Automotive News Breaking News Alert
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>May 3, 2006
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>From the newsroom of Automotive News
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>UAW wants strike authorization at Delphi
>
>The UAW plans to ask its 24,000 members at Delphi Corp. to authorize a
>strike.
>
>UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker gave the go-ahead Wednesday when
>he met in Detroit with UAW local presidents and other officials on the
>union’s Delphi council.
>
>The locals, representing workers at about 20 Delphi plants, have until
>May
>14 to conduct the votes, said UAW spokesman Paul Krell. The
>authorization would give the international union the ability to strike
>Delphi if it cannot reach agreement on wage and benefit concessions of
>60 percent that Delphi is demanding.
>
>A union official who attended the UAW council meetings Tuesday said
>Shoemaker, who is head of the General Motors and Delphi departments,
>painted a pessimistic picture that a negotiated settlement with Delphi
>could be reached before the end of June. He declined to be named.
>
>Delphi, which put its U.S. operations in Chapter 11 bankruptcy
>protection in October, has petitioned the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New
>York to terminate its labor agreements with its six unions, including
>the UAW. The first hearing on the matter is scheduled for May 9.
>
>The UAW has said that it will strike if the court terminates the
>agreements. GM is trying to help resolve the dispute by offering
>buyouts to its 113,000 UAW workers and paying for the buyout of up to
>13,000 Delphi workers. Another 5,000 Delphi workers could flow back to
>GM, Delphi's former parent.
>
>Delphi's second-largest union, the IUE-CWA, saw its 8,500 Delphi
>members approve a strike-authorization vote earlier this year. Before a
>strike is approved, members of the electronics union will be polled
>again for approval.
>
>The union official said Shoemaker informed the local presidents that
>12,000 GM workers had signed up for the buyout since the automaker
>began offering them in April. The new deadline for taking the buyout is
>June 23, with workers having an additional seven days to change their
>minds and rescind the buyout.
>
>GM intends to cut its hourly U.S. work force by 30,000 by 2008. GM
>spokeswoman Katie McBride declined to confirm the 12,000 buyout figure
>announced by Shoemaker.
>
>The buyout packages range from a lump-sum payment of $35,000 to coax
>hourly workers with 30 years' seniority to retire to a lump sum of
>$140,000 for workers with more than 10 years' seniority but less than
>27 years who are willing to give up rights to post-retirement health
>care and other benefits.

 

This is bad on so many levels

 

If the UAW goes on strike for any extended period of time against Delphi, a whole cascade of events will happen.

One of them will be the end of the UAW as we know it. Could they possibly be that stupid.

 

Unions always have strike votes going into a major contract talk. It basically shows the company that there is solidarity throughout the brotherhood. Expect it to pass, but it doesn't really mean they are going to strike.

 

Agree.

 

I normally would agree, too, but both parties in this situation seem to be more than happy to drive this bus off the cliff.

 

every time a contract is up, the unions will ALWAYS vote to aurhorize a strike and it ALWAYS passes. its common sense, if you dont authorize a strike, what barginaning power do you have?

 

Lets say they do actually strike, does that mean that Delphi can basically start hiring replacement workers and never bring the Union guys back in?

 

I definetely agree with you about driving the bus off the cliff. The last thing Delphi needs right now is a strike.

TS