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UAW, Delphi talk concessions
Meeting today could be a gauge of how willing the rank-and-file is to accept another set of cuts.
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Shoemaker
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Delphi Corp. executives are expected to outline the auto supplier's dire condition and press United Auto Workers officials for benefit cuts and other concessions at a meeting today in Detroit.
The UAW and the Troy-based supplier have been discussing a range of restructuring moves, including closing or selling under-performing plants, offering buyout packages to workers and shifting more health costs to Delphi's 25,000 hourly workers, according to people familiar with the matter.
Today's meeting between Delphi officials and UAW leaders from plants around the country could determine if the union is willing to negotiate another round of cuts for another ailing Detroit auto company.
The UAW recently struck a deal with Visteon Corp. and former parent Ford Motor Co., allowing the troubled parts supplier to transfer 15 plants back to Ford and offer buyouts to 5,000 workers. The UAW also is in the middle of tense negotiations with Delphi's former parent, General Motors Co., to cut the automaker's $5.6 billion annual health care tab.
Delphi President Rodney O'Neal and Kevin Butler, vice president for human resources, will brief UAW officials on the state of the company.
"The purpose of the meeting is to have an open dialogue between union and management leadership resulting in a clear understanding of the very serious challenges facing our company and our industry and the actions necessary to survive and grow," said Lindsey Williams, a Delphi spokesman.
He said "the same urgency" that produced the deal between Visteon and the UAW exists at Delphi.
If a deal comes to Delphi, it will likely come after the UAW wraps up talks with GM. The automaker wants to reach an agreement with the union by June 30, although the union has said it needs more time.
"I'm sure whatever they do for General Motors, they'll turn around and do for Delphi," said Lattie Slusher, president of UAW Local 913, which represents 1,200 workers at a Delphi chassis plant in Sandusky, Ohio.
Delphi has posted wider financial losses in recent quarters because of production cuts at GM, its biggest customer, soaring steel costs and rising health care and pension obligations. It's also the subject of a widening federal investigation into its accounting practices.
The world's largest supplier, spun off from GM in 1999, plans to cut 8,500 jobs this year and idle some U.S. plants.
UAW leaders from Delphi's plant-based locals and heads of GM locals met on June 9 in Detroit to discuss ways that the union could help GM ease its health care costs. While Delphi was not the focus of the meeting, some Delphi union leaders said the implication was clear that Delphi was next.
"Delphi's UAW leadership was invited to attend this meeting because there is a good chance that however this shakes out, it will affect Delphi also," Robert Betts, president of UAW Local 2151 in Coopersville, said in a letter to members obtained by The Detroit News.
At the meeting, Richard Shoemaker, the UAW's chief negotiator said: "Delphi's problems were just as significant (as GM's) and at some point would have to be addressed as well," according to a summary of the meeting by Joe Buckley and Tony Keen, the respective president and shop chairman of UAW Local 696 in Dayton, Ohio, that was posted on the local's Web site.
Shoemaker told people at the meeting that Delphi had expressed a desire to "enter into discussions concerning their situation" with the UAW, according to the account.
Industry analysts believe Delphi wants to sell or close nearly a dozen under-performing factories that are part of its Automotive Holdings Group division.
The plants in Delphi's holdings group employ 11,000 people, including 8,000 UAW workers.
Labor experts say since Visteon and Delphi negotiated contracts with the UAW under a pattern agreement, it makes sense that they would look for similar deals with the union.
"It's rational for the companies and the unions to keep a pattern agreement among the direct competitors," said David Andrea, vice president at the Original Equipment Suppliers Association in Troy.
If the UAW does agree to concessions, no matter the size, workers such as Bill Hanline will not be happy. The 56-year-old assembly worker at a Delphi steering components plant in Athens, Ala., has had enough of the union agreeing to cuts under the banner of protecting jobs.
"The only thing (the UAW has) done for us members is give concessions to the automakers under the auspices that it's going to make them competitive. And it hasn't worked," Hanline said.
You can reach Brett Clanton at (313) 222-2612 or bclanton@detnews.com.
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