Recently we were made aware by Einstein of their intention to change the status quo healthcare plans offered to Postdoctoral Fellows for fiscal year 2025. In the following you can find a short overview of the changes Einstein plans to implement for the MonteCare PPO plan:
Increase of the deductible from $627 to $675
Increase of the emergency room copay from $100 to $150
Increase of the urgent care copay from $30 to $50
Premium increase of 7%
Einstein is legally obliged to maintain the status quo or negotiate with us over any proposed changes to our benefits while we are in the process of bargaining our first contract. The cost increases for the MonteCare PPO plan represent a deviation from status quo and consequently we demand to bargain over them.
Our goal is to improve benefits offered to Postdoctoral Fellows including securing equitable and timely access to high-quality health care. In contrast, Einstein’s plan to raise healthcare costs would significantly amplify the financial burden on Postdoctoral Fellows without an adequate increase in compensation as bargaining is still ongoing.
Last Thursday, we met with Einstein to bring forward the postdocs’ demand for improving access and affordability of healthcare, including a side letter. This letter addresses healthcare benefits for fiscal year 2025 while we continue bargaining over the wide-ranging betterment of postdoctoral benefits as part of our contract.
We expect Einstein to provide a written counterproposal and to continue bargaining with us over their proposed changes this week. If you want to attend this session as an observer, please RSVP here. We will reach out with a date and time as soon as Einstein confirms an additional bargaining session.
In addition to this potential bargaining session focusing on the 2025 healthcare plans, Einstein’s team has extended the times for our upcoming bargaining sessions in December. You can RSVP here to attend.
December 5 (Thursday), 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm
December 19 (Thursday), 1 pm to 5 pm
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or thoughts,
In Solidarity,
Juliane Grimm, Cell Biology
ERU-UAW Bargaining Committee