SOS Delphi Contract Info

Live Bait & Ammo # WTF

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! Why should anyone vote for a wage cut? What sucker couldn’t see the hook in this worm? This isn’t a collective bargaining agreement, it’s a wholesale union bust. We fought for years to attain parity, cost of living, pensions, health care, thirty-and-out, and the Concession Caucus expects us to give it up so they can get back to licking the frosting off their fingers?

The Con Caucus helped Delphi clean house so new hires would be the controlling party. Great strategy. Except for one thing. They forgot to pay them off. They expect new hires to vote yes on a contract that gives them nothing, not even full cost of living? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

Contractual language is confounding, so keep it simple. “Traditional” skilled trades employees who do not take an hourly wage cut will be eligible for “a one time buy down payment of $10,000.”

Why? Because they will be “covered by the skilled trades wage and benefit provisions of the Supplemental Agreement.” In other words, they stand to lose a minimum of $10,000 dollars in health care benefits and COLA. Likewise, new hires can look forward to a lower standard of living. About $10,000 lower because........

“COLA adjustments shall be eliminated and replaced by Wage Formula increases....” Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! ...... either “a percentage equal to the greater of (a) the annual percentage increase in average hourly earnings, excluding overtime, of employees in the Manufacturing sector (BLS Series CEU3000000033) or (b) the annual percentage increase in the All Items, Less Medical, CPI-W Index (1982-84-100)”...... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! ...... “In the event a calculated increase exceeds 3.75%, wages will be increased by 3.75% and the parties will determine a mutually acceptable disposition of, the excess, guided by the twin goals [emphasis added] of enhancing UAW members’ job security and income security and the company’s competitiveness.”

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! Where does the Con Caucus get the phlegm to boost “twin goals” of job security and company competitiveness in light of the Delphi debacle? What next? You got it! Commitments from GM and Delphi to invest and award new product. They must think we’ve never been foxtrotted before. Jobs and investment commitments “are subject to change based on future program revisions, and are not financial or volume guarantees.” Just the tone is enough to burn a virgin’s ears.

Lest I forget to finger the hole in the donut, please note: item G on page 18 is “Intentionally Omitted.” Can’t get more transparent than nothing.

Back to murky basics. The old timers get a “soft landing” in a cow paddy so they don’t feel the barb in the hook until later, but the new hires are left with low pay, no pension, substandard health care, and a future full of diminishing expectations.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! What’s the pay off for new hires? You’re lucky to have a job? Ten plants will be closed. Seven plants will be sold. Only four plants will remain Delphi.

Here’s the worm. All temps will be made permanent so they will be eligible for severance of $1,500 per month of service up to $40,000. The majority of workers do not have a future with Delphi other than severance. There’s the future of the UAW: bargaining severance for workers who haven’t even started. Buy them off early and avoid late fees.

Is there anything in the contract that will sweep out the retirees who return as “contract” scabs and steal jobs from new hires? Currently retirees make more money sitting home than the new hires make working and when they return to Delphi they make $20 per hour — 25% more than new hires. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! There is language covering the double dippers.

“Employees who have accepted a Buy Out may be rehired as temporary employees to satisy any operating needs.......“The UAW and Delphi agree that temporary employees may be used to satisfy need-to-run requirements in plants that are considered ‘Wind Downs’, ‘Sell’, and ‘Footprint’. Temporary employees may be used in ‘Keep’ sites to bridge any difficulties arising from the implementation of the attrition portion of this Agreement.”

I love the way they punctuate convoluted legal jargon with “Wind Downs,” “Sell”, “Footprint,” and “Keep sites.” It’s so down homey I wanna blow my nose in a bandanna.

GM will provide opportunities for Delphi employees in Flint and Dayton to become GM employees in new SPO facilities “at the wage and benefit levels as contained within the the modified UAW-Delphi Supplemental Agreement.” It’s backdoor two tier for GM employees. Look out SPOs. The count down’s begun.

But here’s the dropkick: All the plants will “Conclude local COA negotiations within 60 days following ratification.” Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! We get gelded to boot.

* “Elimination of uncompetitive activities (direct and indirect): outsource/subcontract as required.”

* “Reduce skilled trades classifications”

“No restrictions on combinations of jobs”

* “Reduce production classifications to a minimum”

“No restrictions on combination of jobs.”

* “Reduce employee movement to protect quality of product and operating efficiencies.”

[In other words, limit shift preference, job preference, and basic seniority rights.]

* “No Fault Attendance Program”

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! We need to organize a union.

Read THE WHOLE CONTRACT @ www.soldiersofsolidarity.com

Click here to download Whiskey_Tango_Foxtrot.pdf

2007 Delphi-UAW Lowlights: Part 2

The Concession Caucus snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by claiming the company’s goals as their own. The Highlights claim: “The union was successful in gaining an agreement in which Delphi will retain ownership and operations in four facilities.” Precisely as Miller directed.

The Con Caucus alleges victory because they beat Miller to the punch and cut wages for new hires back in 2004. Thus, rather than portraying the glass as half empty and $12 short, the Con Caucus describes it as half full and $2 taller than a hypothetical mark.

“Your Union fought back Delphi’s all-out attack on the wages and benefits provided in the Supplemental Agreement.”

This “Supplemental Agreement” - (4.0 MB) to the 2003 National Contract was never ratified by UAW members. The “Supplement” was a prepackaged bankruptcy deal agreed to by the Con Caucus and Delphi. Big girls don’t fight.

The old warriors always said, “There’s nothing like a kick in the pants to straighten the spine and lift the chin.” Skilled trades whose wages were not cut in the deal left the meeting walking tall. And then, it dawned on them that the Con Caucus endorsement of non union style “Competitive Operating Agreements” will allow Delphi to outsource and subcontract as much as they please. If this agreement is ratified, most of the skilled trades will be pink slipped in short order along with the janitors, material handlers, and all other indirect labor.

Production workers in this UAW agreement will have their wages pegged to the non union benchmark. The UAW is now neck and neck with the unorganized in a race to the bottom. In an effort to pull ahead the Con Caucus shed the burdensome seniority rights sometimes referred to as “work rules”. The Con Caucus sees no reason why one person can’t do two jobs. After all, Con Caucus reps can talk out of both sides of their mouths at the same time.

In Flint and Dayton the Con Caucus threw bones to distract the pit bulls. But there wasn’t any meat on the bones. The opportunity to become a GM employee without a GM pension, GM health insurance, or GM wages only provoked a jerky hand motion.

Attachment B which specifies “detailed commitments” of the GM Benefit Guarantee is not available to members. I can’t imagine why such an important document is missing. But an empty holster never prevented a bullshitter from cocking his finger. The Con Caucus brags, “The proposed contract also triggers the GM Benefit Guarantee that we fought for and achieved in the 1999 national negotiations.”

If the Con Caucus had fought for us, our GM pension credits would never have been illegally transferred to Delphi. I say illegally because it was done without our knowledge and permission. Furthermore, if it was an “achievement”, it wouldn’t be necessary to renegotiate. GM is still singing, “Someday, baby, who knows, maybe,” on the way out the door.

Buy outs, buy downs, and severance amount to a long term investment in non union jobs. The Concession Caucus promotion of the sell out should include their resignation, not ours. UAW members want to rise up, buy in, and win the right to bargain collectively in dignity. There is no dignity in avoiding conflict at all costs. Dignity is the product of struggle.

In a letter to UAW members Gettelfinger and Rapson wrote, “When Delphi filed for bankruptcy in October 2005 its agenda called for drastic and unconscionable reductions in wages, benefits and work rules, and a total disregard for our collective bargaining agreement.”

This tentative agreement from the Concession Caucus calls for “drastic and unconscionable reductions in wages, benefits and work rules, and a total disregard for our collective bargaining agreement.”

Gettelfinger’s goals and Miller’s goals are two sides of a counterfeit coin.

We never ratified the “Supplement” in 2004.

We should not ratify the supplement to the “Supplement” in 2007.

sos, Gregg Shotwell

www.soldiersofsolidarity.com

www.factoryrat.com

www.futureoftheunion.com

Click here to Download 2007_Lowlights.pdf

The Rest of the Story...

Tomorrow you will be asked to vote on an agreement that will affect every member of Local 696, but the impact will be far greater than our Local. We have been promised 750 jobs for 8 years. GM, which gave Delphi workers the boot in the 1999 spin off, has now turned full circle by negotiating a drastic pay cut for workers that they discarded 8 years ago. If you think GM has repented, think again.

I cannot with good conscience vote yes on a tentative agreement with the proclamation of "AT LEAST YOU'LL HAVE A JOB."

When did our standards become so low? Keep reading - this is the "bigger picture". GM has promised these warehouse jobs (SPO Plants) for 750 workers from Local 696 in an area where two GM-SPO warehouses already exist. The SPO warehouses in Sharonville and Columbus pay master agreement wages.

Sometime soon I will be asked, as a GM Supplemental worker, to compete for the same work my brothers and sisters in these warehouses perform now.

Shall we allow ourselves to be used as the cheaper competition against union brothers and sisters with superior wages and benefits and ultimately shut down those facilities?

Does that sound familiar?? Don't allow us to compete for their work at reduced wages. See the big picture here! Do the right thing for all union brothers and sisters.

Vote NO!

Dan Lamb, Local 696

Click here to download The Rest of the Story.pdf

SOS HITS FLINT DELPHI EAST WITH THE TRUTH!

Not only is this a sad day in the History of the UAW, it is another sad day for new hires to realize a truth about their union as they were reading LOWLIGHTS#2. These kids were approached by a union rep, who grabbed the paperwork from their hands and told they that they could be fired for leafleting this opinion. Dennis Delling a sos soldier was also put on notice for doing the same. The final outcome for Dennis was that his GF told him that he was not going to get into that battle with the union over this and took him OFF NOTICE saying it was mistaken identity. So what does that tell you, his own union called the GF and wanted him stopped.

There will be a follow up with the NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD on this matter. Mobster intimidation will not be tolerated nor will freedom of speach be violated.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS : there is always more than one side to the story and these young ones need to seek the truth and not listen to intimidators that will prohibit their process in seeking that truth.

Hopefully many can learn the lesson that these young ones learned today before they VOTE. Being a UNION MEMBER is always taking into account the many, not just yourself in these matters. We worked very hard to maintain what the contract afforded us and to dangle a carrot such as JOBS and give up all the rest that we have fought for all these years is crazy. THAT IS NOT UNIONISM!

PEACE sos Jo

Reports from more than one Local of harassment and intimidation of UAW members who tried to distribute literature about the contract. It does call for unfair labor practice charges against the union and the company. In cases where the union or management confiscated literature, get statements from witnesses. I have won this case twice at the NLRB. We should demonstrate to new union members that they have rights and privileges including criticizing union and management with fear of retaliation.

The UAW is using the same threats that Miller used, i.e., pass the contract or the judge will impose a worse contract. It's disgraceful. A real union would say, "Make up your minds, but know for certain that whatever you decide, we have your back, and if the judge tries to shove it down your throats, we will shut down GM and Toyota both.

The bum's rush shows that UAW officials have no respect for the members. The only way to rectify this sad day in union history is with a NO vote.

stay solid, shot