Montana labor news., 1935-04-11
ENGINEERS UNION
E DOWN
Continued from Page y

for each $500 of insurance. The En-
gineers' Union entered into this matter
earnestly and sincerely. They accepted
the statements Of the agents OF the
Provident Insurance Company at their
face value. The Provident Life lnsur-
ance Co., has now repudiated the state
ments OF their agents and a letter was
received by Mr.. H. A. Weidenbach,
Recording Secretary of the Engineers
Union.
The Company states: "The impress
sion conveyed to us, perhaps not in
~tentionally, was that this group con-
sisted entirely of surface engineers and
on that basis we were willing to quote
a $1.00 rating but now learning that
over 80 per cent of the 227 applications
received are engineers working under
ground, we are unable to consider the
case except with an extra premium OF
$500 per thousand, for every risk. We
now have ri applications On hand and
find that the average age is between
SO and 81 years of age for this number
of applicants. This makes an annual
premium for $4,000 of insurance for
each of the 27 risks involved OF
$3,142.28 which resolves itself into a
monthly payment for each of $l.l5.
This monthly payment for each risk OF
$115 is almost double the 6Oc for each
risk quoted by Mr.. Scott. In another
part of the aforesaid letter to Mr..
Weidenbach is says: Under Group
Life Insurance regulations all m
ployees of any company or all OF any
class, determined by conditions per-
tanning TO the employment, may be in
sured under a group life policy but
when the benefits are Offered to all
eligible employees not less than Is
per cent of such employees may be so
insured" Now, according to Mr..
Scott, whom before the organization
no reference was made at that time to
require t~hree-fourths of the members
of the union to be insured. These men
stated definitely to the union that the
company would take as few as fifty
men on the premium basis which he
outlined, namely 60c per month per in
dividual. Up to the present time III
applications have been made by the
engineers. According to the company
it is necessary to receive 70 more ap-
plications to complete the rs per cent
requirement. In quoting again from
the letter the following extract is in
teresting as serving to prove that the
company is repudiating the statements
of their agents before the union. 1T
seems that we are at a stand still as
far as the completion of this contract
is concerned until the extra rating and
the balance of the 73 risks can be OBJ
tanned. Mr.. Dickman was much i'm
pressed with the operation of the mine
and the extreme care that is taken for
the safety of the men both from the
standpoint of health and of accidental
hazards. We know that these men are
holding responsible positions and must
be in the best of health and of good
habits. These considerations, with the
proper rating and a spread Of Is per
cent of the risks make US think that
the business might be profitable, but
otherwise, much as we would like
the volume and an opportunity to serve
your men, we do not feel that VIZ can
consider it." In other words the COM
pany will only give the extra rating or
the 60c premium charge if they can
get IS per cent of the engineers to
make applications for insurance. 1t
seems difficult to understand why the
Provident Life Insurance Company al
low their agents to go into the field
and make statements before a re-
sponsible body and accept money from
the members of that organization and
then refuse to comply with the contract
that has been negotiated. 1t leads one
to wonder whether any reliance can be
placed upon the word of the Insur-
ance Companies in general, and this
one in particular.