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Meanwhile... Delphi blessing white collar workers with bonuses
Some days we see Delphi's point of view in this whole war of wages, and then there are days like today when we learn that Delphi is planning to pay up to $60 million in performance bonuses to 14,000 white collar workers. Obviously the 33,000 blue collar workers whose wages are on the chopping block aren't too pleased. True, Delphi's white collared workers haven't received bonuses for over three years and true, those same workers are paid less than their counterparts at similar companies, but still... timing is everything. [Source: Detroit News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jim P. 8:54AM (5/12/2006)
$60 million in PERFORMANCE BONUSES?? Wow, perform so the company delcares bankruptcy and get PAID BIG$$$. At the same time, ask the hourly workers to take massive pay cuts? Goes to show you that white collar/blue collar workers are way out of touch with one another in this company. Sad
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Micah 9:00AM (5/12/2006)
Great picture! Looks like a JCPenny ad-HA! :-D
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ken 9:09AM (5/12/2006)
hooray for white collar workers, finally we get some money and not the blue ones!
hahahahaha
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Owen 9:12AM (5/12/2006)
Think of it this way, Union workers strike, White collar workers quit. Delphi Does not want either. All this focus is going towards the impending strike, however, Delphi needs to do something about the mass exodus of people from it's white collar workforce as well. With a bankrupcy and other items looming in the air, the best workers are the first to go, most jumping ship for fears of future unemployment. This deal is simply a good faith motion to say, "please don't quit". It takes a lot more money to hire someone new and re-train than it does to simply give them a raise they are overdue for.
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Mike 9:17AM (5/12/2006)
ummm, $60m devided by 33,000 workers is equal to $1818.18 per worker.
What was YOUR total bonuses for the last four years combined?
The ONLY thing wrong with this is the timing.
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GOKARTN 9:25AM (5/12/2006)
If you are in charge of a company (which includes the white collar workers) and it goes bankrupt, you should not get even a one penny bonus, your ass should be fired!
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Daniel 9:36AM (5/12/2006)
I like that one of the guys in the photo is wearing a blue shit.
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Carlos 9:59AM (5/12/2006)
Mike, 33,000 is the number of blue collar workers. There are 14,000 white collar workers. Still not a huge bonus, but giving out any bonuses while cutting coworkers' salaries by 2/3 looks pretty bad.
Not to mention, there hasn't been much "performance" to speak of. I don't expect any if my company ever has a losing year.
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Richard Warren 10:12AM (5/12/2006)
Ummmmmm, that's 14,000 white collar workers not 33,000 so your math is a little off. That would be about $4285
per worker.
But---- That's the average, how does it really flow out? Top 10 guys take 30 mil balance flows down hill?
Then ask yourself this: Delphi is under bankruptcy, where is the 60 mil coming from? Who does not get paid or takes a short payment for work done and services rendered? Then ask "Performance?" Lets see the comapny is bankruptcy, you're not paying your suppliers,uppper management walks off with a bag of cash, you only claim bankruptcy in your North American unit, you're affteing the lives of how many people, both withing your company and other companies and you have the balls to take 60 mil and throw it out as a performance bonus? What F**king performance? How to not manage your business, not address the problems early on, how not to negotiate, then claim bankruptcy?
Oh yes, and be sure to blame it all on the folks who actually MAKE the products.
Then ask yourself this 3 years with no bonus and all of sudden now there is a bonus? Righttttttttttttt. Swamp land for sale right over here!
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Mike 10:12AM (5/12/2006)
My bad, I misread in haste...
still, that is 4285.71 per worker for the first incentive given in over 3 years... so, that number over 3 is $1428.57
The number is FAR from excessive, and actually could be considered low by many standards and many industries.
The article states that these workers salaries are low compared to the same positions at the competition. How do the salaries of the non-union white collar workers compare to the unionized blue collar? What have the blue collar workers received for bonuses in the last 3 years? How do the health benifits compare?
I am willing to assume that the benifits haded out to the unionized workers over the last three years FAR exceed this small gift to the white collar workers.
I do not understand the union mambers right now. They are tied to a chair with a loaded gun to their heads and they continue to make threats and demands. Has the instinct of self preservation or the rational of the greater good completely lost on these people?
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apollo322 10:23AM (5/12/2006)
This company will go down in history as having the worst "tin ear" for turn around politics. I'm no huge fan of Unions, but at this point who could blame them for going on strike after all this? Ask one side for a 60% pay cut while the executives get a huge payout and now white collar workers get bonuses, WHILE YOUR COMPANY IS IN BANKRUPCY PROCEEDINGS??!?!? Even worse, they're asking the court to impose it.
The CEO of this company is as valuable as 'Chainsaw" Al Dunlap, and should be escorted from the premises immediately.
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Richard Warren 10:29AM (5/12/2006)
"I am willing to assume that the benifits haded out to the unionized workers over the last three years FAR exceed this small gift to the white collar workers"
A couple of things: Those union benefits were "negotiated" by management the same management that is claiming bankruptcy. And now that "performance bonus" is a "gift"?
As to the union workers having a gun at their heads and tied to a chair, is that the way to go or do you stand up for what you think is right?
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Paul 10:36AM (5/12/2006)
shut this dog of a company down. there is plenty of sources for auto parts in Asia. There is no logical reason for this non competitive company to exist. By out sourcing to Asia and dumping Delphi the auto co's can get better quality at a cheper price. What could be bad about that. Also, it Delphi dumps maybe it will force GM into liquidation and we wont have to hear about it any more, or suffer through their line up of crappy american designed products.
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Mike 10:54AM (5/12/2006)
Richard Warren:
Those union benefits weren't "negotiated" by management... managment was strong-armed into the contracts by the union.
When those on the lines making the parts say "GIVE us MORE than we deserve (outside of what traditional capitalists market forces for specialization of trade requires) or we will stop working until you do." management has no control or room to negotiate.
as for the tied to a chair: When you hand the loaded gun to the person and tie yourself to the chair, do not scream to be freed of the knots you tied. They put themselves in this position and still refuse concessions when faced head-on with the demise of their livelyhood.
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jamie 10:59AM (5/12/2006)
I am sure that Judge Robert Drain will look very carefully at this development. He will likely rescind the offer. But at least the company can say they 'tried' to reimburse their tiny cubical rats with some cheese.
Also noted is that top level management at Delphi received large bonuses just after they filed for bankruptcy. I am just as sure that will be flushed down the Drain as well.
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cpocraig 11:08AM (5/12/2006)
as already said these are the same white collar's that negotiated the contract for the union workers. but that set aside. if we do as paul says and ship the jobs over seas who will be left to buy there's or anyone elses products. soner or later we will run out of good paying jobs and we will be the 3rd world company that people like paul will help to populate. are you willing to ship your job to asia, paul? i'm not and most of america's middle class has wised up to corp. america's games. the gop better hold onto there collective a**'s come nov. think about this. would you be willing to give up your job so that corp america can give bonuses to them self's?
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Howard Kerr 11:16AM (5/12/2006)
After reading this news, do you still have to wonder...WHAT IS WRONG WITH DETROIT?
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Kevin 11:50AM (5/12/2006)
"After reading this news, do you still have to wonder...WHAT IS WRONG WITH DETROIT?"
What are you talking about? Delphi still has to keep its white-collar workers around to run the company. Do you think it is easy to retain workers when they are paid less than they can get elsewhere and don't get bonuses for three years? Delphi is doing what it can to try and retain employees! 60M is not a huge amount of money, and very reasonable to pay those white-collar workers in an effort to keep them around.
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Howard Kerr 12:11PM (5/12/2006)
Re Kevin,
and if you have NO blue collar workers, it won't matter how many white collar workers you have and what they make. The last place I worked we didn't get pay raises for 3 or 4 years, but we did get bonuses. The company did reasonably well but still went out of business and eventually was bought out by folks who wanted to pay us less. I don't know what the pay structure was for a white collar worker there, but I sure as hell would wonder what was going on if the guy in charge had said we are tettering on the brink of bankruptcy, and then awarded all the white collar workers bonuses...for helping us into bankruptcy?
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Paul 12:32PM (5/12/2006)
why should any company have to pay union scale wages when we have millions of cheap laborors flooding across the boarder ready and willing to take their jobs. these companies should have the ability to tap into this cheap labor pool.
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