-- the employer in bankruptcy of 14,700 Michiganders -- said a new study it commissioned shows it pays its unionized workers $76 an hour including benefits, double what its competitors pay, and $11 an hour more than workers received in 2004.
"We simply want what they have already given to our competitors," Delphi spokesman Lindsey Williams said Friday of the company's recent proposal.
Pay and benefits are the main issues between Delphi and the , which has called the proposed cuts an "insult." The UAW has not ruled out a strike if talks fail.
When contacted Friday, Paul Krell, head of communications for Delphi's largest union, the UAW, would not comment on Delphi's pay claims. He repeated a Nov. 7 statement by UAW President Ron Gettelfinger.
"We are outraged by Delphi's attempt to use the bankruptcy process to dictate the radical destruction of the living standards of America's industrial workers, while at the same time it plans to reward some 500 'key employees' with up to 10% of the company's stock and cash bonuses totaling $87.9 million once Delphi emerges from bankruptcy," Gettelfinger said Nov. 7.
Delphi has demanded that its 34,000 U.S. hourly workers accept an average base wage of $12.50, down 53% from an average base hourly wage of $27. Delphi's Nov. 15 proposal includes higher out-of-pocket health-care costs for workers, frozen pension benefits, fewer vacation days, restricted overtime and no vision or dental insurance.
According to a study Delphi commissioned, in part to thwart claims that it is being unfair to workers, Delphi pays its workers $76.46 per hour, up from the previously reported wage of $65 an hour. That breaks down to a wage of $26.97 an hour for a first-year employee, $26.86 an hour for benefits such as health care and vacation days and $22.63 in legacy costs, which include retirement health-care costs and costs past the obligation of workers compensation.
Nationwide, employers from all industries pay their hourly workers $24.24 per hour, which includes benefits but not legacy costs, according to the most recent U.S. Department of Labor study, published in June 2005. An average wage of $17.21 an hour accounted for 71% of the total hourly compensation, while benefits, at $7.03, made up the remaining 29%. Wages, as a percent of total compensation, declined during the past five years from 73% in 2000.
Within geographic regions, total compensation costs ranged from $20.42 an hour in the East South Central division to $28.14 in the Pacific division. Employers in the division that includes Michigan paid their employees $24.96 an hour -- $17.27 in wages and $7.69 in total benefits.
Benefits defined in the labor-department study include paid leave for vacation, holidays and sick days; overtime, shift differentials and bonuses; life and health insurance, disability pay; retirement and savings; Social Security, unemployment insurance and workers compensation.
The 48-year-old UAW hourly worker makes $29 an hour at Delphi's Flint plant producing air filters. Wilson has worked for Delphi for 18 years. Two years ago, before his plant started cutting back on overtime, Wilson made $90 an hour on some holidays.
"I've pretty much written my own check for the past 10 years," Wilson said. "It was pretty cool. You come in on any given Sunday, work 20 hours for $60 an hour, and not do a hell of a lot."
On average, Delphi says its auto-supplier competitors, who are represented by the UAW and , pay their workers $22.60 an hour -- $13.98 for a base wage, $7.85 in benefits and 77 cents in legacy costs.
Visteon's costs should improve significantly from its deal with Ford to take back some of its plants. Visteon's average hourly wage rates for North American operations will decline from $38 to $17, reports Fitch Ratings, a credit rating agency based in New York . Delphi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Oct. 8, after efforts to win concessions from its labor unions and a multibillion-dollar bailout from former owner GM failed.
If the unions reject Delphi's proposal -- which is likely since union leaders called it an "insult" on Nov. 16 and said they would not take a vote on it -- then Delphi will file a motion with the bankruptcy court Dec. 16 to eliminate union contracts and to allow it to impose changes at will.
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