Delphi CEO downplays UAW problems
Delphi CEO Steve Miller (at right), in Japan on a tour of the company's Japanese customers and Delphi Asia-Pacific
facilities, said that he expected a strike-free resolution of the company's ongoing negotiations with the UAW.
Although previously setting a January 20 "deadline" for asking the bankruptcy court to terminate Delphi's labor
agreements if union negotiations hadn't reached a satisfactory conclusion, Miller is now saying that he expects
agreement with the UAW "in principle" sometime "during the first quarter of 2006."
On the strike issue, Miller was equally optimistic, saying that the ongoing, continuous negotiations with the unions
are reducing the risk of a strike.
Delphi's Asia-Pacific operations are not in Chapter 11, and Miller's trip is presumably meant to reassure Delphi's
customers in the region that all is well, despite the problems with the company's bankrupt American operation.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Richard Warren 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
Rome burns, peoples jobs and an American Company possible closing and all this asshole can say is
"I think I'll take a trip to Japan at company expense and make sure everything is ok"
Disgusting
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rainking 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
no, what's disgusting is the UAW greed. THEY're the "assholes" not Miller. Miller is trying to save their jobs. They don't want to work. They want, and always have wanted, a free pass. The union is already irrelevant. The marketplace will see to it that the UAW is completely gone in less than 5 years, and deservedly so.
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Richard Warren 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
Well, we can play this over and over but these guys agreed to the UAW demands for years. Management is the one that laid down. The easiest thing to say is "OK" that'll work.
Of course when you are management and set your company up for the brightest sales projections, guees what when the market turns, you're screwed. Basic management 101.
Watching your company slide downhill and doing nothing, managment 101 again.
Not funding your pention fund that you as mangement agreed to, hmmm basic mangement 101.
Agreeing to UAW demands year after year because times are good, management 101
Still making money from the company as it flounders the nearly sinks, pure greed add to that Japan trip "I've got mine, who cares?"
New CEO training 101 "Get all the money I can up front, get a golden parachute, set up my plan to get money even if the company fails, find everyone else to blame, I get to keep my job, go on to another company and do the same."
Sorry, the disgusting one here is this asshole.
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rainking 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
Richard, none of the stuff you mention, NONE of it, happened under Miller's watch. He's trying to save the ship, with no help from the employees. they deserve what they get. Each day it looks like they'll get less and less. THAT's what they deserve.
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Richard Warren 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
Miller has been there since June, of course he is not all to blame for the situation.
However there was only one CEO prior:J.T. Battenberg III and much of the original board remains.
Notice I did not say Miller was resposible for all the problems.
As it was put in the typical slick press release when he was hired:
"Steve's global experience at a wide variety of companies will be very helpful as Delphi continues to balance its growth and customer diversification with solving its legacy cost issues -- particularly in North America,"
Sure he helped, Bankruptcy. Now there is original thinking.
In his own words: "I'm painfully aware that I'm responsible for the welfare of thousands of employees. That's what keeps me up at night."
Right, care to put a cam in his house and see how sleepless he is?
He's also on the board of United Airlines, remember how they handled their problems? Bankruptcy
Then why didn't he use his connections and global influence to work things out like when he was at Chrysler?
In 1979, he joined Chrysler Corporation at the request of then-chairman Lee Iacocca and was the architect of the Loan Guarantee Act that included negotiations with 400 lenders and the U.S. government to secure the bailout of the troubled automaker.
Then he was on the board of Olympia and York
Board Memember Waste Management, sold off to a competitor.
His rules in his own words:
No full-time manager should sit on more than two outside boards. Yet,in another interview "I'm on a half-dozen boards"
He's touted as Mr Fix-it The easiest thing in the world is to walk away from it, that's Bankruptcy in most cases, he is the Mr Fix-it of sales, and Bankruptcy.
Then ask how much he gets paid as a head hunter for:HBD that's Hennigan,Bennett & Dorman. Virtually every company he ahs bee asscoiated with use them in Bankruptcy and "reorganization"
Cares? Check out this little snipet:
In another instance, while Delphi was in feverous (and ultimately fruitless) negotiations for a bailout from GM, Miller found himself sitting next to GM CEO Rick Wagoner at an executive confab in Washington. Miller's Blackberry buzzed. He glanced down to find a flaming e-mail from one of his employees. "You are a rapist and a pillager and a thief of the working man's rights, and may you rot in hell." Miller leaned over and showed it to Wagoner, saying: "Hey Rick, this one's for you."
Yep, asshole.
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