Delphi workers cross fingers for deal


The Valley workers wait to see if their
contract will match the UAW deal.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

WARREN — Chris Wilson was in a good mood Monday when he heard about a new Delphi Corp. labor agreement, but was trying not to get too excited.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” the skilled trades worker at Delphi Packard Electric said with a smile on his face.

He had to be cautious because his union — the International Union of Electrical Workers — is just resuming talks with Delphi. The United Auto Workers, however, has reached a tentative deal.

The Detroit Free Press reported that the UAW skilled trades workers would maintain their current pay rates of $32 an hour.

Wilson, 45, of Cortland, said he would be happy if he could keep his pay rate as Delphi emerges from bankruptcy court protection.

He didn’t take a buyout last year in the hopes that he could retain his job at a good pay rate.

“This is what I’ve been waiting for,” said the millwright, who has 14 years at Packard.

No guarantees

He acknowledged that there’s no guarantee the IUE deal will be the same as the UAW.

“There’s a lot of ifs,” he said.

The UAW deal, which still must be ratified, has a different deal for production workers.

It calls for up to 4,000 production workers who used to work for General Motors before Delphi was split off as an independent company to receive a “buy-down” of $105,000 paid over three years in exchange for wage cuts. Hourly pay for the UAW production workers is to be cut from $27 to between $14.50 and $18.50.

One Packard worker nodded like the buy-down would be a good deal but refused to comment on the UAW deal.

“I don’t want to get my hopes up and the rug pulled out from under me later,” said the worker, who didn’t want to give his name.

Some of the workers interviewed outside Packard’s North River Road complex were temporary workers, who were brought on last fall when nearly 3,200 workers accepted buyouts and early retirement offers.

Fate of temporary workers

Don Dingus, 66, of Lordstown, thinks the new contract will include making temporary workers like him permanent employees. He expects his hourly pay to be raised from $10 to between $14 and $16.

Dingus, who is retired from GM’s Lordstown plant, said he has the feeling the temporary workers are needed at least until next year because of the training they have received. He is running an extrusion press that makes spark plug wires.

Other temporary workers said, however, that they didn’t know what to expect from the new contract.

Packard has nearly 400 temporary workers in addition to the nearly 700 permanent members of Local 717 of the IUE, although the number of temporary workers fluctuates.

Officials from the IUE are bargaining this week with Delphi. The IUE is the second largest union at Delphi, next to the UAW.

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