General Motors is reinstating healthcare benefits for 48,000 workers on strike for an 11th day as contract talks with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union came closer to a tentative deal that would end the work stoppage, a media report said.
CNBC noted the automaker had cut health-care coverage for union members last week, moving them to more expensive, temporary COBRA plans on 16 September, the first day of the strike.
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GM said it would reinstate coverage after realising its change caused "significant confusion" among employees, according to a letter received by the UAW on Thursday.
Some employees were unsure whether they had health benefits at all, according to CNBC interviews with workers and other media reports.
"GM is very concerned about the significant confusion caused around our employees' health care coverage," Scott Sandefur, GM North America's vice president of labour relations, wrote in the letter to UAW VP Terry Dittes, cited by CNBC.
"Throughout this negotiation, GM has said that our number one focus was on the well-being of our employees. That remains the case today."
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By GlobalDataDittes, in response, reportedly called GM's changes in healthcare coverage "irresponsible", saying the automaker was "toying with the lives of hundreds of thousands of our UAW families".
"There is no doubt that public sentiment see these actions of GM as a shameful act!" Dittes wrote.
How fast the benefits resume will likely depend on the provider, CNBC said.
