Advertiser, unions to dump HMSA for Summerlin
Six unions representing employees at The Honolulu Advertiser said they have reached an agreement with the company on health insurance costs that involves switching from the Hawaii Medical Service Association to Summerlin Life & Health Insurance Co.
The tentative deal on health coverage breaks a year-long stalemate between the newspaper and the unions, which have been working under contract extensions while talks continued.
The Advertiser had insisted that any contract enable the company to cut its health insurance costs, either by having workers pay more than the 10 percent of medical premiums or scaling back benefits.
In a statement issued Friday, the Hawaii Newspaper and Printing Trades Council said workers will continue to pay 10 percent of the premium and “receive benefits nearly identical to current ones,” but that HMSA will be dropped for Summerlin.
Coverage by Kaiser Permanente, Hawaii’s largest HMO, will continue to be offered, but the union said workers “who choose to keep Kaiser will pay a substantially higher premium that will be based on the cost difference between Summerlin and Kaiser rates."
The unions say the switch will save the newspaper $164,000 a year.
If workers approve the deal at a meeting Sept. 14, the unions will then move forward on other contractual issues, including pay.
"I'm pleased we've reached this juncture and I agree that we have more work to do," said Lee Webber, the Advertiser's president and publisher.
In another development, the unions said the Advertiser had agreed to share information about its finances, something the newspaper, owned by Gannett Co., Inc payday loans. (NYSE: GCI), has never done before.
The newspaper recently fired 54 workers and last week announced the layoffs of 27 more, all part of an effort to cut costs as its advertising revenue has declined. Company-wide, Gannett’s print advertising revenue plunged 17 percent in July from the previous year.
Once one of Gannett’s most profitable newspapers, the Advertiser “recently said it has been losing money,” the statement by the printing trades council said. An auditor hired by the unions will review the company’s financials.
The deal with the Advertiser and its 600-plus employees marks a big win for Las Vegas-based Summerlin, which came into Hawaii in 2004 and has aggressively gone after customers of HMSA and smaller insurers.
HMSA, a licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, is Hawaii’s largest insurer.