IUE-CWA Members Ratify New Four-Year Delphi Contract

Members of a union representing about 2,000 of Delphi Corp.’s hourly workers voted to ratify a new four-year contract with the auto parts supplier, the union said. Seventy-five percent of International Union of Electronic Workers-Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA) members at local unions with Delphi employees voted in favor of the deal, the union announced late Saturday.

From Detroit Free Press/Associated Press

“The past two years have been a difficult period for our members and local unions,” IUE-CWA President Jim Clark said in a statement. “This vote gives members options about their future on the job and allows the union to start the rebuilding process.”

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York approved the deal last week, so the contract goes into effect immediately, the Communications Workers’ industrial branch said. A tentative deal had been reached Aug. 5 after the union warned of a possible strike if progress wasn’t made on talks.

Delphi has said it needed union concessions to be able to compete against suppliers with cheaper labor costs. The company entered court protection in October 2005 and agreements with its unions are part of an effort to emerge from bankruptcy.

The IUE-CWA has workers at three plants that Delphi plans to keep — including Warren, OH, and Brookhaven and Clinton, MS — as well as at three plants the company plans to sell or close, including Kettering and Moraine, OH, and Gadsden, AL.

On Friday, the United Steelworkers announced a tentative agreement with Delphi covering about 900 of its Ohio workers. The Steelworkers were the last union working with Delphi on a new contract, which requires court approval.

The bankruptcy court last month approved Delphi’s new agreement with its biggest union, the United Auto Workers, which represents 17,000 Delphi workers.