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Steve Myers
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Deadlines and pickets were on the move today in the wake of new developments at Delphi Corp. and General Motors.
Delphi says it is making progress in talks with GM about price cuts that the automaker has sought from Delphi. As a result, Delphi won't seek to throw out union contracts in a bankruptcy court motion Dec. 16, a company spokeswoman said.
That court date has been moved to Jan. 20, Delphi said.
"This means that Delphi, GM and the UAW are sitting in a smoke-free room somewhere trying to avoid a strike," said Sean McAlinden, chief economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. "Obviously, this is good news."
It is unclear what, if any, impact the court date change will have on Delphi's previous statements that hourly workers would see their paychecks cut in March, with or without the UAW's agreement.
Meanwhile, UAW Local 651 members were prepping for informational picketing today at Delphi Flint East, union officials said. It is the local's first public demonstration since Delphi filed for bankruptcy protection Oct. 8 and is part of a national picketing effort at Delphi facilities, said Bob Roth, director of UAW Region 1-C in Flint.
Flint East has about 2,800 hourly workers and about 326 salaried workers. Another 400 or so salaried workers are at Delphi's Flint Technical Center, for a total of more than 3,500 Delphi workers in Genesee County.
All of the jobs are at risk as Delphi - the world's largest automotive parts supplier - seeks to dump what it terms unprofitable product lines and consolidate some technical facilities into fewer locations.
Delphi has about 34,000 unionized workers nationwide. The largest share of Delphi hourly workers are represented by the UAW, which has a "mirror" national labor agreement with GM.
Ever since Troy-based Delphi filed for Chapter 11 protections, company President Steve Miller has been talking tough about cutting Delphi workers' wages by as much as 63 percent, from about $27 an hour for production workers to as little as $10 or $12.50 an hour.
He also is seeking to drastically change the UAW's benefit package.
Miller and other Delphi executives have said hourly workers could expect their pay to be cut by March - with or without UAW approval.
He said pay scales need to be brought into line with other automotive parts suppliers, some of whom also are represented by the UAW.
Delphi says the combined worth of pay and benefits for a UAW-Delphi worker is $76 an hour.
The UAW disputes that and is fighting Delphi's executive compensation and severance plans in court.
Miller has expressed optimism about the state of talks with GM.
"These constructive actions demonstrate a willingness to accelerate efforts to achieve consensual resolutions to the significant challenges facing Delphi," Miller said in a statement.
Claudia Piccinin, a Delphi spokeswoman, said the moves by GM call for more time to talk out issues between the automaker and Delphi, which was spun off from GM in 1999.
"This is just kind of taking some of the pressure off," Piccinin said.
Although a Jan. 24 court hearing date still stands, it's unclear if the entire bankruptcy timeline will shift forward a month, she said, or if pay cuts might
"It's too early to determine at this point," she said.
Delphi announced the breathing room after saying GM has agreed to delay planned price cuts on Delphi components in 2006.
Delphi said GM has agreed to temporarily forgo price cuts on some Delphi parts in order to help the struggling supplier.
GM bought $14 billion in parts from Delphi last year, or about 16 percent of its total parts spending. The automaker has estimated it pays $2 billion more per year for parts from Delphi's North American facilities compared to what it could pay on the global market.
It's in GM's best interest to help Delphi survive, said Erich Merkle, a senior auto analyst at IRN Inc. in Grand Rapids.
Merkle and others say it would be difficult for GM to quickly find substitute suppliers in the event of a Delphi strike.
"These two companies are still very much joined at the hip," Merkle said. "What's good for Delphi is good for GM and vice versa."
GM has serious problems of its own. It recently announced it will shed 30,000 jobs and shut all or part of a dozen plants.
In a joint statement sent via e-mail from Solidarity House in Detroit, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and Vice President Richard Shoemaker said the court date change was a "positive sign."
But they want more.
"If Delphi CEO Steve Miller is serious about accelerating efforts to reach a mutually acceptable resolution out of court, he must now back up his words with action," the statement said.
"As we have said before, Delphi's second contract proposal, which would slash hourly wages by nearly 62 percent, is not a framework for an agreement, but a road map for confrontation. If Delphi is serious about restarting discussions, taking that insulting proposal off the table would be a good place to start," the UAW statement said.
The local and national pickets planned for today are part of the UAW's efforts against Delphi's restructuring moves.
Steve Grandstaff, shop chairman of Local 651, said members were to picket today from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2:30-4:30 p.m. The pickets were to be on N. Dort Highway at the main entrance to East.
Mainly, the pickets are aimed at informing the public that even as Delphi seeks to slash pay and benefits for union workers, it sweetened the severance and compensation pots for top executives and salaried workers in the company, said Art Reyes, Local 651 vice president.
"What we want to do is bring to light Delphi's hypocrisy," Reyes said.
The company says hourly workers are too expensive - even while the company is maneuvering to provide a possible $400-million payout to about 600 executives and salaried workers, Reyes said.
Full Story:
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-33/1133279541308770.xml&coll=5&thispage=1 |
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Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:44 am |
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