DETROIT — Under normal circumstances, a request by union leaders to authorize a strike is routine. But the situation between the United Automobile Workers and the Delphi Corporation is anything but normal.þþThe U.A.W. said Wednesday that it had asked its 24,000 workers at Delphi, the auto parts supplier that is operating under bankruptcy protection, to vote by May 14 whether to give union leaders permission to call a strike. If union leaders were to order a walkout, not only would Delphi be severely affected, but so would General Motors, which could itself be forced to file for bankruptcy protection as a result, analysts say. þþG.M., which lost $10.6 billion last year, spun off Delphi in 1999 and remains its biggest customer. The request by Delphi's largest union came six days before a bankruptcy court hearing, scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday, on the company's request for permission to set aside its labor contracts and impose sharply lower wage and benefit rates. þþA ruling could come within about 30 days, but judges often delay a decision to encourage the two sides to reach a settlement.þþA strike vote is a procedural tool meant to give union officials clout in negotiations, although a U.A.W. spokesman said Wednesday that the two sides had been more focused on preparing for the coming court hearing than on negotiating in recent weeks.þþÿIt's the equivalent of putting a bullet in a chamber of a gun,ÿ said Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. þþDelphi has been pushing for sharply lower wages and benefits since it sought bankruptcy protection, but has put off filing a court motion several times while it continued talks with the U.A.W. On March 31, it proposed cutting U.A.W. members' wages by about $5 an hour, to $22.50, followed by a second cut to $16.50 an hour next year. þþThat assumes that G.M., which is liable for its former workers' pensions and retirement medical benefits, would provide $50,000 per worker to offset the cuts. If workers do not agree, or G.M. does not come up with the money, wages would fall to $12.50 an hour next year, Delphi said.þþAt the same time, Delphi said it planned to close 21 of its 29 factories in the United States and eliminate 20,000 of its 34,000 hourly jobs nationwide. þþThe U.A.W. expressed outrage, but union leaders held off seeking strike authorization, even though workers at the second-largest Delphi union, the International Union of Electrical Workers, have authorized their leaders to call a strike. þþThe request for a strike authorization was made Wednesday by Richard Shoemaker, the U.A.W. vice president in charge of talks at Delphi, at a meeting with local union leaders in Detroit.þþÿDick Shoemaker has said all along that he'd ask for a strike authorization vote when he thought the timing is right, and now he thinks the timing is right,ÿ said Paul Krell, a U.A.W. spokesman.þþBefore it filed its court motion, Delphi reached agreement with the U.A.W. and G.M. on a plan offering buyouts from $35,000 to $140,000 to all 113,000 hourly workers at G.M. and 13,000 Delphi workers, if they will leave their jobs. þþWorkers originally had 45 days from when their plant first received the buyout offer to decide on it. That meant most workers would have had to decide sometime by mid- to late May. But this week G.M. extended the deadline for all workers to June 23. They then have an additional seven days to change their minds.þþOn Wednesday, the U.A.W.'s president, Ron Gettelfinger, told Delphi union leaders that 12,400 workers at G.M. and 3,620 workers at Delphi had asked to take the buyouts, or 11 percent and 27.8 percent respectively, said Rob Betts, president of a U.A.W. local in Coopersville, Mich. þþMr. Gettelfinger did not say whether that was above or below expectations, he said.þþÿI don't think anybody thought we'd be able to judge how this program is being received until we get near the deadline,ÿ Mr. Betts said. He added: ÿMost people are going to wait. The people who already made a decision were going to retire anyway.ÿþþProfessor Chaison said Delphi might argue that it needed to cut workers' wages and benefits to make up the revenue it was losing from G.M. ÿEverything is going to fast-forward in this, and it's getting very, very dangerous,ÿ he said. þþ
Source: NY Times
