IUE members to hear details of Delphi tentative contract

Delphi reports a lower
second-quarter loss.

STAFF/WIRE REPORTS

WARREN — Union workers at Delphi Packard Electric will hear more about a tentative contract agreement Sunday.

Local 717 of the International Union of Electrical Workers will hold informational meetings at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday at Warren G. Harding High School.

The union released a detailed list of contract provisions Wednesday, after releasing a summary earlier in the week.

A cover sheet tells members that “the results are not pretty” but that they are the best negotiators could do.

“The alternative was either a devastating strike, or more likely, imposition of much worse terms by the federal bankruptcy judge,” the sheet said.

The tentative agreement cuts production workers’ pay from $27 an hour to $16.50 an hour, although it provides a $105,000 payment to be made over three years.

The vote by all IUE locals will be done by mail. Results are expected midmonth.

Smaller loss

Meanwhile, Packard’s parent company, Delphi Corp., on Wednesday posted a narrower net loss during the second quarter that reflected charges for its restructuring and estimated costs related to lawsuits over allegations of accounting improprieties that led to restated earnings.

The Troy-based auto supplier and former parts-making operation of General Motors Corp. reported a net loss of $821 million, or $1.46 a share, compared with a loss of $2.3 billion, or $4.05 a share, during the same period last year. Last year’s second quarter included charges of $1.9 billion related to U.S. employee attrition programs.

Delphi said the $332 million charge is related to its estimated liabilities from lawsuits pending in U.S. District Court in Detroit. Delphi, which restated its earnings from 1999 to 2004, said the estimates do not include any insurance proceeds that might be recoverable.

The company said it’s working toward a settlement with a court-appointed representative.

Reorganization costs

Delphi, which filed for bankruptcy in 2005, said its second-quarter earnings also included $301 million in reorganization costs such as employee termination benefits and expenses related to a plant closing in Spain.

Delphi’s sales were $7 billion, flat from the same quarter last year.

Non-GM revenue for the quarter was $4.1 billion, up 5 percent from $3.9 billion in last year’s second quarter. Non-GM business represented 59 percent of the current quarter’s revenue, compared with 56 percent last year, primarily due to a decline in GM revenues.

Excluding favorable foreign currency exchange rates, non-GM growth essentially was flat.