By DEREK R. SMITH and SCOTT SMITH, Kokomo Tribune staff writers
Gov. Mitch Daniels was to meet this morning with Delphi Electronics & Safety president Jeff Owens, one day after Kokomo's United Auto Workers Local 292 distributed a handout detailing the supplier's bankruptcy court proposal.
According to the documents, "low production" workers would be paid $9.50 an hour and "high production" workers would receive $10.50 an hour. Skilled tradesmen would earn $19 an hour.
New hires would make $9 an hour for high and low production, according to the handout. Skilled trades would make $18 an hour under the proposal.
Employees would pay a $900 individual and $1,800 family in-network medical deductible, according to the handout. Co-payment would be 25 percent, with an out-of-pocket maximum of $2,500 per individual and $5,000 per family.
For out-of-network providers, Delphi employees would have the same deductible, according to the handout. Co-payment would be 45 percent, with no out-of-pocket maximum.
"No UAW leader or member would agree to this ridiculous proposal," the document says. "UAW president Ron Gettelfinger and vice president Richard Shoemaker are outraged by this proposal."
"I'd lose everything I got," said Don Warnock, an hourly employee and Local 292 member. "I was making more money than that 6-and-a-half years ago, when I started. I'd lose my house, and I've got two vehicles. I'd lose both of them."
Warnock said the mood at the plant is grim.
"I was at Continental Steel when it went under," Warnock said, referring to the Kokomo steel operation that went bankrupt in 1986. "I saw what happened with that, and I'm afraid the same thing's going to happen here."
Daniels in town
Gov. Daniels, meanwhile, was expected to visit Delphi Electronics & Safety's Kokomo operations today, as state and local officials continue to discuss a possible incentive package to retain Delphi's presence in the City of Firsts.
Daniels' office announced Tuesday the governor will meet with Owens. Mickey Maurer, president of the state's economic development agency, and Mayor Matt McKillip will accompany the governor.
Jim Justice, a UAW 292 zone committeeman, said the proposal passed out at the plant Tuesday was an eight-page condensed version of the proposal presented in bankruptcy court.
He called the plan "preposterous," saying the union distributed the information over company objections because it would have been worse if employees had learned of the details through the media.
"They're trying to do away with everything we've got," Justice said. "It is making people sick. It's caused health problems for the employees because they're so worried. This is their livelihood."
Worker reaction
Justice said there are serious concerns about how some employees might react.
"With these types of attacks on our members, you never know what's going to happen out here. Today, with the way people are and the way people deal with things, you don't know what's going to come up. This is the type of hostile proposal that causes stuff like that."
Both Justice and Warnock said many employees are considering trying to find a job with General Motors; the union's collective bargaining agreement allows some Delphi employees the right to "flow back" to GM jobs.
Justice said the situation at Delphi would have an effect on the entire nation.
"We're going to go down the toilet," he said. "It's not going to stop with Delphi, it's going to hit everybody across the United States."
Justice said he has faith the UAW will fight the proposal, but said a strike is still considered an option of last resort.
"[The union] will do in the future what they have to do to survive here. They've always taken care of their people, and I look for them to continue to."
Delphi spokeswoman Claudia Baucus could not be reached.
Based in Troy, Mich., Delphi Corp. employs about 185,000 worldwide.
Kokomo is the world divisional headquarters of Delphi Electronics & Safety, one of six Delphi divisions. About 5,500 of the division's 29,900 employees work in Kokomo.
What they make now
Local hourly workers make $24 to $27 an hour. Benefits about double the value.
Kyle Tolliver, an hourly worker, said Tuesday he had not seen the Local 292 handout, but he's interested to see what it says. He said earning $9 an hour -- what he would make under the company proposal -- would represent a 70 percent cut in pay.
"To me, that's a slap in the face. It's beyond ridiculous," he said.
Tolliver said he's been through negotiations before when the company "asked for the stars and the moon and you settled somewhere in between."
"I would put faith in the UAW and a little faith in the judicial system," he said.
©2005 The Kokomo Tribune.