DELPHI CORP. Company reveals plans to cut back in its work force

Delphi is meeting with the UAW over plant closings.
THE VINDICATOR
STAFF/WIRE REPORTS
TROY, Mich. -- Delphi Corp. disclosed plans to cut 8,500 jobs, or 4.5 percent of its global work force.
Delphi expects to eliminate as many as 5,000 hourly jobs of union members in the United States by the end of 2004, the company said Thursday. Another 3,000 jobs will be eliminated overseas, as will 500 salaried U.S. posts.
The company made the announcement while disclosing a third-quarter loss of $353 million, or 63 cents a share, compared with a profit of $54 million, or 10 cents a share, for the same period one year earlier. Sales for the quarter rose to $6.56 billion from $6.45 billion.
The latest results included $356 million in charges that included a provision for job cuts.
Excluding the charges, Delphi would have earned $3 million, or 1 cent per share, matching the estimate by analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.
Covered costs
Delphi said the charges covered costs of shedding 1,500 United Auto Workers positions, along with 300 jobs held by members of the International Union of Electrical Workers, 500 salaried U.S. jobs and 3,000 jobs overseas.
The IUE jobs came from Warren-based Delphi Packard Electric Systems. Workers recently were offered a $15,000 incentive to retire.
The remaining 3,200 union positions should be eliminated in the next three to five quarters, said the company's chief financial officer, Alan Dawes said.
Troy-based Delphi said the recent adoption of a four-year contract with the UAW gives it the flexibility to "address underperforming operations" and "appropriately size" its 187,000-person global work force.
Delphi stopped short of announcing plant closings Thursday. Dawes said the company plans to meet with the UAW to discuss the future of plants in Flint; Olathe, Kan.; and Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Delphi is negotiating a new national labor contract for its workers represented by the IUE. The union represents about 4,200 Packard workers in the Mahoning Valley. Packard also has about 1,400 salaried workers in the area.