I haven't studied the events in great detail, but at
first glance, the Delphi spin-off appears to have been
a way for GM to shed a large number of expensive
union workers.
The unions have yet to figure out that their
competition is not the non-union dude next door,
but teeming masses of laborers in China.
And yes, if GM doesn't get their costs under control,
they could get displaced in the market by Chinese
cars sold with pseudo-American names ... like those
"GMC" tools sold in home improvement stores (hint:
it doesn't stand for General Motors Corp [and I can't
figure out why the real GMC doesn't sue 'em]).
Delphi is required to pay GM wages of $27 an hour to most of its 24,000 UAW-represented workers -- double the level of competing suppliers, according to Standard & Poor's Ratings Services. Delphi also had to pay full wages and benefits to 4,000 laid-off workers in jobs banks, which cost it $400 million each year.
In a letter sent from the UAW to its members last week, the leadership claimed that Delphi had asked the UAW to accept wage cuts of more than 50 percent, to $10 - $12 an hour, and that it would need to eliminate the jobs banks. In order to stay solvent, the company would also need some concessions on health benefits and accrued vacation.