Requirement to participate in union health plan

[Guest JD698]

The trustees of a multiemployer plan want to make it mandatory for union members to participate

in the union's health and welfare plan and want to amend the trust document for the Fund to provide that

union members working for covered employers can not opt out of the plan.

Can this be done?

If so, does it matter whether the plan is funded by both employer and employee contributions?

Also, if this can be done, can the members be required to sign any document which would authorize payroll

deductions for the employee portion of the contribution?

[mal]

It is very common to require Union members to

participate in the multiemployer health plan. However,

the plans I work with do not require employees to

pay any part of their monthly premium.

Assuming there is no employee contribution due,

I believe the participation requirement must be

set forth in the applicable collective bargaining

agreement. The Trustees could not demand universal

participation if the CBA covers only certain categories

of employees.