Delphi Bankruptcy Recovery Plan Hits a "Snag"
If anyone has a spare $6.1b or so laying around, former GM division Delphi would like you to give them a call. According to the Detroit News, that's how much dinero the struggling parts maker needs to exit bankruptcy. However, because of the poor credit market, they're having trouble raising the money. If they don't get it, they'll have to rework their plan and head back to bankruptcy court– and continue paying professional and legal fees totaling around $10m per month. Delphi has few options; they're probably asking GM to foot the bill or using pension funds in return for a stake in the company. Despite GM's insistence that they're sitting on a healthy cash pile, the beleaguered automaker's hardly in a position to shell-out that kind of "investment." As far as using pension funds in concerned, Ron Gettelfinger is opposed. Even though the United Auto Workers (UAW) boss has had no discussions with GM or Delphi on the matter, Automotive News [AN, sub] reports that Gettelfinger asserted "we're not going to let Delphi rape a pension fund." You might wonder if Big Ron should have added "That's OUR job," but I couldn't possibly comment.
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Is their any evidence of the UAW engaging in corruption with pensions funds? I have never heard any incidents. The anti-union comment at the end of this blurp seems not only out place but in poor taste. Unions exist so workers DONT get "raped".
kovachian: the only thing worse than a union is not having one. Say goodbye to your reasonable 40 hour work week, your health care, all the other things Unions have negotiated for throughout their history. Yes, corrupt people get put in charge of unions, and they destroy people's lives, but by the same token, corrupt people are put into office in the U.S. every year as well and they are trying to destroy all our lives. Go rail against them, or man up and do something to change the system for the better.
The Delco-Remy plant where my pop worked, paid janitors $14 an hour. Isn't that awesome? To take out trash, push a mop around, toss a few urinal cakes and other facile tasking and be paid more than twice that of actual market value. DAMN! That's gotta be the life. Well, that is until GM packs their bags and closes every one of their factories in your town. Rats. Must've been nice while it lasted. Does a work force who averages $29.75 an hour really need their health care costs taken care of for them? I've pondered this question for some time. From an employer's perspective, to pay a worker that much AND cover all the health care bills seems like a bit of a burden on payroll don't you think? No wonder so much manufacturing has gone overseas. If the UAW keeps this up they'll ALL price themselves out of a job at some point. You say I should man up and do something to change the system, and one could say that I have: I left it and never looked back. This may not "change the system" by the conventional definition but it certainly changed it from where I stand. I was doing nothing but manual labor jobs for my entire working life. From flipping burgers in high school, to several factory jobs, enlisting in the Navy, wrenching on cars at dealerships, grunt work is all I ever knew. This is precisely what gave me the motivation to get my ass in college, get that degree that I wanted, and leave the slave-labor environment once and for all. Nothing against those who choose to stay, but it's not for me. Perhaps some former workers would like to try the same and pay for it with some of that generous $30/hour savings.