DETROIT, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Unionized employees of Delphi Corp., the bankrupt U.S. auto parts supplier, talked strike after the company demanded they work for $9 per hour.
Tensions flared after a United Auto Workers Web site posted what it said was the company's opening offer of $9 per hour, the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday. The current average hourly pay rate is $26.
The two sides have until Dec. 16 to work out a concession plan. After that, Delphi is expected to ask a bankruptcy court to void its existing labor pacts.
Delphi, which proposed pay cuts last week, also wants rank-and-file workers to accept "out-of-pocket" healthcare expenses of $2,500 a year for an individual and $5,000 for a family. Workers would have to pay monthly premiums of up to $240 and deductibles of up to $1,800. Prescription drug costs would increase to $10 for generic and between $20 and $40 for name-brand drugs.
"There is no way the UAW is going to accept this," said Skip Dziedzic, president of UAW Local 1866 in Oak Creek, Wis.
