UAW Kicks Off Negotiations with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network

Around 1,400 UAW members at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are demanding economic justice as contract negotiations kicked off on July 11, 2023, at the VisTaTech Center on the campus of Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan.

Workers are fighting back against stagnant wages, a prolonged wage progression, outsourcing, lack of job security, and insufficient training.

The UAW represents four bargaining units at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan: Local Union 1781 (Region 1), Local Union 2500 (Region 1), Local Union 2145 (Region 1D) and Local Union 2256 (Region 1D).

The UAW represents two bargaining units at Blue Care Network of Michigan, Local Union 1781 (Region 1) and Local Union 2145 (Region 1D).

Workers at BCBSM and BCN are employed in various fields such as Customer Services, Membership and Billing, Claims and Enrollment, Pricing, Analyst, and Maintenance.

UAW Secretary-Treasurer, Margaret Mock, who is the union’s Director of the Technical, Office and Professional (TOP) Department, stated: “As we embark on this historic first-time multi-employer bargaining, our mission is to achieve, significant wages increase, depletion of wage progression, preserve health care, and to bring jobs back to the bargaining unit that have been outsourced and insourced.”

While workers at BCBSM and BCN struggle to make ends meet, BCBSM CEO Daniel Loepp has been paid nearly $45 million in just the last three years alone.