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Auto Industry Rocked by Delphi Bankruptcy (But Insiders Get Golden Parachutes)
MSNBC ^ | 10/09/2005 | John W. Schoen

Posted on 10/09/2005 5:44:11 PM PDT by drt1

Workers face prospect of wage, benefit concessions or court-ordered cuts. First came the U.S. steel industry. More recently, money-losing airlines have landed themselves in bankruptcy court to cut labor costs. Now, Saturday's filing by auto parts maker Delphi signals that the U.S. auto industry has arrived at the same crossroads with it’s work force: agree to out-of-court concessions, or face the prospect of court-ordered cuts in wages, benefits and pensions.

Delphi, a $29 billion industrial giant, has been struggling to make a profit since General Motors spun off its parts subsidiary in 1999. Last year, Delphi lost $4.8 billion; it lost nearly $750 million in the first half of this year.

A tougher new bankruptcy law effective Oct. 17 may have accelerated Delphi’s move to seek refuge in federal court in Manhattan to reorganize its money-losing operations....

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: delphi; fatcat; gm; manufacturing; pbgc; pensions
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To: drt1

See my post 20. The reason I'm confused about your post is that it is Management who got (Stole?) the Golden Parachutes. Your post implies it was the Unions if I understand it correctly.


21 posted on 10/09/2005 7:22:01 PM PDT by drt1
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To: cynicom

Jeesh. Please see my post 21. Somehow I posted a reply to myself but meant it to you.


22 posted on 10/09/2005 7:25:43 PM PDT by drt1
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To: drt1

The same thing happened with Fruehauf. Between the managers and the Union, there was nothing left for the remainder (including a lot of bondholders).


23 posted on 10/09/2005 7:50:42 PM PDT by jim_trent
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To: Joe Bfstplk
The dumping of pension plans on the taxpayers will be the equivalent of the savings and loan debacle in the '80s.

One big difference is that a pension plan that is dumped on the taxpayers doesn't pay nearly as much as the original plan. If your pension plan is taken over by the government, your monthly pension benefit may be less than half of what it would have been under the original plan.

24 posted on 10/09/2005 8:27:40 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (I ain't got a dime, but what I got is mine. I ain't rich, but Lord I'm free.)
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To: drt1
"The real problem is that the regulators let these companies underfund their pension plans and continue operating."

The real bad news is that many states and cities (Alaska, Anchorage, San Diego, Phoenix, etc) have defaulted on keeping the payments current or will never be able to meet the payments in the future unless they raise taxes thru the roof.

Chickens roosting indeed.
25 posted on 10/09/2005 8:29:53 PM PDT by ASOC (Insert clever tagline here: _______)
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To: goldstategop
You might observe that since 2000 this administration has been receptive and friendly to large corporate interests who would prefer to dump their labor agreements, pension obligations and statutory compliances through bankruptcy. At the same time, the new bankruptcy law makes it virtually impossible for debt ridden ordinary folks to make a fresh start. While huge corporations have transferred their debts and pension obligations to the public for payment, the ordinary Joe is required now to avoid liquidation and must arrange a payment schedule to the credit card banks that prevent their fresh start. We have effectively recreated the concept of debtors prisions for the working stiff as we allow corporation managers to escape with large pay-outs as their company escapes the plight that the average guy suffers.

But, we did it to ourselves by buying into the fiction that Bush and company would create an American paradise if we only abandoned our enlightened self-interests and allowed the Rove and religious ideologues group to manage our morals as they released corporate America to determine our fiscal, foreign, energy and domestic policies.

26 posted on 10/09/2005 8:31:39 PM PDT by middie
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To: 1rudeboy
"...Before I built a wall I'd ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offence. Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That wants it down!" I could say "Elves" to him, But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather He said it for himself. I see him there, Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed. He moves in darkness as it seems to me, Not of woods only and the shade of trees. He will not go behind his father's saying, And he likes having thought of it so well He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."
27 posted on 10/09/2005 8:50:32 PM PDT by ARCADIA (Abuse of power comes as no surprise)
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To: Who dat?

Perhaps, sounds like they were their own fox in the chicken coop.


28 posted on 10/09/2005 11:00:54 PM PDT by Ursus arctos horribilis ("It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919)
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To: drt1

Basic bankruptcy laws: Lawyers will rape what is left of Delphi, making it harder to reorganize.

Delphi would be better off selling out to WalMart.


29 posted on 10/10/2005 5:04:49 AM PDT by Loyal Buckeye
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To: Loyal Buckeye

Lawyers rape, yada, yada, yada, etc and more bovine scatology from lawyer haters....Hey, when you get in a jam or personal dust-up, call on one of your lawyer-hating buddies to protect your personal or commercial interests. Ignorance is comfortable when among other of a like absence of mind, wisdom, intelligence or common sense.


30 posted on 10/10/2005 12:26:01 PM PDT by middie
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To: Who dat?
Those “minions” were pulling in 68K back in 1984 working 36 hours/wk – with a pension and health/welfare plan you’d kill for.

And how much were "the brass" pulling down? I would wager a heck of alot more, and who says they're worth it? I don't think the bankruptcy was the "minions" fault . . .

31 posted on 10/10/2005 12:41:52 PM PDT by jeffc
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To: middie

True, but, on the other hand, anyone who has been on the inside of a big bankruptcy case has seen first hand how lawyers take advantage of the situation.


32 posted on 10/10/2005 2:07:43 PM PDT by Loyal Buckeye
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To: Loyal Buckeye; middie
middie is a lawyer, so he's got a dog in the fight.

Hey, when you get in a jam or personal dust-up, call on one of your lawyer-hating buddies to protect your personal or commercial interests.

"Law": of the lawyers, by the lawyers and FOR the lawyers.

"The Law" (or "The Lore", as we prefer to name it) is the biggest reason the Clintons got away with everything they got away with (their buddies in the media being the second biggest reason).

33 posted on 10/10/2005 6:39:23 PM PDT by an amused spectator (If Social Security isn't broken, then cut me a check for the cash I have into it.)
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