UAW Chief Warns Workers of Tough Changes Ahead

Ron Gettelfinger, head of the United Auto Workers, told his rank and file yesterday that the shrinking union faces the toughest challenges in its history and that members must adjust to the economic realities of the beleaguered U.S. auto industry and embrace innovative solutions.

The message, delivered in a wide-ranging speech at the opening of the union's four-day convention in Las Vegas, avoided bashing of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., which plan to close or downsize two dozen plants and cut 60,000 union jobs in the next few years as they try to regain their financial footing and turn a profit.

Instead, Gettelfinger recognized the plight of the two largest U.S. automakers in an increasingly competitive climate where their market share, with DaimlerChrysler AG included, has dropped 16 points, to 58 percent, over the past decade. The credit ratings for GM and Ford have been reduced to "junk" status.

"Like it or not, these challenges aren't the kind that can be ridden out," said Gettelfinger, 61, who is expected to win a second four-year term as the UAW's president Wednesday. "They demand new and farsighted solutions, and we must be an integral part of developing those solutions."

Kevin Boyle, a history professor at Ohio State University, said the more conciliatory tone is similar to the strategy the UAW embraced in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

"That's when the auto industry . . . went into its first major trauma and tried to strike a balance," Boyle said. "Now it seems an even deeper crisis than that because it's Ford and GM hemorrhaging jobs."

According to a transcript of the speech, Gettelfinger praised those who bargain in good faith with the UAW, including auto-parts suppliers Dana Corp. and Collins & Aikman Corp. He criticized multinational companies that he said have used the bankruptcy court as a weapon to destroy the union's collective bargaining agreements, most notably Delphi Corp.

Delphi, the nation's largest auto parts supplier, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October and recently asked a bankruptcy court judge for permission to toss out its contracts with the UAW and five other unions. Hearings on the issue were postponed until Aug. 11 after Delphi recently signaled it was making some progress on negotiations with the unions.

Last week, Delphi extended a buyout offer that had been made to 13,000 UAW workers to include all of Delphi's workers, a plan that was partly financed by GM. The automaker, which spun off Delphi in 1999, remains its largest customer and has a vested interest in Delphi's survival. The UAW has threatened to strike if the judge rules in Delphi's favor, which could cripple production lines at GM and possibly push the automaker into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Delphi won approval from the bankruptcy court to give $38 million in bonuses to its executives.

"We need to stop dead in their tracks those who would seek to void contracts with their workers while lining their pockets with everything of value and uncaringly destroying lives, hopes, dreams and communities," Gettelfinger said.

Thomas Ryan, a former Ford executive who often sat across the negotiating table from Gettelfinger, said he was not surprised at the reaction to Delphi's conduct.