UAW asks GM to take on 7,000 Delphi workers

NEW YORK, Aug 26, 2005, Reuters reported that the United Auto Workers union has asked car maker General Motors Corp to take back up to 7,000 workers from Delphi Corp. to help struggling auto parts supplier Delphi's financial situation, according to a report Friday on the Wall Street Journal's Web site.

Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the Journal said the UAW is asking GM to take on the Delphi workers as part of the flow back agreements related to Delphi's spin-off from the car maker in 1999.

Representatives for the UAW and Delphi were not immediately available for comment.

A spokesman for General Motors, which has been in discussions with the UAW about healthcare issues, declined to say if it was in talks with the union about Delphi.

"We're in discussions with the UAW on healthcare but we're not really talking about what those discussions entail so I really can't comment," GM's Stefan Weinmann said on Friday.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said at a media event at his Detroit headquarters on Friday that GM would have to be part of any bailout agreement for Delphi.

Delphi's Chief Executive, Steven Miller, has said the largest U.S. auto parts supplier would consider filing for bankruptcy in the United States if the UAW and GM fail to move quickly to help it lower its U.S. factory wages and health-care expenses.

Under terms of its spinoff from GM, Delphi has a large unionized U.S. work force that is paid at an automaker wage and benefit rate, instead of the much lower rate standard for auto parts suppliers. Delphi also pays about 4,000 workers who are idle, logging about $100 million per quarter.

The flow back agreements mean that when job openings come up at GM, Delphi employees have the right to go back to GM.