Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

Lede: The UAW is preparing to face the Big Three at the bargaining table after Delphi workers accept steep wage and

benefits cuts. Doug Cunningham has more on the story.

By Doug Cunningham

UAW workers at Delphi approved a concessionary contract with Delphi Friday by a vote of 68 to 32 percent, according to the union. The contract slashes wages from a high of $27 to as low as $14 for new hires. It’s the most serious wage and benefits concessions the United Auto Workers has ever granted an auto industry company. It ends the jobs bank, a system that paid laid off workers at nearly their regular employed pay rate.

This concessionary agreement comes as the UAW faces new labor contract talks with GM, Ford and Chrysler, who almost certainly will be pressing for major concessions as well. Acceptance of these terms is a watershed moment in the union’s auto industry history and sets a pattern other companies will want to adopt, driving down auto industry wages and benefits standards that took decades to build up.

The UAW isn’t talking publicly about what will be on the table at the auto talks, but health care, wage and benefits

concessions are near the top of the companies’ wish lists.