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The United Auto Workers is looking to create one large health insurance pool for workers at Detroit’s Big Three auto makers, a move aimed at helping the companies better leverage their size to win cost savings from medical providers. UAW President Dennis Williams said Thursday he aims to bring the proposal to the bargaining table next month when the union starts negotiations for a new four-year contract with Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and FCA US LLC, the U.S. unit of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV. He said the insurance pool could include active hourly workers, as well as salaried employees and hourly retirees, a group that would combined have more than 1 million members. (Rogers, 6/18)

United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams said on Thursday he wants to enter talks with the three major U.S. automakers to pool active union and nonunion workers and UAW retirees to bargain for lower healthcare costs. Such a pool of about 900,000 people connected to Detroit's three automakers would not mean a single healthcare plan, but instead a collective to wield more leverage in negotiations with drug companies, hospitals and insurance companies, he noted. (6/18)

Traditionally, non-union salaried employees for General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have had separate benefits than hourly workers who are represented by the UAW. But Williams said that a health care trust created in 2007 to insure UAW retirees is well-managed and could pave the way for the inclusion of blue-collar workers and white-collar employees. (Gardner, 6/18)