Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania 500 Commonwealth Drive Warrendale, PA 15086

Vol. 5 February 2015 No. 2

In This Issue

Union Membership Continues to Wane

Market Median Targeted for Setting Base Pay

Employer Contributions Influence HSA Balances

NLRB Proposed Amendments

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Union Membership in U.S. Continues to Wane

According to data recently released by the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of wage and salary workers in the U.S. who belonged to labor unions in 2014 stood at 14.58 million or 11.1 percent of the workforce. That is a slight change from 14.53 million workers or 11.3 percent of the workforce represented by organized labor in 2013. And while the number of private industry workers in labor unions rose slightly in 2014 to 7.359 million from 7.318 million in 2013, the unionized percentage dipped to 6.6 percent in 2014 from 6.7 percent in 2013. Union membership in the healthcare and social assistance sector inched up to 1.220 million workers or 7.3 percent of the workforce in 2014 from 1.182 million or 7.2 percent of the workforce in 2013. Market Median Most Often Targeted For Setting Base Pay

A significant majority of firms, 89 percent, utilize a market pricing approach to determine the relative value of jobs in their organizations, with 85 percent targeting the market median in setting base pay. That's according to the WorldatWork's survey report, Compensation Programs and Practices, conducted in summer 2014 and published in January 2015. The report summarizes information about trends in compensation programs and practices, focusing on the prevalence of base and variable pay programs as well as common practices used to administer and communicate these programs in the workplace. Surveys were sent to 5,032 WorldatWork members. The final data set includes responses from 626 members, of which 10 percent represent healthcare organizations. Employer Contributions Influence HSA Account Balances

The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) included a provision to allow individuals enrolled in certain high-deductible health plans to open and fund a health savings account (HSA), effective January 1, 2004. It has been estimated that there were 10.7 million HSA accounts holding $19.3 billion in assets as of December 31, 2013. Among HSAs that provide for employer contributions, those with larger employer contributions were more likely to have received the maximum allowable contribution than those with smaller employer contributions. In 2013, 31 percent of HSAs with an employer contribution of $2,000 - $4,999 received the maximum contribution, compared with 16 percent of those with an employer contribution of $1,000 - $1,999. According to the January 2015 report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), the overall average HSA balance was $2,077 in 2014, up from $1,356 in 2008 and accounts with an employer contribution had a higher average balance than those without one-$2,403 for those in which the employer contributed in 2014 and $2,046 for those where the employer did not. The report, Maximizing Contributions to an HSA: Findings from the EBRI HSA Database, was published in the January 2015 issue of EBRI Notes. NLRB Amendments Proposed in U.S. Senate

Legislation recently introduced in the Senate by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would amend the National Labor Relations Act by, among other things, adding a sixth member to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and requiring the composition of the Board to be evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. Furthermore, NLRB decisions in representation cases and unfair labor practice proceedings would require a four member majority. The National Labor Relations Board Reform Act (S. 288) has a total of eleven co-sponsors. It has been referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP).

Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania – 500 Commonwealth Drive – Warrendale, PA 15086