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Wisconsin IBEW Members
Fight Delphi Concessions

November 14, 2005

The bankruptcy of Delphi, a major U.S. auto parts producer, formerly owned by General Motors, has been widely covered in the national news. Among the over 33,000 members of other unions who are facing drastic demands for concessions in wages and benefits are 60 members of Milwaukee, Wisconsin IBEW Local 663, who work in two plants in Oak Creek, Wisconsin which are threatened to be shut down.

Read "Press Release" Below

To challenge Delphi's anti-union bankruptcy reorganization proposal, The IBEW has joined the Mobilizing @ Delphi Coalition consisting of the United Autoworkers, The United Steelworkers, the International Union of Electronic Employees (IUE-CWA), the International Association of Machinists and the Operating Engineers.

Steve Miller, Delphi's CEO, is demanding that unions agree to pay cuts of 60%, cutting base wages from over $27 per hour to $9.   In addition, Delphi wants to slash health care for active and retired workers.   Miller advocated for large bonuses to "key" management employees, saying that the sums were necessary to keep executives from leaving Delphi.

Miller's last CEO assignment was at Bethlehem Steel where he presided over the termination of medical benefits of tens of thousands of retirees and the take-over of the firm's pension plan by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

" Delphi ran this company into the ground," says Local 663 President and Business Manager Randy Middleton. "Miller's answer is to reward staff-level managers with big bonuses," says Middleton "Now, Miller is getting a lot of mileage out of his statement, 'I am working for $1 per year.'" What he "forgets" to tell the media, says Middleton is that he is keeping his multi-million dollar signing bonus and "intends to reap another one when this is over."Middleton posted a letter at Delphi's work site from Steelworkers President Leo Gerard to Miller refuting the CEO's version of events at Bethlehem Steel.
(Read The Gerard Letter).

The fight over concessions at Delphi, which is still closely tied to General Motors, will be a watershed event in U.S. labor relations.  First, the level of concessions, if granted is unprecedented.   Second, the threatened outsourcing of auto parts production would set in motion a serious drain of jobs, destroying dozens of working class communities. Third, if workers are forced to strike, the consequences for the entire U.S. auto industry could be serious.

Delphi's IBEW-represented work force consists of inside wiremen and meter maintenance technicians, who maintain equipment for production of lock brake assemblies, transmission control modules and catalytic converters.

The Delco Electronics plant, now Delphi E&S lock brake assembly plant was organized by IBEW in 1950. The plant producing catalytic converters, formerly AC Spark Plug, was organized in 1974.

Delphi demands that its concessionary proposal be ratified by mid-December, or the firm will ask the bankruptcy court to set aside current contracts covering 24,000 autoworkers, 8,000 members of IUE-CWA, 1,000 steelworkers and 120 members of the IAM, Operating Engineers and IBEW.

Local 663 members, already deeply concerned about their futures, were shaken by an internal Delphi document that was cited in a Detroit News story during the first week of November.   The document revealed that the Oak Creek electronics and safety division plant was listed among plants to be shut down.

Middleton told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "It's ugly every way you look at it...Before I sit down at the table and negotiate concessions; I need to know this plant is going to be here.   I'm not going to sit down and give stuff up just to have a closing." If either Oak Creek plant shuts down, reasons Middleton, the other will be in greater jeopardy because joint efficiencies would be lost.   Since IBEW members do not have transfer rights to other Delphi plants, they could be facing unemployment.

Fifteen members of Local 663 are ready to retire, says Middleton.   The company's position is that if they retire now, they will receive no life insurance or health care.   Retirees are flooding phone lines to the union hall expressing their fears over potential termination of their medical benefits.

"Some of our members still don't believe that it will do any good to write to Congress and push for measures to stop the exodus of jobs from our communities," says Middleton.   "I don't think that we have any choice," he adds. "Things need to change or what Delphi is doing is going to go right down the line as other manufacturers file for bankruptcy to break union contracts."

"Delphi took profits out of Wisconsin to build plants in China and Mexico," says Local 663 member, Paul Andrews, a 27-year electronic instrumentation maintenance technician at Delco. When he was first hired, Delco was producing profitable guidance systems for Boeing 747 aircrafts.   "General Motors sold the business to Litton Industries," he said.

Andrews recalls how Toyota urged Delphi to build engine controllers in Wisconsin, rather than relocating to Mexico.   The Delco plant currently produces Toyota systems which are shipped to Japan for installation.   Despite the high-quality work, he is concerned that "our Oak Creek plants are small and could be on Delphi's hit list."

In addition to the Wisconsin workers, Delphi employs members of Evansville, Indiana IBEW Local 16 in a foundry that remains under General Motors ownership.

Unions Form Mobilizing@Delphi Coalition
Monday November 7, 11:02 am ET

DETROIT , Nov. 7 / PRNewswire/ -- Pledging a strong coordinated fight against Delphi Corp.'s assault on working families and their communities, six unions representing some 33,650 Delphi workers -- and a total of more than 5.5 million active and retired members -- today announced that on Nov. 3 they formed the Mobilizing@Delphi coalition.

The Mobilizing@Delphi coalition brings together the memberships of the UAW, IUE-CWA, United Steelworkers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), and International Union of Operating Engineers.

In announcing the coalition, the six unions issued the following joint statement:

"We are outraged by Delphi's attempt to use the bankruptcy process to dictate the radical destruction of the living standards of America's industrial workers, while at the same time it plans to reward some 500 'key employees' with up to 10 percent of the company's stock and cash bonuses totaling $87.9 million once Delphi emerges from bankruptcy.

"Delphi's contract proposals to our unions, together with CEO Steve Miller's public statements, clearly reveal senior management's contempt and disdain for the hard-working people who have played a vital role in making Delphi the world's leading automotive parts manufacturer. They have worked hard and played by the rules, but now they find everything they've worked for put at grave risk by years of corporate mismanagement, some of which is under investigation by the SEC, and by Miller's slash-and-burn restructuring strategy.

"The 33,650 Delphi workers represented by our six unions are on the front lines of this critical struggle, but they are not alone; they have the full support and solidarity of the more than 5.5 million active and retired members of our unions. Together we will do everything possible to make sure their rights and interests are protected.

"We also recognize that many others have a stake in this fight. If Steve Miller's actions in the Bethlehem Steel bankruptcy are any indication, Delphi's salaried employees will soon be targets of his strategy as well. Workers at Delphi's suppliers and customers will be affected. Delphi shareholders will be left holding worthless scraps of paper. And Delphi's plan to close numerous plants and tech centers in the United States will have a ripple effect, hurting small businesses and state and local governments.

"Make no mistake: While this is a fight for fairness for our members at Delphi, it is also a fight for fairness for all Delphi stakeholders, with a broader impact on the very concepts of fairness and opportunity in American society. In the days and weeks ahead, the Mobilizing@Delphi coalition will be reaching out to all these Delphi stakeholders in our campaign to get Delphi off the disastrous course plotted by its senior management.

"In his recent media interviews, Steve Miller has tried to make it seem that his way is the one true way. We reject that arrogant and misguided notion. Our unions have demonstrated time and again our willingness and ability to develop innovative, effective and fair approaches to solving problems."

Source: Mobilizing@Delphi Coalition