Delphi bankruptcy: TV rptr digs deep, rips management -- video

[Bozita]

I just saw this. WOW!


text and video available:
http://www.wxyz.com/wxyz/ys_investigations/article/0,2132,WXYZ_15949_4454623,00.html

By Steve Wilson
Web produced by Sarah Morgan
February 9, 2006

These are desperate days at Delphi, the giant auto parts company that was once a unit of General Motors. Nobody disputes there’s plenty of heartache ahead for Delphi workers, but who’s being expected to shoulder the lion’s share of the sacrifice?

It wasn’t that long ago we saw K-Mart workers and investors on the short end of the stick while executives went away with millions. It’s the same kind of complaint we’re hearing from Northwest and other airline workers and now Delphi, too.

It’s not that American workers like these don’t understand the deep trouble their bankrupt employer is in, they just don’t agree that they’re at all responsible.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said, "Why would we share a responsibility? We’re not the ones that make the decisions but we’re the ones who suffer from poor decisions."

"And the one’s who make the decisions?" said disgusted workers. "Just see if bankruptcy has grounded them from still flying high in the corporate jets."

See if it’s slowed down CEO Steve Miller from being squired around town in the backseat of a top-of-the-line BMW, symbolism that American autoworkers find particularly galling. Action News Investigative reporter Steve Wilson caught Mr. Miller in the backseat of a 7-series Beamer leased by Delphi being chauffeured home after just stepping off a private jet from Switzerland.

more...

[SoCalDem]

1. Robber Barons always land on the top of the heap

The peasants are left to their own misery..

[JohnnyRingo]

2. I'm a Delphi retiree here in NE Ohio

Which is just another way of saying "I'm between jobs".

thanx for this article, I'm sending it to some friends who remain at work.

I was talking to someone last night at a bar. He said things there have changed dramatically in that they now seem intent on firing people or getting them to quit. He claims a hostile work environment as management heads are on the chopping block and demands for increased production flow down the chain of command.

Though my pension is probably history, my greater concern is for the community here in Warren OH and those who are young with families whose lives will be thrown into desperation over corporate mismanagement.

Next Friday the company is expected to ask the court to void all agreements with the union and retirees, but I hold certain hope that the union will not just "go away peacefully", and will indeed strike.

Threats from Miller that "a strike would be a mistake" have proved ineffective as General Motors has no other major supplier for their wiring harnesses and a Delphi strike would shut them down in a matter of weeks due to "just in time" business model which doesn't allow for stockpiling of parts.

GM has already pulled the reins in on Miller once already a couple weeks ago when he told union workers that he would offer only $6-$8 per hour and the union informed him of the intent to strike....He came back the next day and said "he was a bit hasty" in that offer. (I believe he received a call from GM explaining that this was NOT a good reason to shut down car lines).

Setting up another company to shadow Delphi in production would take years, if it's possible at all considering the huge production numbers involved. In the end Steve Miller will be forced to negotiate.

On edit:
Warren ohio is the historical base of Packard Electric from which Delphi spun and is home to 4000+ employees. At it's peak in the 70s more than 10,000 people worked here before the jobs began moving south.

[Bozita]

3. Good, informative post!

Thanks for sharing that.

[Blue_Tires]

4. wow....

first story of its kind that i've seen that DOESN'T blame the UAW for every little thing that has happened

[Bozita]

5. Catch the video. The reporter is taking no prisoners.

[Bozita]

6. Bankruptcy Court allows $38 MILLION in exec bonuses

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060211/BUSINESS01/602110370/1014/BUSINESS

TROUBLED AUTO SUPPLIERS: Delphi wins court OK on executive salaries

$38 million to retain top bosses

BY JASON ROBERSON
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

February 11, 2006


Delphi Corp. can give its executives as much as $38 million in bonuses to keep them from leaving at the same time the auto supplier wants to cut the jobs of 24,000 hourly workers and pay remaining workers less than half their wages. Late Friday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain authorized Delphi to make the payments over an objection by Delphi's creditors committee, which said Feb. 6 the compensation plan "is not a reasonable or justifiable exercise of business judgment."

Five unions, including the United Auto Workers, objected to the bonus plan and indicated that the executive bonuses would make it more difficult for Delphi to reach agreement on labor concessions.

Less than a week after filing for bankruptcy on Oct. 8, Delphi Chief Executive Steve Miller requested to implement a controversial employee compensation program to keep his management team intact. Investors, politicians and labor leaders vehemently opposed it.

Delphi is planning to make bonus payments of $21 million as part of its annual incentive program, which provides executives with bonuses equal to one-half of their current salary. Delphi still has the option of giving the other $17 million in executive bonuses.


more...



Delphi is planning to make bonus payments of $21 million as part of its annual incentive program, which provides executives with bonuses equal to one-half of their current salary. Delphi still has the option of giving the other $17 million in executive bonuses.