Going on strike can be costly.

When a union chooses to go out on strike, you assume the risk and pay the price….

In addition to losing your paycheck, you may become responsible for paying your own health benefits directly through COBRA, so your expenses actually increase during the strike

• COBRA insurance premiums are substantially higher than normal employee premiums (which are heavily subsidized by the company).  Check with your HR manager to obtain the actual COBRA premium for your specific coverage
• If you want to estimate, a conservative estimate would be to multiply your current monthly insurance premiums by 5 and put that number in the Monthly Benefit Expense box. Your actual monthly benefit expense could be much higher
• Keep in mind that strike pay, if the union decides to pay at all, usually doesn’t start until the 3rd week of a strike, and it will rarely cover even your lost pay, not to mention the extra health benefit out-of-pocket expenses.

Bottom line: it could take years to recover the amount of money you would lose in a strike, even if you received a pay raise or other benefit as a result of the strike.

Strike Loss Calculator

This form is auto-calculating. As you fill in the blanks, the Total Out of Pocket field will calculate. You can change any of the input fields to see what difference it makes on the Total Out of Pocket figure.