Delphi demands 63% pay cut from UAW - Delphi execs get boost in severance

[Bozita]

Yep, two articles. Put them together and you get a good picture of Bush's new economy.

Read and weep.

Headline article, frontpage above the fold:
http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/delphi7e_20051007.htm

Delphi demands 63% pay cut from UAW

BY MICHAEL ELLIS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

October 7, 2005


Delphi Corp. has demanded such drastic cuts in wages and benefits for workers that, according to one UAW local , its members would no longer be able to afford the cars they help build.


According to a flyer sent to at least two UAW locals Thursday, the company is asking for wage cuts of as much as 63%, to $10 an hour, and for workers to pay 27% of their health care costs versus 7% currently.


Union members at several Delphi plants say they and their coworkers are not going to agree to such a severe change in their livelihood, even if it means that the company will end up declaring bankruptcy under Chapter 11. But if the workers say no and Delphi goes bankrupt, plants could be closed, thousands of workers could lose their jobs and companies that depend on Delphi, including General Motors Corp., could face costly disruptions.


Delphi, the nation's largest auto parts supplier, is a critical component of Michigan's economy, employing 14,700 people in the state and creating thousands of jobs at the smaller suppliers it works with.

more...

And now, let's see what's happening to Delphi execs:

http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm6516_20051007.htm

Delphi execs get boost in severance pay


Friday, October 7, 2005

BY JASON ROBERSON
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Delphi Corp., the nation’s largest automotive parts supplier, approved a separation agreement for each of its 21 U.S. officers that bumps up their pay if they lose their jobs, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission posted Friday.

The previous separation agreement for Delphi’s top executives was identical to that of all salaried employees, a problem that Delphi Chief Executive Officer Robert S. “Steve” Miller pointed out to Delphi’s compensation committee, according to the filing.

"It wasn’t competitive," said Claudia Baucus, a Delphi spokeswoman.

This new separation agreement -- which provides for a severance payment in the event Delphi terminates the officer’s employment without cause or if the officer quits for good reason -- includes 18 months of salary and 18 months of bonuses after the officer leaves the company. Currently all salaried employees receive severance pay for 12 months after leaving the company.

more...

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[lakeguy]

2. let the floodgates open...

NWA did the same thing to the union here. in order to agree to the offer, over 50% of the employees would be terminated-plus paycuts-plus insurance hikes. how do you get a 50%+ yes vote on something like that?

of course the media says the jobs were eliminated. if eliminated means shipping them overseas, then yeah, they were "eliminated".

[bpilgrim]

12. AP: Auto Supplier Delphi Files for Bankruptcy

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1837136&mesg_id=1837136

peace

[Neshanic]

3. Some pigs are more equal than others.

Take the wage hit or we go bankrupt. There is no promise if you do take the wage and benefit hit, that we will not in a year, go somewhere else, like China.

These are the new rules for the new Century of fear and empire.

[saigon68]

4. PIGS AND HOGS

Many of them, with their SNOUTS in the "PUBLIC TROUGH"

A/K/A Halliburton and Bechtel

[Bozita]

5. kick for the evening crowd

[Tace]

6. I Was In The UAW, Working In A Detroit Factory

Delphi is begging them to shove it up their ass, and the rank and file sure as hell will.

Edit: I'll clarify -- NO WAY WORKERS WILL AGREE TO THIS!!!!!

[progressive_realist]

7. I caught these two articles earlier.

So workers are expected to accept $10/hr wages, which in my city is less than poverty level, while executives need an extra two YEARS worth of free money at their current compensation level? Because one year's worth of free money (for failed leadership, I might add) isn't competitive enough?

Whatever.

I think perhaps they misunderstand what the word "competitive" means. Or maybe we've just been misunderstanding what our business leaders meant by it all this time.

[Delphinus]

11. Hi Progressive,

This is a little off topic, so feel free to send me a private message. Anyway, you say that in your city, $10 per hour is less than poverty level. Is there a formula that is used for this? I'm sure each city is different, and that's why I'm questioning. I work for a very small company and would appreciate knowing the formula so I can use it when it's time to talk about raises. Thanks!

[progressive_realist]

15. I'm actually talking about a living wage, not a poverty wage.

Strictly speaking, the poverty level is a federal measurement. Personally, I think anything below the living wage is poverty, but that's a judgment call.

According to www.seattle.gov/humanservices/director/ConsolidatedPlan:

"A living wage, as defined by the Northwest Policy Center, is "a wage that allows families to meet their basic needs without resorting to public assistance and provides them some ability to deal with emergencies and plan ahead. It is not a poverty wage." In Washington State, the living wage for a single adult with no dependents is $10.25/hour. For a single adult with two children it is $16.86/hour."

Also: "Today, the average two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in Seattle rents for $800 a month. This average apartment requires a household income over $30,000 a year, meaning that families earning less than $14.50 an hour cannot afford it. Those earning less than $10 an hour are hard pressed to find any unsubsidized apartment they can afford."

Note, however, that the federal poverty level for a single parent with two children comes out to something like $7.31/hr. There is no possible way a person could raise two children in this city on a single, full-time income of $7.31/hr. As noted above, the only housing available at that wage level is subsidized, and there is a long waiting list for the little that we have in the city.

Your local government is probably the best source for accurate information on the true cost of living in your area. I'm not sure there is one single formula.

[GOPFighter]

8. Those MFers!

It took decades to create a large middle class in this country, a middle class that could afford to buy the goods that other middle class workers made and we had a great, prosperous country. Nothing pisses Republicans off more than to see blue collar workers making a decent wage, so they are balls out trying to destroy the middle class.

America in 2020, 500,000 Multi-billionaires, 200,000,000 peasants.

[Cooley Hurd]

9. "...its members would no longer be able to afford the cars"

"...they help build."

Henry Ford, the asshole, anti-semite that he was, at least paid his workers so they could afford to buy the cars they built. And, this was before the creation of the UAW.

[barb162]

14. shows you just how bad it has gotten in this country. We are

destroying ourselves, plain and simple.

[Bozita]

10. The 2nd article in the original post is the headline in today's paper

Since the Free Press is in a JOA with the Detroit News, readers of both papers learn today (Saturday) of Delphi execs stripping the carcass of their own company. Check the link for related articles:
http://www.freep.com/index.htm

The Saturday paper also contains this column:

http://www.freep.com/money/business/walsh8e_20051008.htm

TOM WALSH: For some in auto jobs, the apocalypse is now

All must feel, share urgency

October 8, 2005


BY TOM WALSH
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST



Will impending shakeouts at Delphi Corp. and General Motors Corp. be apocalyptic events for Detroit's auto industry, shattering forever the notion that America's industrial working class could expect good wages, company-paid health care and secure retirements in perpetuity?


A frustrated UAW President Ron Gettelfinger talks like doomsday is near.


"People who live in gated communities in this country need to think about where we're headed," Gettelfinger said Friday, suggesting that the nation's working class is trapped in a downward wage-and-benefits spiral and getting pretty darned angry about it.


Gettelfinger was fending off questions Friday from reporters about the UAW's progress -- or lack of same -- in talks with GM and Delphi when he let loose with a rant about the U.S. trade deficit, cheap labor in China and Mexico, and free-trade agreements that he claims are pushing U.S. workers out of the middle class.

more...

[Zynx]

13. When executives get paid more for failing, that is a failure of capitalism

Republicans like the idea that the executives can take risks and make bad moves without being punished, and they also love the idea that you can beat the hell out of the workers for doing their job.