WARREN Local Delphi workers OK pacts

Laid-off workers will come back to work but there is no deadline.
THE VINDICATOR
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
WARREN -- Union workers at Delphi Packard Electric Systems have approved changes to their local labor contract and given their support to a new national contract.
Some 79 percent of the members of Local 717 of the International Union of Electrical Workers who voted approved the local contract; the national contract was even more popular, with 98 percent of those who voted supporting it Sunday, according to Gary Reiser, president of the local union. The union has 4,000 members.
Tentative agreements on both contracts were reached by company and union negotiators a week ago.
The national agreement is being voted on by nine other IUE locals, and the IUE has asked that voting be concluded by today.
The deal includes a continuation of company-paid health benefits and a $3,000 signing bonus in the first year of the four-year deal. A performance bonus based on company earnings would be given the second year. Pay raises of 2 percent and 3 percent, respectively, would be given in the final two years.
It follows a similar agreement negotiated earlier between the United Auto Workers and Delphi.
The local contract covers work rules issues and other plant-specific matters.
Laid-off workers
Reiser said Delphi agreed to bring back 214 workers who were laid off earlier this year. These workers had been hired since the last local contract was negotiated, so they didn't have protection for their jobs and income that other workers have.
Reiser said there is no deadline for bringing them back, however, and he isn't sure when it will happen.
Also, Delphi agreed to give about 1,400 workers additional credit for years of service, which is used to figure pension benefits. These workers had been in the company's third-tier pay plan. The time spent in that tier had not been counted in pension calculations.
Packard, which makes wiring harnesses and related components, is part of Delphi Corp., which is the world's largest automotive supplier and is based in Troy, Mich.