Union contracts are good for a few years and then get renegotiated. Ours is five years. If a UAW member with GM started at 18 in 2002 with health care for life being in the contract and every contract after that NOT including health care for life, does he retire with health care for life or does he retire with the retirement package included in the contract at the time of retirement? I don't know as our pension only with no health care retirement hasn't changed much from contract to contract over the 30+ years I've been with the company. But I have overheard some of the older guys talk about retiring earlier or later depending on the current contract or the predicted potential for the next contract.