It Pays to Be Union

BrooklynDodger notes that hourly workers, covered by a union contract, don't face this unilateral attack, at least until contract time. There's a court case, at least until the judges are all replaced, which says that if you retire under a contract which gives you health insurance, you keep it.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0503/08/A01-110715.htm

Delphi to cut retiree benefits
Auto supplier to slash medical insurance for 4,000 former white collar workers.
By Brett Clanton / The Detroit News

Delphi Corp., the world's largest auto parts supplier, will stop paying medical insurance in 2007 for 4,000 retired salaried workers and thousands more future retirees.
Delphi will drop coverage for retirees once they're eligible for Medicare benefits, which the parts maker will supplement with private health care accounts, the company told employees Monday in an e-mail.
The move is expected to save the cash-strapped supplier $500 million a year, but it means Delphi retirees who expected lifelong coverage can expect to pay more for everything from doctor visits to surgery.
"It's a scary thing," said Terri Siladke, 54, of Fraser, who retired from Delphi in 2003. "I don't know what it's going to mean for me. It certainly wasn't expected."