Published: August 08, 2006 10:41 pm            

Union president: No deal likely by Friday

Delphi, GM and UAW locked in negotiations

With a key date in the Delphi Corp. bankruptcy filing coming up Friday, United Auto Workers Local 292 chairman George Anthony expressed little hope for a breakthrough in negotiations anytime soon.

“I don’t think they can get it done by [Friday],” Anthony said Tuesday. “Miracles can happen, and things can move awfully quickly if [both sides] get their minds to it, but I don’t think it will happen.”

A bankruptcy court is scheduled Friday to resume hearings on Delphi’s request for permission to void existing contracts.

If the hearings move forward, it will be the union’s turn to argue against Delphi’s request; union officials have already threatened to strike if Delphi voids the contracts and imposes lower wages.

By year’s end, more than half the hourly workers at Kokomo’s Delphi operations will have hired on under the low end of the company’s “two-tier” wage scale, at considerably lower wages and benefits than longtime Delphi hourly workers.

Anthony estimated nearly 1,400 of Kokomo’s 2,200 Delphi hourly workers will accept some form of a buyout. Those workers preparing to leave will be replaced by about 1,200 new hourly hires by year’s end, Anthony said.

That’s why the union is adamant that the company can thrive, even if the remaining hourly workers on the top end of the wage scale continue to receive higher wages and benefits.

“The company ought to be able to pay those wages and benefits and still make a profit in the U.S.,” Anthony said.

Talks are ongoing between GM, Delphi and the UAW.

“There is a possibility a comprehensive agreement can be reached before Aug. 11 as long as the parties remain committed and engaged,” Delphi spokesman Lindsay Williams told the Bloomberg News.

Scott Smith may be reached at

(765) 454-8569 or via e-mail at scott.smith@kokomotribune.com

        

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