SEIU LOCAL 1 & 2 Benefit Trust
Trustees :
Local 2: John Cunningham (Chair)
Local 1: Sharleen Stewart, Manny Carvalho, Ched Zivic
Our first Local 2 members went into the Trust on September 1,
2006. Now in the Spring of 2010, four years later, we have grown to over 4,000
members plus their dependants covered by the Trust, and with more member
awareness there will be many other workplaces to follow. Members from the
Holiday Inn in Barrie are the newest members to join the Trust.
Trustees continue to explore ways to
contain costs, in order to both maintain and where possible improve the quality
of the benefits that matter most to our members. Bargaining Committee Members
continue to recognize the need for the SEIU Benefit Trust. Employers are being
asked to provide the costing and utilization information required, so that a
solid proposal can be placed on the Negotiating Table that would see benefit
dollars directed to the Trust
The
Trust is a great negotiating tool, the eligibility models can allow us to
provide Benefits for our part time members, as well as those that are laid off
or even into retirement. Through the Trust we are dealing directly with the
Insurance Company, there are no layers such as an HR Person, who deals with a
more Senior HR Person, who then deals with a Broker who then deals with an
insurance company. The Trust represents you, the client and not your employer
and the mandate is to insure that members receive the value within the benefit policy
and that all claims are adjudicated fairly and promptly.
It is
a challenge to deal with the escalating benefit costs, the Trust Model gives us
the autonomy necessary to negotiate directly with the insurance carrier and
pass along the straight goods on the costs that are required to make everything
work.