The Price Auto Workers Pay For Their Loyalty

General Motors Corp. retirees represented by the United Auto Workers pay nothing now for their health care coverage, but most would have to pay up to $752 annually in deductibles, co-payments and monthly premiums under a tentative agreement reached this week between GM and the union.

Under the agreement, GM hourly workers would contribute $1 per hour in future pay increases to a new fund to help pay for retirees' health coverage. Single retirees would pay up to $370 in deductibles and fees for their coverage. And most retirees and all active hourly workers would pay higher co-payments for their prescription drugs.

The agreement would exclude around 74,000 low-income retirees whose GM pension is $8,000 a year. Most of those are elderly or are the surviving spouses of GM retirees, the UAW said.

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