Delphi seeks deeper pay cuts

The company said it can't win business by paying workers 16.50 an hour.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
Delphi Corp. has proposed an even bigger pay cut for its workers, a union official said.
Delphi negotiators said the company can't win new business by paying production workers 16.50 an hour, as it proposed last March, said Mike O'Donnell, shop chairman for Local 717 of the International Union of Electrical Workers.
"I would describe that as being extreme and unwarranted," O'Donnell said.
Production workers now make up to 27 an hour with cost-of-living adjustments. The auto parts supplier has said it needs new union contracts with lower wages if it is to emerge from bankruptcy court protection.
O'Donnell said IUE negotiators asked Friday that Delphi provide them with more information about why the offer is being reduced. The talks went into recess and are expected to restart later this week or next week, he said.
The proposal from last March included a provision that the pay offer would be reduced to 12.50 an hour if General Motors Corp. did not subsidize part of it.
O'Donnell said union officials haven't heard whether GM will help with the wages, but it is still involved in negotiations.
O'Donnell said the IUE will not accept less pay than Delphi offers the United Auto Workers, which is its biggest union. The UAW has called the presidents and shop chairmen of its local unions to Detroit today, but O'Donnell said he wasn't sure what the meeting was about.
UAW officials could not be reached to comment.
Here's a concern
O'Donnell said the recess in the talks means a deal with the IUE won't be reached by Wednesday, which is important to a group that's proposing to invest up to 3.4 billion into Delphi.
The investors originally said they would pull their offer by Jan. 31 if the labor negotiations weren't wrapped up, but that was extended to Feb. 28.
O'Donnell said he doesn't think the investors, who are involved in the talks, will pull out because they believe there is money to be made at Delphi. He has heard the deadline can be extended on a day-to-day basis.
Lindsey Williams, a Delphi spokesman, said he couldn't speak for the investors.
"We'll find out what happens on Feb. 28," he said.
Williams said he expects the IUE negotiations to resume later this week.
Work force reductions
Meanwhile, the number of temporary workers at Warren-based Delphi Packard Electric is being reduced, O'Donnell said. They were hired as the company prepared to move equipment to plants in other countries.
O'Donnell said the number of former Delphi workers who have been brought back temporarily is falling every week as business is moved. There are fewer than 200 of these workers left, compared to 300 last month.
Delphi also has about 250 temporary workers who were hired off the street. Some temporary workers will be done April 30, while others must leave by June 30.
Packard's hourly work force was cut from 3,000 to 659 last year when workers accepted early retirement and buyout incentives.
shilling@vindy.com