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IUE Negotiates Richest Packages Ever with Delphi, GM

16 November 1999

IUE Negotiates Richest Packages Ever with Delphi, GM; Significant Advances Made in Job Security

    TROY, Mich., Nov. 15 -- IUE negotiators are taking back to
their 20,000 members the richest contracts ever reached with Delphi Automotive
Systems and General Motors in the first negotiations since Delphi spun off
from GM, including significant advancements in job security.
    "IUE members have won historic agreements that give them their fair
share," said IUE-Delphi/GM Conference Board Chairman Harold E. Nichols, "The
wage and benefit increases will provide a better life for our members and
their families. Members will gain peace of mind from our breakthroughs on job
security. IUE members created the wealth and deserve to share in the
prosperity. The pacts demonstrate a cooperative, productive, mutually
respectful relationship where the members and the companies can both benefit.
We believe these agreements set the stage for a better future for everyone."
    At Delphi, job security coverage was expanded to members who previously
weren't eligible, and eligibility was accelerated for others. Members gain
full job protections when they reach six years of seniority. The package will
provide job security by November 2006 for 4,500 IUE members currently without
that protection. Financial commitments to job security exceed $260 million.
    At GM, negotiators doubled the opportunity for younger workers to advance
into positions protected with job security. The agreement fixes the number of
jobs with protected status at the current level -- roughly 2,000 at the Truck
and Bus plant in Moraine, Ohio -- and requires one-on-one replacement as
protected workers retire or otherwise leave the plant.
    Both proposed four-year contracts contain significant wage and benefit
improvements, as well as major increases for current and future retirees. The
tentative agreements feature a 3 percent base wage increase in each year of
the contract, a $1,350 lump-sum payment and an improved cost-of-living
formula.
    Ratification votes are expected to be completed by November 22 for Delphi
plants and November 23 for GM plants.