IUE-CWA Begins Strike Vote, Prepares for Delphi Rally

IUE-CWA members at Delphi Corp began taking a strike vote on Feb. 23, two days prior to a massive rally planned for Saturday in Warren, Ohio. There, union leaders will give voice to workers' growing anger at the lack of movement by Delphi to moderate wage and benefit cutbacks demanded earlier by the bankrupt company.

CWA President Larry Cohen, IUE-CWA President Jim Clark and IUE-CWA Automotive Conference Board Chairman Henry Reichard will address the rally.

IUE-CWA retirees, UAW locals and USW locals are also expected to turn out for the rally, organized by IUE-CWA Local 84717.

IUE-CWA represents about one-fourth of Delphi's 33,000 hourly employees. The strike vote began with Local 84755 members at the company's Kettering, Ohio, plant, and will continue in coming weeks at seven other plants that employ IUE-CWA members.

Locals are continuing mobilization activities at all plants as the union awaits an improved offer for a modified contract based on a commitment of assistance to bankrupt Delphi by General Motors Corp.

Every Thursday, said IUE-CWA Automotive Conference Board Chairman Henry Reichard, "There has been a tremendous show of solidarity. Our plants are a sea of red. Our members are wearing red t-shirts that say 'Our Jobs/Our Dignity.'"

On Dec. 19, Delphi withdrew a proposal to cut wages to $12.50 an hour, freeze the pension plan and eliminate retiree health care. And on Feb. 17, for the third time, the company pushed back the date on which it will petition the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to nullify its current union contracts if an agreement is not reached, this time to March 31.

"IUE-CWA applauds Delphi's decision," Reichard stated. "With all the stakeholders now fully engaged, it gives us the opportunity to work through these very complex and very difficult issues."

Any improvement to Delphi's last offer, he said, will require help from General Motors," Reichard said. "They accept that. They want to keep Delphi a viable company."

He said help from GM could come in the form of wage subsidies, price supports and accelerated attrition, or early retirement, plans. GM assumed responsibility to guarantee Delphi pensions when it spun off the parts manufacturer in 1999.