TTAC Called It: Delphi "Involuntarily Separates" 600 Employees by 2009

by Robert Farago

Published: August 18th, 2008

ttac called it delphi involuntarily separates 600 employees by 2009

Our Wild Ass Rumor was three days early, but accurate. Our source inside the former GM division and bankrupt autoparts maker reports that the company has told its workers that 600 white collar Delphinians– in the Electronics and Safety organization– will be shown the door by the end of the year. (The total number employed thereabouts is 3k.) Delphi will identify the 600 puntees by the end of this month [August]. And despite previous promises, the pension freeze is now "independent of bankruptcy emergence." And when might THAT be? Our source says there were "no warm fuzzies on when we could expect to emerge." The Delphi wound continues to fester, only more so.

Robert Farago

More by Robert Farago

Comments

Join the conversation

4 of 17 comments

John Horner on Aug 19, 2008

Nobody gets fired or laid off any more ... they get "separated"? The Delphi fiasco is just one part of the long saga of the Decline and Fall of General Motors.

Like Reply
Nudave on Aug 19, 2008

Perhaps the best and brightest should familiarize themselves with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' book "On Death and Dying". Ususally thought of as a description of the stages through which people pass in dealing with great personal loss, such as unemployment or terminal disease, the Kübler-Ross Model might provide some lessons for the automakers formerly known as the "Big Three", and the suppliers. Those steps are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I suspect the management of these companies is still in the denial stage, whereas their employees have clearly progressed to anger.

Like Reply
Mikey on Aug 19, 2008

Well said!: LUMBERGH 21 I can only hope that the salary workers saw this coming,and they are patching the lifeboats. My lifeboat is made from duct tape and particle board.If I end up with 50% of my hourly pension I think she will be seaworthy. If GM croaks Oshawa will make Flint look like a booming economy,and I mean no disrespect to the good people of Flint.

Like Reply
Anonymous on Aug 19, 2008
Ok. Management deserves lumps. Does the UAW share any responsibility? 1 percent? 10 percent?!? I am by no means a fan of the UAW or modern unions in general, but the management deserves 100% of the "credit" for ruining the company. Without them agreeing to ridiculous union contracts, many of the things we point to as completely assinine and wrong with the union and union workers wouldn't exist. Does this mean that I think the union did a wonderful job for the employees of GM, et. al.? Hardly, but the buck stops with the company management. And, my main point was that the management that caused this mess is not having to suffer any of the repurcussions from their decisions. They seem to be completely isolated from the mess that they've created. At least the union bosses are having their livelihood threatened as well in the form of reduced union membership and, therefore, total dues coming into the union, despite increased dues per member.

Like Reply