Dueling Over Delphi

Early last December some 1,000 United Automobile Workers members and supporters sat at tables in the spartan civic center of Kokomo, Indiana, listening to Democratic politicians commiserate about imminent threats to their livelihoods and the local economy. This city of 50,000 has relied on the auto industry for more than a century, since Elwood Haynes founded one of the first auto companies here. Now the local economy is dominated by four large Chrysler plants and a sprawling complex of corporate headquarters and high-tech production facilities belonging to the Delphi Corporation.

On October 8, Delphi, one of the world's leading auto parts suppliers, declared bankruptcy, and shortly afterward its new CEO, Robert "Steve" Miller, a specialist in corporate reorganizations through bankruptcy, told workers his plan for them: cutting wages by two-thirds--to as little as $9.50 an hour--slashing pensions and healthcare, ripping up contractual job protections and eliminating the jobs of more than two-thirds of the company's 34,000 US production workers.

"This man is on a mission to destroy the American dream, American unions and American workers," thundered the heavy-set, white-haired UAW regional director, Terry Thurman, at the rally. "No, we draw the line here in Kokomo."

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