Delphi, union contract talks to start

Conflicted reports have emerged about progress in talks with the UAW.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
WARREN -- Contract talks between Delphi Corp. and the union that represents its local workers are to begin next week, an official said.
Senior leaders of the company, an investor group and the International Union of Electrical Workers started preliminary meetings Tuesday, said Mike O'Donnell, shop chairman of IUE Local 717.
The bargaining committee, which includes O'Donnell and others from Warren, is to report next week.
A group of investors, led by Appaloosa Management, is proposing to pump up to 3.4 billion into Delphi. They had set a deadline of today for labor talks to be wrapped up, but they allowed for extensions through Feb. 28 if talks were progressing.
As the IUE has waited, talks are under way with the United Auto Workers, which is Delphi's largest union.
O'Donnell said that he was concerned by a recent report from Bloomberg news service that said the UAW was resisting demands for pay cuts.
The Detroit News, however, quoted unidentified sources Tuesday who said the talks are progressing. Still, the issues are complicated, so talks are expected to continue until at least late February, the story said.
O'Donnell said he remains hopeful the UAW will reach an agreement that will provide a pattern for IUE talks.
Delphi is looking to cut its labor costs as it works on a plan to emerge from bankruptcy court protection later this year.
The Michigan-based auto supplier last year proposed cutting hourly pay for production workers to 12.50, or 16.50 if General Motors Corp. helps to pay the difference. At Packard's local operations, production workers earn 25 an hour, plus 2 an hour for a cost-of-living adjustment.
Bargaining has begun
Meanwhile, Local 717 and Packard management have started bargaining a new local labor contract, which covers items such as work rules and job classifications.
O'Donnell said some parts of those discussions depend on details of the national contract, so the national agreement will be settled first.
Both the IUE and UAW come into the talks with greatly reduced memberships because of Delphi's offers last year of early retirement and buyout incentives.
The IUE represents less than 2,000 workers at Delphi operations in the Mahoning Valley, Dayton and Mississippi. It had 15,000 members when GM spun off Delphi as a private company in 1999.
UAW membership at Delphi has been cut from 55,000 to less than 10,000.
Locally, the financial incentives cut Packard's hourly work force from 3,800 to 659, although union officials hope Packard will hire several hundred workers once the contracts are settled. Packard has been using some temporary workers and temporarily has brought back some workers who accepted the buyouts.
shilling@vindy.com