Unions representing hourly workers at Delphi Corp. rejected the company's latest proposal for wage and benefit cuts yesterday. The rejection cast doubts on the company's ability to reach a deal with the United Automobile Workers and the International Union of Electrical Workers-Communications Workers of America by its self-imposed deadline of Thursday. The struggling autoparts supplier said if an agreement is not reached by this time, it will file papers in federal bankruptcy court to start the process of rejecting its union contracts.
Delphi's proposal called for cutting hourly rates to $22, from about $27, on July 3, and to $16.50 in September 2007. In rejecting it, an I.U.E.-C.W.A. executive told Delphi that its offer "is nothing more than lip service to the idea of negotiations while you prepare your motion to rip up these contracts," according to a Reuters report.