specific caps, of Amtrak’s cost for providing employee health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, life & AD&D). The calculations indicate an increase of $7.91 over the current monthly employee contribution of $181.62. This represents an increase in the employee monthly contribution of approximately 4.4%, which is well below normal medical inflationary trends.
TCU/IAM President Scardelletti agrees with the JMAC Labor Representatives, Russ Oathout (TCU), Jed Dodd (BMWE) and Bill Bohne (IBEW) that the “JMAC Agreement and structure significantly contributed to the continued success of holding down health care costs on Amtrak, while at the same time ensuring benefit levels negotiated by the parties is maintained.”
It is also important to note that the negotiated “cap” ($210.00) for the settled Amtrak unions was not reached. Furthermore, the Amtrak employee monthly contribution continues to be lower than the amount paid by freight railroad workers covered by the National Agreement. Calculation of Amtrak’s cost of providing health and welfare benefits is based on the prior year’s actual cost and the employee cost-sharing adjustment is made each July. In contrast, under the National Freight Agreements costs are determined prospectively and the adjustment is made each January.