IUE-CWA, GE Unions File Class Action Lawsuit Against GE's Attack on Retiree Health Care

A coalition of labor unions led by IUE-CWA filed a federal class action lawsuit against General Electric Corp. over the company's attack on retiree health care.

GE is violating federal labor law and the Employer Retirement Income Security Act by depriving its post-65 retirees of important retiree medical coverage, coverage that these individuals worked for over decades and that was promised in their union contracts, said IUE-CWA President James Clark.

"We are outraged that a very profitable GE would choose to break promises to its retirees during the most vulnerable time of their lives, after they gave decades of service to this company. I am glad these retirees have unions that are willing to step up and fight for justice," Clark said.

The coalition includes the members of the GE Coordinated Bargaining Committee: the United Electrical Workers, United Auto Workers, Machinists, Steelworkers, Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Teamsters and the Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.

GE has announced that effective Jan. 1, 2016, it will unilaterally terminate its post-65 retiree medical plans and replace them with an opportunity for retirees to purchase post-65 health insurance coverage from a private broker healthcare exchange selected by the company. Thousands of GE retirees, particularly those on life saving drugs, are facing much higher drug costs as a result of this change, and GE is refusing to commit to supplying the yearly credit throughout the lives of the retirees.