Contract offers workers and area more than half a loaf

The wage cuts proposed for union workers at Delphi Packard Electric will make for a difficult adjustment for workers who will see their hourly wages reduced by about a third.

The tentative agreement reached between Delphi and the International Union of Electrical Workers will also have an effect on the local economy, because new employees will make less than half of what Delphi veterans are paid.

But what can be said for the contract is that it’s far better than the alternative. And Delphi jobs will continue to be sought-after jobs, even at the lower rates.

That’s why Delphi employees would be wise to approve the proposal when they vote this weekend, even if they feel they are doing so under duress.

The alternatives available to the company include going to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge to seek permission to impose new wage rates and working conditions. The alternative available to the workers include rejection of the contract and a strike, which would result in everyone losing everything.

The situation at Delphi represents a reality of the world marketplace.

The American auto parts company simply cannot support a work force that includes $60,000-per-year assembly line workers, enormous fringe- benefit costs and the captive costs of a huge force of retirees.

Facts of life

The pay levels outlined in the contract, about $16 to $24 for present employees and $10.50 to $11 for new hires, remain at a level that if the jobs were advertised today, thousands would apply. That is, perhaps, a sad commentary on the state of the economy in this area, but it is an undeniable reality.

Indeed, the contract proposal has some of the 3,000 employees who opted to take buyouts or early retirement a year ago complaining that they would have stayed, had they only known.

It is fine to argue the long-range implications for America when companies are forced to compete against foreign products that are made by workers who make less in a day than a worker in Warren makes in an hour. It is appropriate to demand that American trade policy and tax laws should not favor foreign imports over domestic products. We should be worried about the survival of a strong American middle class.

But in the Mahoning Valley, where the choice is between a thousand $11 and $16 and $24 an hour jobs and no jobs at all, the vote must be in favor keeping the jobs.

Individual families are going to have to scale back their standard of living. Businesses that depend on discretionary dollars are going to have a tougher row to hoe. Charities and churches are going to find less in the pledge envelopes and collection baskets.

It is going to hurt. It is going to take time to heal. No one will ever get used to a Delphi that is only a shadow of the Packard Electric Division of General Motors that was once the third largest force in the Valley’s economy. But what will be left is better than no Delphi Packard at all — better for the workers and their families and better for the community.