[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 43 (Thursday, April 6, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         RE: DELPHI BANKRUPTCY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BRIAN HIGGINS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 6, 2006

  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, few communities have suffered more from the 
decimation of the American manufacturing sector than Western New York.
  In the Buffalo of my youth, any person willing to work hard enough 
could make a decent living for his or her family at one of our great 
industrial plants. It is no secret that those days are gone. Factories 
have closed, health care benefits have been dropped, wages have fallen 
and pensions are in trouble. Competition for remaining jobs is intense 
and those lucky enough to have a job live in constant fear that it will 
be outsourced or that their wages, health insurance or pension benefits 
will be cut.
  One of the last bastions of good-paying manufacturing jobs in Western 
New York is the auto industry. Over 9,000 workers in my congressional 
district are employed at the Delphi plant in Lockport, the American 
Axle facilities which supply General Motors in Tonawanda and 
Cheektowaga, and the Ford Stamping Plant in Woodlawn.
  So far, we have been lucky--as bad as things look now, they could be 
much worse, The Ford Stamping Plant was spared in the first round of 
plant closings Ford announced in January. And the Lockport plant will 
be one of the few to survive the recently announced Delphi closings. 
However, there will not be much relief for the Delphi workers in New 
York and elsewhere, because of unconscionable actions taken by the 
company in bankruptcy proceedings.
  Delphi has asked the bankruptcy court to slash wages, jobs, 
healthcare and retirement benefits by voiding the collective bargaining 
agreements that were negotiated between the company and its workers. 
Such disregard for the collective bargaining process is 
incomprehensible in light of the fact that Delphi was recently able to 
come to an agreement with the United Auto Workers on an attrition 
program to save costs. Rather than flouting the collective bargaining 
agreements, Delphi should have re-engaged its workers in a good-faith 
manner to find a solution together.
  If the bankruptcy court cancels the current contracts it will have 
devastating effects not only on the workers who rightfully relied on 
those agreements, but also on General Motors itself. This is a risky 
and unnecessary gamble Delphi is taking, and the economic health of 
thousands of families hangs in the balance.
  I strongly urge Delphi to reconsider its ill-advised request to 
cancel its contracts and to engage its workers in a constructive, good-
faith manner that respects the collective bargaining process and the 
workers who depend on it.

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