D-Day for unions - Delphi expected to try to destroy contracts - 03/31/06

03/31/2006

By Doug Cunningham
Workers Independent News
March 31, 2006

The United Autoworkers union says Delphi is expected to file in bankruptcy court today to throw out its union contracts but it won’t trigger an immediate worker walkout. Henry Reichard of the IUE-CWA says his union has already authorized a strike if the contracts are thrown out, but he says the court has set hearings in May to decide the issue, giving the unions and Delphi time to avoid a catastrophic strike that would cripple both the giant auto parts maker and General Motors.

[Henry Reichard] : “So we’re looking at months yet. And we still have time to get an agreement. And I think that it’s in everyone’s best interests. And I think that all parties realize that.”

Reichard says IUE-CWA will do another round of negotiating with Delphi starting Monday in Michigan. He says he expects pensions and retiree health benefits to remain intact at Delphi. And he says all his union wants for workers at Delphi are jobs with dignity – adequate to buy a house and provide for a family. Delphi is demanding that wages be slashed from roughly $27 an hour to $12.50. Reichard says trade policies and economic conditions are likely to continue the downward wage spiral in the auto parts industry.