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Delphi demands US auto workers accept poverty wages
Delphi Corporation, the largest American automotive parts maker, outlined a series of unprecedented rollbacks in the wages, benefits and working conditions of its 34,000 unionized workers and 12,000 retirees in the US, in a confidential letter sent to the United Auto Workers union on October 21. The proposal, which was posted last week on a web site belonging to UAW Local 292 in Kokomo, Indiana, sets a new benchmark for the drastic lowering of living standards for workers in the auto industry and throughout the US economy.
Citing the need to rid themselves of “uncompetitive labor agreements”, Delphi executives are demanding:
* A 65 percent wage cut for production workers, including a pay reduction for current workers from $27 an hour to as low as $9.50. New-hires will see starting wages lowered from $14 an hour to as low at $9 an hour.
* An end to traditional overtime pay. Overtime will no longer be paid after an eight-hour day, but only after working more than a 40-hour week. Cost-of-living adjustments and profit-sharing will be eliminated.
* A tenfold increase in out-of-pocket health care expenses for employees, including the imposition of insurance deductibles for the first time. Employee medical payments will be increased from the current $250 for an individual and $500 for a family to $2,500 and $5,000 respectively. Vision and dental insurance will be eliminated.
* The freezing of pension benefits. No new pension plan participants will be accepted after January 1. Retirement benefits will be slashed to reflect lower wage rates. Medical benefits for retirees will be eliminated.
If accepted, the company’s wage demands alone would drive thousands of Delphi workers and their families into poverty. At $9 an hour, many Delphi workers would make $18,720 a year, more than $600 below the federal poverty line for a family of four. The median household income in Michigan, home of 14,700 Delphi workers, is $44,315, according to the most recent census data.
In addition to historic wage cuts, the company is demanding increases in productivity, the elimination of four paid holidays, and the reduction of vacations from a maximum of five weeks a year to four weeks. Commenting on this demand, Delphi CEO Robert “Steve” Miller said, “If you want 10 weeks of vacation, fine, but you’re looking at a $5 wage.”
Read More
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/nov2005/delp-n01.shtml
* A 65 percent wage cut for production workers, including a pay reduction for current workers from $27 an hour to as low as $9.50. New-hires will see starting wages lowered from $14 an hour to as low at $9 an hour.
* An end to traditional overtime pay. Overtime will no longer be paid after an eight-hour day, but only after working more than a 40-hour week. Cost-of-living adjustments and profit-sharing will be eliminated.
* A tenfold increase in out-of-pocket health care expenses for employees, including the imposition of insurance deductibles for the first time. Employee medical payments will be increased from the current $250 for an individual and $500 for a family to $2,500 and $5,000 respectively. Vision and dental insurance will be eliminated.
* The freezing of pension benefits. No new pension plan participants will be accepted after January 1. Retirement benefits will be slashed to reflect lower wage rates. Medical benefits for retirees will be eliminated.
If accepted, the company’s wage demands alone would drive thousands of Delphi workers and their families into poverty. At $9 an hour, many Delphi workers would make $18,720 a year, more than $600 below the federal poverty line for a family of four. The median household income in Michigan, home of 14,700 Delphi workers, is $44,315, according to the most recent census data.
In addition to historic wage cuts, the company is demanding increases in productivity, the elimination of four paid holidays, and the reduction of vacations from a maximum of five weeks a year to four weeks. Commenting on this demand, Delphi CEO Robert “Steve” Miller said, “If you want 10 weeks of vacation, fine, but you’re looking at a $5 wage.”
Read More
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/nov2005/delp-n01.shtml
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