Micheline Maynard
[cfr. anche WSWS 05-11-01, Delphi chiede che i lavoratori dell’auto americani accettino salari da fame, di Jerry Isaacs]
La minaccia di Miller, assieme al pacchetto di generosi bonus ai dirigenti del gruppo di fronte a tagli salariali di 2/3 richiesti ai lavoratori, rischia di spingere i lavoratori a scioperare, con il coinvolgimento dei lavoratori di General Motors, di cui Delphi ha fatto parte fino al 1999.
Delphi non ritiene sarà necessario ricorrere ai crumiri come ha fatto Northwest Airlines per gli scioperi di agosto, dato che il sindacato dell’auto, UAW, intende limitare le proteste alla riduzione delle prestazioni sul luogo di lavoro al minimo richiesto contrattualmente.
Il presidente UAW, Gettelfinger, non ritiene possibile un accordo entro la data fissata dalla controparte; ha definito “ridicola” la richiesta di un salario complessivo orario di $21.
Nyt 05-11-23
Delphi Chief Fights Battle of Detroit
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
DETROIT, Nov. 22 – Robert S. Miller started off as the Oracle of Delphi, handing down dire pronouncements about the auto industry from his lofty post as chief executive of the parts supplier.
But with the Delphi Corporation in bankruptcy proceedings, Mr. Miller, known as Steve, has come charging down from the mountaintop to confront Delphi’s unions in a way that Detroit has rarely seen.
Calling to mind Gen. George S. Patton, or at least the movie version played by George C. Scott, Mr. Miller is embracing his combatant’s role, at least for the attention it is bringing to the crisis facing his industry.
"Somebody had to do this," Mr. Miller said in an interview last weekend. "If I have ended up where I am, the one who has to be a leader for change, I’ll keep talking."
He is doing plenty of that. Next month, Delphi is expected to ask a federal bankruptcy judge for permission to terminate contracts paying $64 an hour in wages and benefits combined, so that it can impose sharply lower rates.
Otherwise, says Mr. Miller, a veteran turnaround expert who took over Delphi in July, all of Delphi’s 34,000 hourly jobs in the United States are at risk.
He is confident – some might say overconfident – of victory. A ruling in Delphi’s favor is "a slam-dunk, given the financial condition of the company," Mr. Miller said.
Such comments are ruffling feathers in a city where the fashion has been to stress cooperation, even as plants are shut and jobs are cut.
"His demands are so extreme, and he insists on them, time after time after time," said Douglas A. Fraser, a former president of the United Automobile Workers union. "It contradicts the approach that almost every leader of every industry uses."
Indeed, Mr. Miller’s tough talk could send workers on a charge themselves – out to picket lines, crippling production not only at Delphi, the nation’s biggest auto parts company, but at General Motors, its biggest customer and the nation’s biggest auto company.
If that happens, Delphi has no secret plan to operate with replacement workers, as Northwest Airlines did when members of its mechanics’ union walked off in August. Nor does Mr. Miller expect to send production to plants outside the United States, so it can keep supplying G.M.
The reason, he said, is that "I am not expecting a strike, so there is no contingency plan."
In any event, he said, "It does no good to strike Delphi," adding: "Strikes achieve a union’s purpose only when there is a wealthy corporate parent. I don’t have billions, and I’m in bankruptcy."
Investors are far less persuaded. G.M. shares have been driven to new lows for the year by fears of a strike at Delphi, coupled with speculation that G.M. may join Delphi in Chapter 11[1] – a view that its embattled chief executive, Rick Wagoner, strongly disputed last week in a e-mail message to its 325,000 employees.
Even so, a grim Mr. Wagoner broke into a rare smile on Monday when asked if Mr. Miller’s candor about the auto industry crisis had helped deflect some of the flak aimed at Mr. Wagoner. A short while before, he had announced plans to close all or part of a dozen plants and eliminate 5,000 more jobs than the 25,000 previously announced.
"The comments that Steve has made about this industry have raised the level of concern," Mr. Wagoner said. Mr. Miller has assured him there will not be a strike, he said, and "we take confidence in Steve’s words, to us and the public."
While U.A.W. leaders also play down the likelihood of a walkout, Mr. Miller is raising their ire. Last week, the U.A.W.’s president, Ron Gettelfinger, said Mr. Miller’s demand that workers accept $21 an hour in wages and benefits was "ridiculous." Others have even more choice words.
Mr. Miller, interviewed by phone during halftime of Saturday’s Michigan-Ohio State football game, said he had received hundreds of e-mail messages from Delphi workers. Many told in aching detail why they and their families could not survive on less, and others told him off.
"The members are infuriated with the guy," said Mr. Fraser, the former U.A.W. president. In the early 1980’s, he played a major role in keeping G.M., Ford and Chrysler afloat, agreeing to historic wage cuts, pay freezes and other concessions.
Mr. Miller had better change tactics if he hopes for a similar result, Mr. Fraser said. For one thing, many union members are livid at an executive compensation package with hefty bonuses, which Mr. Miller contends are needed to keep top managers from leaving. The union sees them as an insult when Delphi is insisting that workers give up two-thirds of their pay and benefits.
Mr. Miller expresses sympathy for workers’ personal situations. But he said it was time that someone pointed out that they were making much more than their counterparts in other parts plants. Last week, Delphi sent journalists a multicolored chart, drafted from government statistics, depicting the lower wage rates in different parts of the United States.
"There is a certain degree of denial here," Mr. Miller said. He added: "It is very difficult to be the bearer of bad news
. But the only way to find the answers is to first understand the problem."
One answer could come through the bankruptcy process. If there is no agreement with unions by Dec. 16 – and Mr. Gettlelfinger said last week that one was unlikely by then – Delphi will file a motion in bankruptcy court to set aside its union contracts.
Arguments on the request would be heard in late January, with a ruling expected sometime in February, barring a deal between the sides. If a judge rules in Delphi’s favor, the company can terminate its contracts and impose lower terms.
Mr. Miller said that would not happen automatically, but he also said he did not think unions would let the situation reach that point. Instead, he said he expected the move to spur negotiations and lead to an agreement.
At the moment, however, it can be hard to see how auto, steel, electrical and other workers at Delphi can find any middle ground with Mr. Miller, who said he felt he had been "demonized" because of his drive for cuts.
But the trouble may all be worth it, for analysts theorize Mr. Miller’s next challenge could be the ultimate turnaround: G.M.
That seems a long shot for now, given that Mr. Wagoner said Monday that he had no plans to step down, G.M.’s board has repeatedly expressed confidence in him, and Mr. Miller says he is not interested.
"Not me – I’ve got a job. I would not want Rick’s job right now," Mr. Miller said.
Delphi, he said, had "one single, overarching issue" – reducing labor costs. Mr. Wagoner, he said, has to tackle G.M.’s overall costs, pension and health care deficits and roll out new cars and trucks to win back lost market share.
"Delphi’s problems are more urgent," Mr. Miller said. "G.M.’s are more serious."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times
[1] When a troubled business decides that it is unable to service its debt or pay its creditors, it can file (or be forced by its creditors to file) with a federal bankruptcy court for bankruptcy protection under either Chapter 7 or Chapter 11. A Chapter 7 filing means that the business intends to sell all its assets, distribute the proceeds to its creditors, and then cease operations. A Chapter 11 filing, on the other hand, is an attempt to stay in business while a bankruptcy court supervises the "reorganization" of the company’s contractual and debt obligations. The court can grant complete or partial relief from most of the company’s debts and its contracts, so that the company can make a fresh start. Often, if the company’s debts exceed its assets, then at the completion of bankruptcy the company’s owners (stockholders) all end up with nothing — all their rights and interests are terminated — and the company’s creditors end up with ownership of the newly reorganized company, in the hopes that it will eventually succeed financially as compensation for their losses. [N.d.T.]
