UAW numbers dwindle with buyouts

Business

September 20, 2006

BY ERIC DUVALL The Tonawanda News Wed Sep 20, 2006, 01:22 PM EDT

The Delphi unit of UAW Local 686 has seen its membership decline by 700 full-time workers since the auto parts supplier filed for bankruptcy last year.

That number balloons to 1,300 if temporary employees, who are technically considered union members for the term of their employment at the company, are taken out of the equation. The union’s current enrollment at the Delphi plant is around 2,500, Unit One President Paul Siejak said Tuesday.

Despite the decline, which comes after two separate attrition plans aimed at buying out hourly workers put into place at the plant, Siejak said he remains bullish on the odds that his membership will make a rebound.

“We’re very hopeful and optimistic,” he said. “(With) all the incentives, once they emerge from bankruptcy, we can start growing the business. We’re so tied to the hip, 96 percent of our products go to GM, (then) we can diversify to other manufacturers so we’re not at the whim of just one customer.”

Delphi spokesman Lindsey Williams said the company won’t be confirming any buyout numbers for this most recent deadline until at least Monday, when a revocation period expires.

“Because the numbers may change substantially, we are not providing preliminary data prior to the end of the revocation period,” Williams said in an e-mail.

Williams added the company won’t be disclosing any figures on specific plants and the amount the company is saving as the older workers, who make $27 per hour plus benefits, retire. The temporary workers replacing some of the senior staff exiting make $14 an hour and have a reduced benefit package, a deal governed by a side deal with the UAW.

Williams did say that because the Lockport plant is still a money-loser, any savings would not be counted as profits for the site.

“As it relates to Lockport, the site is in a loss position, so any labor improvement would offset losses,” Williams said.

The fate of the temporary workers, which Williams said will continue to be hired as production requirements dictate, is still unclear. Siejak said he hopes that many are eventually offered full time positions, provided that production at the plant picks up.

Lockport’s Thermal Systems plant manufactures parts for heating and cooling units and was selected as one of eight the company plans to keep open once it emerges from bankruptcy.

“There’s going to be a need to run numbers,” Siejak said. “I’m optimistic and confident these people will be offered a permanent position at some point.”

Contact Eric DuVall at 439-9222, Ext. 6251.

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