• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Detroit Free Press Tom Walsh Column: Disastrous Strike Can Be Avoided

Posted on: Friday, 31 March 2006, 06:00 CST

By Tom Walsh, Detroit Free Press

Mar. 31--Relax. Armageddon is not yet upon Detroit and its shaky automotive industry.

So what if Delphi Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Miller files a motion in bankruptcy court today, as expected, asking for permission to void Delphi's labor contracts?

So what if UAW leaders threaten a strike that could destroy Delphi and cripple its biggest customer, General Motors Corp.?

I repeat: Relax, because until the last moment before the clock strikes 12 -- and we're not there yet -- UAW leaders must raise a ruckus to show rank-and-file workers that they are squeezing every possible penny out of Delphi and GM.

But union leaders will not strike Delphi. Here's why:

* First, it's too risky to the future of the UAW, already weakened by its failure to organize foreign-owned car plants in the United States, and by its loss of sway over most U.S. auto parts suppliers. What if Delphi collapses, triggering the bankruptcy of its former parent GM? What possible good could come of that for the union or its members?

* Second, there's no bedrock principle to uphold. The UAW has negotiated contracts with other auto parts companies that pay workers less than $16.50 per hour, the wage that Delphi wants to phase in for workers in a two-step reduction from $27. There's even precedent for the UAW agreeing to 50% wage reductions. It did so in 2002 at a New Castle, Ind., parts plant when Metaldyne bought it from DaimlerChrysler.

In any case, there's no pressing need for a dramatic immediate UAW response to Delphi's bid to toss out existing contracts, because there wouldn't be a bankruptcy hearing on Delphi's motion until May 9, after which the judge could take a month or more to render a decision.

In the Northwest Airlines bankruptcy case, the company petitioned Oct. 12 to void its union contracts, but 5 1/2 months later, the judge hasn't ruled on Northwest's motions. Talks between the airline and its unions are still going on.

Some auto industry observers suggest that UAW leaders might want to delay finalizing a new labor pact with Delphi until after the union's convention in mid-June, when UAW President Ron Gettelfinger stands for re-election and a new slate of vice presidents will be chosen. The deep wage and benefits cuts proposed by Delphi have made this a hot-potato issue within the union, spawning a militant internal faction called Soldiers of Solidarity, which has advocated strikes or work slowdowns if the company doesn't soften its demands.

But UAW spokesman Paul Krell told me Thursday, "Anyone who thinks our strategy is to delay until after the convention doesn't know Dick Shoemaker or Ron Gettelfinger at all."

Shoemaker, 66, who will retire in June as the UAW vice president for GM and Delphi matters, "is not someone who will put things off and leave this for someone else to deal with," Krell said.

Although Delphi's actions today may not trigger a nuclear showdown with the UAW, they could inflame the already raw relationship. Just a week after GM, Delphi and the UAW jointly hammered out a complex deal to offer buyouts to 13,000 Delphi workers and options for another 5,000 to flow back to jobs at GM, the union views Delphi's move to scrub existing contracts as a slap in the face.

From a historical perspective, such irritation is hardly surprising, given the long adversarial relationship between the UAW and GM, which spun off its Delphi components operation as a separate company in 1999. Alfred Sloan, the legendary former CEO who ran GM as either president or chairman from 1923 to 1956, was famously antiunion.

"Sloan really never got over the sit-down strikes of 1936 and '37. He never met with a union representative in his entire life," said William Pelfrey, author of a new book on GM's formative years titled "Billy, Alfred and General Motors" (See related story, Page 10A.)

Union-management relations were always testy, even as GM rose to become the world's largest company.

For union members, Pelfrey said, "It was almost a given that you always mistrust anything the company's going to say or do and you have an obligation to be militant in a sense and try to defy the company. ... That attitude was almost institutionalized. It lingers today."

It certainly lingers in the UAW-Delphi relationship.

But there's still time to avoid a disastrous war.

"In today's crisis," Pelfrey said, "lies opportunity."

Will those attitudes finally change?

The future of the union, Delphi and GM depend on it.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, Detroit Free Press

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

NYSE:DPH, NYSE:GM, Unknown:MYN, NYSE:DCX, NASDAQ-NMS:NWACQ,

Source: Detroit Free Press

More News in this Category