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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...

DETROIT -- The United Auto Workers and other unions opposed Delphi Corp.'s attempt to cancel its labor contracts in court filings Friday, saying the auto parts supplier has failed to prove it needs to slash workers' wages as part of its Chapter 11 restructuring. "This is a case in which the debtors have opted to place litigation before bargaining and to place confrontation before consultation," said the United Steelworkers, which represents about 1,000 of Delphi's 33,000 U.S. hourly workers. Unions aren't the only parties opposed to Delphi's motion. Appaloosa Management LP, a New Jersey-based hedge fund that owns 9.3 percent...

As fears grow that General Motors will go bust, management and unions are locked in a mournful embrace. “IN THIS case, it takes three to tango.” So said Rick Wagoner, the boss of General Motors (GM), this week—his re-working of an old cliché, capturing the contortions he is having to perform as he struggles to save the ailing giant of the car industry. Given its shrinking market share, GM would be hard enough to revive were it any firm in any industry. But GM is not any old firm, and designing more sellable cars is arguably the least of its...

Auto parts maker Delphi Corp. is free to move ahead on its plan to offer thousands of hourly employees the chance to retire, a bankruptcy judge ruled Friday, marking a key milestone in the company's effort to tame staffing levels amid falling production. The ruling allows Delphi, one of the world's largest suppliers of auto parts, to pay as many as 13,000 hourly employees to retire. Based in Troy, Mich., Delphi filed for bankruptcy protection in October and is trying to shed what it says are increasingly unsustainable labor agreements that have left it overstaffed and saddled with costly benefit...

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -- Delphi Corp. workers angered by the auto parts supplier's proposal Friday to close or sell many of its plants said the plan would ruin some employees' lives and hurt communities that rely on the facilities for jobs and tax revenues. ADVERTISEMENT "You're going to see the tumbleweeds," said Allen Huguely, who works at one of five Delphi plants in the Dayton area that employ 6,000. "This whole city is going to suffer." Delphi asked a federal bankruptcy court to void its labor contracts as part of a restructuring plan that includes selling or closing 21 of...

GM, Bondholders and Unions Attack Parts Maker's Plan To Shed Jobs, Contracts...UAW Threatens 'Long Strike' Delphi Corp. filed a radical reorganization plan that includes closing or selling most of its North American plants and slashing as many as 30,000 union and salaried jobs. The move sets in motion a power struggle as Delphi, its labor unions, and its largest customer, General Motors Corp., seek advantage in the auto-parts supplier's bankruptcy-court proceedings. Delphi also threw a big wrench into the restructuring plans of its largest customer, General Motors Corp., filing a motion to void more than $5 billion in contracts to...

DETROIT | Bankrupt supplier Delphi Corp. has identified 14 U.S. factories it will shed as part of its reorganization in another sign of how bloody the restructuring of the nation's largest auto parts maker is turning out to be. The Troy, Mich.-based parts maker — now with 28 U.S. plants and 33,000 hourly workers — intends to close all but four of 18 factories represented by the United Auto Workers after it emerges from bankruptcy, according to a UAW letter distributed this week to workers in Oak Creek, Wis.. Contents of the letter were confirmed by other local union officials...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Delphi announced plans Friday to throw out its union contracts and shed more than 28,000 workers as it shut down most of its U.S. operations -- moves that could spark strikes at the auto parts maker and a possible bankruptcy filing at its biggest customer, General Motors. Delphi (Research) filed motions with the federal judge overseeing its bankruptcy proceedings to shed contracts with the United Auto Workers union (UAW) and another union that it says it can no longer afford. It also announced plans to sell or close 21 of its 29 plants. But it said...

Delphi, UAW Brace For Collision Delphi Corp. and the United Auto Workers appeared to be on collision course as the union flatly rejected the company's latest contract proposal, which would have reduced by 18 percent the compensation of Delphi's workers to $22 per hour, starting July 1. Under terms of the deal, wages would have continued to drop, falling to $16.50 per hour in September 2007. The proposal, blasted by the union, also had not been approved by GM. Under the terms of the deal, GM would have had to underwrite a one-time $50,000 payment to Delphi workers to make...

DETROIT - In one of the largest buyout programs ever, more than 125,000 hourly workers of General Motors Corp. and auto supplier Delphi Corp. are being offered up to $140,000 to give up their jobs to help cut the companies' crippling labor costs. GM did not say how many workers it expected to accept the offer, but it is aiming to slash 30,000 hourly jobs by 2008. Some workers wasted no time in declaring the deal "fantastic" and started calculating what they would get, based on years of service, if they accepted the offer. GM and Delphi have said that...

DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors Corp. and the auto parts supplier it once owned, Delphi Corp., announced deals Wednesday with the United Auto Workers that would offer buyouts to 13,000 hourly Delphi employees and up to 100,000 hourly GM workers represented by the United Auto Workers.GM workers will be eligible for payouts of between $35,000 and $140,000 depending on their years of service. At Delphi, up to 5,000 workers will be eligible to return to GM, Delphi's former parent, while 13,000 U.S. hourly workers will be eligible for a lump sum payment of up to $35,000 to retire.

General Motors is trying to stave off the possibility of collapse by thrashing out a last-minute job reduction plan with its former subsidiary and now major parts supplier, Delphi, and the powerful United Auto Workers union. The plan on the table is believed to involve offering up to 35,000 employees in both companies cash incentives of up to $35,000 (£20,000) to take early retirement. ...

Detroit - About one-third of the automotive parts industry is probably headed for bankruptcy. The chilling prediction comes from Sean McAlinden, chief economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. He spoke at a conference for automotive writers Saturday, a week before the North American International Auto Show opens to the public Jan. 14 at Detroit's Cobo Conference and Exhibition Center. Faced with financial hemorrhaging, automakers are paring down their number of suppliers and are working closer with the remaining companies to get a better handle on costs. Those suppliers in top market positions can invest in...

BEIJING, Dec. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- The largest Chinese auto supplier,Wanxiang Group, aims to take over the partial business of the U.S.-based auto supplier Delphi Corporation, which filed for bankruptcy two months ago, said the China Securities Journal on Wednesday. But the Wanxiang Group said it is still unclear whether it will succeed in the purchase, said the journal. Lu Guanqiu, chairman of the Wanxiang Group, affirmed the plan and said the two parties have started negotiating the purchase, said sources with the Wanxiang Group. Ni Pin, manager of Wanxiang America Corp., said the company plans to expand business in the...

Delphi Corp.'s proposed wage and benefit cuts have not factored in aid from General Motors Corp., which now gives the bankrupt company alternatives in its union labor talks, chief executive Steve Miller said on Thursday. The company's proposal has met stiff opposition from unions that represent nearly all of Delphi's 34,750 U.S. hourly workers and have formed a coalition to fight the terms, raising the possibility of a production-disrupting strike. "The prospects of additional financial support from General Motors has really changed the nature (of the discussions)," Miller told Reuters in an interview at Delphi headquarters. "The financial assistance will...

KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) -- At least a thousand people rallied in central Indiana against steep wage cuts proposed by auto parts manufacturer Delphi Corp., which has filed for bankruptcy protection. Workers say the proposed cuts -- from $27 an hour to between $10 and $12.50 -- are unfair, especially as Delphi has given bonuses to managers and other executives. United Auto Workers officials have said a strike against Delphi appears increasingly likely. "To the Delphi workers here and everyone else, there are 380,000 union workers in the state of Indiana who will march in this battle with you," said Indiana...

To some, turnaround specialist Robert S. "Steve" Miller is a straight-shooter. To others he's a trigger-happy cost-cutter bent on destroying the middle-class lifestyle enjoyed by Midwestern auto workers. Miller, who took over as chief executive of Delphi Corp. in July, may never be a household name like former Chrysler chief Lee Iacocca, but he could leave a larger, more lasting imprint on the U.S. auto industry. The drastic pay cuts he seeks at the auto-parts company could set the pattern for hundreds of thousands of workers and, his critics warn, help sink America's middle class. "The unpleasant truth about the...

Troubled U.S. automakers and their allies on Capitol Hill are seeking billions of dollars in aid from the federal government ranging from health coverage for their workers to extra tax write-offs for themselves. They're also asking for one rhetorical favor: Please don't call the requests a bailout. "I don't view it as a bailout," Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said. "We're not looking for a bailout," agreed William C. Ford Jr., chairman of Ford Motor Co. The "B" word has been taboo ever since Chrysler Corp., faced with impending insolvency, sought and narrowly won $1.5 billion in loan guarantees from...

Massive job cuts at General Motors, America's largest carmaker — coupled with the bankruptcy of Delphi, America's biggest autoparts maker — have provoked predictable handwringing from liberal pundits who worry that America is "losing its manufacturing base." But the wrenching change now buffeting the auto industry defies the usual press formulas. Just listen to Steve Miller a turnaround specialist who is steering Delphi's restructuring process. He exploded the myth of America's "endangered" union manufacturing jobs at his October press conference announcing Delphi's move into Chapter 11: "We cannot continue to pay $65 an hour for someone to cut the grass...

<p>INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana likes having the nation's highest portion of workers -- 20 percent -- in manufacturing, so five days before Delphi, the Michigan-based automobile parts manufacturer, entered bankruptcy, Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican who believes that ``conservatism can be active,´´ called Delphi. He praised Indiana as a paradise for even more Delphi operations than are already there.</p>