My union usually rattifies contracts in 4 year increments. In '10 our contract was for up to 9/13 because of obammacare. It was not on the behalf of the union, it was the company hedging their bets to see if they could fuck us into worse healthcare. Our local is so weak that we basically have to accept these deals because we can't afford to strike. In the 6 years I've worked there my coverage has gotten worse despite having the 'cadillac' plan, and my co-pay has gone up 70%. Also, when I hired in we had 3 choices of provider: Aetna, summa and hometown. Now we have 3 choices of Aetna. Hmo, ppo low and ppo high. Don't even get me started on our shitty dental coverage. When obamacare comes into full swing we will be up against a wall, faced with less coverage, higher premiums and a govt fine if we opt out. Fucking bastards.