Unions doubt agreement is near

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Progress is being made in Delphi talks, but it may not be enough.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

One of Delphi Corp.'s unions says a new labor contract won't be reached before a court hearing Monday, while another says a deal is doubtful.

If negotiators come up empty, the showdown is set to move back to bankruptcy court in New York, where a judge is considering scrapping the current labor contracts and letting Delphi impose its own terms.

Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers, said at an automotive conference Tuesday that no deal would be struck by Monday, a union spokesman told Bloomberg News. Union officials could not be reached to comment Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, Lauren Asplen, a spokeswoman for the International Union of Electrical Workers, said it doesn't appear that contracts for that union can be wrapped up by Monday. Some progress has been made in talks this week but much remains to be done, she said.

"However, these things can sometimes turn more quickly than you think," she cautioned.

The IUE represents workers at local plants operated by Delphi Packard Electric.

Plant by plant

IUE and Delphi bargainers met Tuesday in Troy, Mich., and were bargaining again Wednesday. Asplen said negotiators were going through each IUE-represented plant to talk about issues related to either closing them down or keeping them running.

An issue locally could be how to bring on workers to keep Packard plants running.

Delphi said it will keep a local presence but intends to slash Packard's hourly work force from 3,800 to 1,000. An early retirement and buyout program was so successful, however, that just 700 of Packard's 3,800 hourly workers are to be on the job by the end of the year.

Claudia Piccini, a Delphi spokeswoman, said she couldn't discuss specific issues but added that negotiators are "continuing to make progress." If new contracts aren't reached, however, company officials expect to be in court Monday, she said.

Delphi and its unions have been on the verge of resuming court hearings twice before, but the judge postponed the sessions to give negotiators more time to talk.

Hearing testimony

The hearings began in May with Delphi officials saying they have tried to no avail to negotiate lower pay and benefit rates with the unions. In March, Delphi said it wanted to cut its highest pay rates for production workers from $27 an hour to $12.50, unless General Motors Corp. agrees to subsidize higher wages.

The UAW is scheduled to present its witnesses next, followed by the IUE.

GM, as Delphi's former owner, has been involved in the talks regarding Delphi's future. It has said it may have to spend between $5.5 billion and $12 billion to cover its obligations to Delphi workers.

Fritz Henderson, GM's chief financial officer, said at a conference last week that resolving the Delphi situation was his top priority.

shilling@vindy.com

Thursday, September 14, 2006