Temp workers will get security

The deal could affect negotiations here about temporary employees in the future, a Local 717 official said.
STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
DETROIT -- Thousands of Delphi Corp. workers hired as temporary employees will become permanent under an agreement reached with the United Auto Workers union, the auto parts maker confirmed Wednesday.
The pact, first announced Tuesday night by union President Ron Gettelfinger, has raised hopes of workers at some of Delphi's U.S. plants that their jobs are more secure.
Delphi spokeswoman Claudia Piccinin confirmed that an agreement had been reached but said the company would release details next week.
The company employs about 13,000 workers in Ohio in the Dayton, Warren, Columbus and Sandusky areas.
The agreement between Delphi and the UAW does not directly affect Delphi Packard hourly workers at the Warren plants, who are represented by International Union of Electrical Workers Local 717.
It could, however, affect negotiations here about temporary employees in the future, said Don Arbogast, shop chairman and chief negotiator for Local 717. Arbogast said he tried unsuccessfully Wednesday to get a copy of the agreement.
Arbogast said Delphi Packard has only about 85 temporary employees at this point.
Tiered wage system
Arbogast noted that, while a tiered UAW wage system is undoubtedly breaking new ground, the IUE has had a tiered wage system at Delphi Packard for 21 years.
In October, Delphi Corp. backed off its threat to close all its local plants, keeping 1,033 of its 3,800 hourly workers in the Mahoning Valley. Delphi offered retirement and buyout incentives that were accepted by all but 659 of the local hourly workers at Packard's local operations.
Delphi offered retirement incentives and buyouts to encourage workers to leave the company.
About 20,000 of the company's 27,500 hourly workers have agreed to retire or quit by the end of the year.
UAW officials said Wednesday the agreement converts about 8,500 temporary workers to permanent status. Most were hired to replace more than 13,000 UAW workers who have taken buyouts or early retirement packages to leave the company.
On temporary status
John Clark, president of a UAW local at a Delphi plant in Adrian, Mich., said nearly three-quarters of the 350-person work force at his plant had been on temporary status. The agreement has raised morale among the workers, boosting hopes their jobs would be secure if Delphi sells the plant, Clark said.
"The temporary status kind of left them in a type of limbo," he said. "It gives them something to look forward to. We've got a very competitive plant."
Russ Reynolds, union local president at a Delphi plant in Flint, Mich., said the agreement was the first bright spot for workers since Delphi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2005.
Temporary workers were hired at 14 per hour, and under a previous pact, are eligible for raises that will boost their pay to a maximum of 18.50 per hour, union officials said.
The wage agreement runs until September 2011, the union said. UAW workers at Delphi previously made around 27 per hour.
Jim Hurren, president of a UAW local at a Delphi brake plant in Saginaw, Mich., said the lower wages for temporary workers should help Delphi be more competitive in the global market.
Delphi, the former parts-making arm of General Motors Corp. that was spun off as a separate company, had 21,600 hourly workers at the end of September, the latest figures available..