Uaw

DETROIT -- Robert S. Miller started off as the Oracle of Delphi, handing down dire pronouncements about the auto industry from his lofty post as chief executive of the parts supplier. But with the Delphi Corp. now in bankruptcy proceedings, Miller, known as Steve, has come charging down from the mountaintop to confront Delphi's unions in a way that Detroit has rarely seen. Miller seems to be relishing his combatant's role, at least for the attention it is bringing to the crisis facing his industry.

DETROIT - If Delphi Corp.'s unionized workers go on strike, General Motors Corp.'s plants start slowing down in 48 hours and one of the automaker's biggest assets, its stockpile of cash, could rapidly dwindle, industry experts say. Industry observer David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., said GM plants, which use Delphi components on all of their vehicles, would be disrupted within two days of a strike by unions representing the nation's largest auto-parts supplier.

DETROIT -- The United Auto Workers ratified a tentative agreement yesterday to lower General Motors Corp.'s health care costs with a 61 percent majority vote. But even with an expected savings of $15 billion, the deal could be too late to have a significant impact on GM's financial problems. The vote's narrow margin also might be a telling sign that the union's rank-and-file members are growing tired of their leadership. The proposed changes in retiree health care benefits are subject to approval by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Retirees from General Motors Corp. could pay up to $752 a year more in health care costs for their families as part of a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers union, an increase some experts say may be just the beginning of cutbacks to try and stem losses at the financially-ailing automaker. The tentative agreement requires most of GM's retirees to pay premiums that were previously covered, as well as increased deductibles and co-pays, according to a UAW statement released yesterday.

General Motors Corp. announced yesterday a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers union to slash its health care costs, a move that promises pain for hundreds of thousands of GM workers and retirees but is widely viewed as a necessary step to save the troubled automaker. Neither the company nor the union gave particulars on how workers and retirees would be affected, and the president of UAW Local 239 in Baltimore was waiting yesterday to be briefed. GM said in a statement that the deal was expected to cut its annual employee health care costs by $3 billion before taxes and save it $1 billion a year in cash.

When Delphi Corp., the struggling auto parts giant spun off by General Motors, goes to bankruptcy court today, it will be routine in appearance - but not in symbolism. This could be a giant step in the unwinding of another American industrial tradition, the era of the privileged and protected blue-collar assembly-line worker. If Delphi, which filed for Chapter 11 protection Saturday, gets what it seeks in wage and benefit reductions from union members, the pay for members of the United Auto Workers could shrink to as little as $10 an hour from the current $27. Their benefits almost certainly would drop as well.

CHICAGO -- Delphi Corp. edged closer to bankruptcy yesterday as neither the United Auto Workers union nor General Motors Corp. appeared willing to bail out the struggling parts supplier, which is seeking drastic cuts in pay and benefits from workers. Reports circulated on Wall Street that a bankruptcy filing could come as early as today. Delphi would not comment, but the reports sent the company's shares down 49 percent yesterday to a new low of $1.12 in New York Stock Exchange trading.

DETROIT - The United Auto Workers union is optimistic it can help General Motors Corp. reduce health care costs, as long as changes are made within the restrictions of its members' existing contracts, the UAW's president said yesterday. "We are willing to continue working with General Motors, within the framework of our national agreement, to reduce costs in health care and other areas," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said in a speech to the Economic Club of Detroit yesterday. "We're optimistic we can find ways to do that."

DETROIT - After three months of intense talks, General Motors Corp. and the UAW still appear no closer to an agreement that would lower GM's soaring employee health care costs, despite the automaker's insistence that a cost-cutting deal is a top priority to counter mounting losses. The UAW said yesterday that it had assembled a team of internal and external financial and legal analysts to examine GM's claims that it needs to tackle employee health care costs. Wall Street auto analysts, who earlier had hoped for a deal in June, now say it could be months before any kind of deal is reached - if at all. One Wall Street analyst said the fact the UAW has just hired outside advisers to study GM's finances sounds like what happens at the start of talks, not near the end. GM is pressing the UAW to either reopen the existing four-year contract two years into it, or help GM find ways within the contract to trim the $5.6 billion in cash that GM expects to spend on health care this year.

DETROIT - As a negotiator, Ron Gettelfinger, the United Auto Workers president, is known more for the carrot than the stick. Just don't mistake him for easygoing. This year, he briefly banned Marines stationed near Solidarity House, the union's headquarters, from parking in the union lot if they drove foreign cars or had Bush bumper stickers. And in 2001, shortly after being nominated for the union presidency, he summed up his style in one word: "abrasive." This summer, as he faces the fight of his union life in a showdown with General Motors Corp.