Salaried jobs to exceed hourly
A negotiator said the IUE will not force anyone to participate in an attrition program.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
NEW YORK -- Delphi Corp.'s restructuring plan calls for the company's salaried and managerial personnel to outnumber hourly employees 9,000 to 6,000 in the United States by 2010.
Testimony continued Friday in bankruptcy court on Delphi's motion seeking court authority to terminate labor agreements.
Mark R. Weber, Delphi's executive vice president of operations, human resources and corporate affairs, said the disproportionate number of salaried and managerial people is necessary for technical support and to manage the firm's non-U.S. employees.
Weber said 135,000 of the firm's total 180,000 employees work outside the U.S.
Under questioning by Atty. Thomas Kennedy, representing the International Union of Electrical Workers, Weber confirmed that since the Delphi Packard Electric division was spun off from General Motors on Dec. 31, 1998, the number of IUE-represented hourly employees has decreased from 15,837 to 8,400 -- about 3,800 of which still work at Delphi Packard plants in Warren, Cortland and Vienna.
During the same period, the number of Delphi employees represented by the United Auto Workers union dropped from 43,150 to about 23,000.
Overall the goal, Weber said, is to reduce that number to 6,000 by 2010, and to close or sell 21 of its 28 U.S. facilities. The Delphi Packard facilities in the Warren area have been profitable and are part of the core group of plants Delphi plans to keep.
IUE negotiator
After Friday's proceedings, Henry Reichard, the IUE's chief negotiator, said he hopes special and regular attrition programs will offset any job losses at IUE-represented plants.
Reichard said the IUE will not force anyone to participate in an attrition program. Also, he said, "we won't accept any proposal that dismantles us."
Reichard said he believes the solution will come out of negotiations. He said the next formal talks with Delphi are scheduled for June 6.
During cross-examination of Delphi executives, union officials attempted to convince Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain that granting Delphi's motion for authority to terminate labor agreements and pension benefits is not necessary for the company to become profitable and pull itself out of bankruptcy.
Reichard said Delphi Packard's state-of-the-art Cortland and Vienna plants are "living proof" of his contention that increased productivity and negotiated changes under labor agreements can make the company competitive.
Wage issue
Delphi Corp., on the other hand, says lower wages that are competitive with the industry averages are also necessary. To that end, Delphi proposed in its bankruptcy petition filed in October 2005 cutting its U.S. hourly workers' wages from $27 an hour to $16.50 an hour, or as low as $12.50 an hour if General Motors doesn't agree to supplement those wages.
Weber said that both salaried and hourly employees should be paid "no more or no less" than the market average.
Reichard thinks Delphi wants the court permission to vacate labor agreements as a bargaining chip to "hold over our heads."
Other Delphi executives who testified Friday included Darrell Kidd, Delphi's coordinator of national bargaining and its divisional director of labor relations; and Bernard J. Quick, director of labor relations for Delphi.
Jack Butler, Delphi's lead attorney, said he hopes to be able to call the rest of his witnesses when the hearing resumes Friday. A hearing is also scheduled for June 5.
It is not known when IUE officials Reichard and Don Arbogast, shop chairman of Warren's IUE Local 717, will take the stand.
alcorn@vindy.com