DETROIT (AP) - United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said Tuesday he's tired of playing around with struggling auto parts maker Delphi Corp., vowing to strike if the company continues with plans to void its labor contracts in court.
Speaking at the close of the first day of the union's bargaining convention in Detroit, a strident Gettelfinger said there are no talks under way with Delphi at present, and he accused the company of 'playing games' with the union.
'If they void the contracts, we are going to shut them down,' he said.
Gettelfinger said he could not remember the last time he talked with Delphi and didn't know when his vice president in charge of negotiating with the company last bargained with its executives.
'As far as I'm concerned, time's up on that one,' Gettelfinger said. 'There's no use for them to talk to us anymore.'
Troy-based Delphi, a parts-making operation of General Motors Corp. until it was spun off in 1999, has been operating under bankruptcy protection since October 2005. It hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 this year.
The company has said it can't compete with its high labor costs. It has asked a New York bankruptcy court for permission to void previous labor contracts, but it has said it prefers a negotiated settlement to court action.
Negotiations, which also involve GM and other unions, have lasted more than a year without resolution.
Delphi spokesman Lindsey Williams gave a different account and said the talks are continuing.
'We remain resolved to reach a consensual resolution,' he said Tuesday, adding that the UAW, Delphi's largest union, is on the bankruptcy court record as saying that negotiations are continuing.
Gettelfinger said he was disappointed that the talks haven't progressed.
'The problem is you can't give them enough. They're a bunch of hogs slopping at a trough full of money and they can't get enough, and in order to ensure there's more for them, they want people to work for nothing,' Gettelfinger said.
A settlement between Delphi and its unions is needed before three private equity firms will invest up to $3.4 billion that Delphi needs to emerge from bankruptcy protection.
The firms, Appaloosa Management LP, Cerberus Capital Management LP and Harbinger Capital Partners Master Fund I, can back out of the deal if no agreement has been reached with the unions on wages, benefits and other issues.
Delphi said in February its losses widened to $853 million for the fourth quarter and to $5.5 billion for all of 2006.
Gettelfinger said the union has agreed to a two-tier wage structure that allows Delphi to pay new hires less than older workers. Delphi's unions also have agreed with the company on buyout and early retirement packages that have allowed Delphi to shed thousands of workers.
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