During open enrollment in the late fall, you can change your selection and if you failed to select, the default was the company “standard” coverage. In an attempt to consolidate these plans under one roof, NWA wants to switch to a Blue Cross Anthem plan for all employees–a cost measure. Certainly understandable while in Chapter 11.

However in what has to be the most obnoxious blast at us and our families, NWA has now mandated a two week “enrollment” period which ends June 21. All NWA employees are required to sign up for the “new” medical/dental plan. Failure to do so within the two week window means you go the new default–absolutely NO COVERAGE for the remainder of 2006! Considering the number of employees with severe medical issues for themselves or their family members that require ongoing care and coverage this is simply off the scale.

Now you know that Northwest knows that a certain percentage (read: large!) of people just toss company mail into the trash without reading it or folks may be on leaves, vacation or other absences and will miss this two week period. In yet another effort to slam their employees NWA is willing to trash the medical coverage of entire families in order to save money–for executive bonuses, no doubt–leaving honest, hard-working and long-suffering employees in the lurch. Cruel? Cynical? Calculated? You bet!

Remember, this is the same company that attacked their own credit union and attempted to extort money from their employees via their bank accounts all in the name of “revenue enhancement.” I have served NWA for a quarter of a century with pride and even a certain amount of affection. I have become used to the sucker punches we get from time to time (I duck fast) but this is a new low for NWA management. It shows just how vicious this outfit really can be.”