Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (New York), July 22, 2007, Sunday

Copyright 2007 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

All Rights Reserved

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (New York)

July 22, 2007 Sunday

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. 1E

HEADLINE: Delphi workers feel pinch

BYLINE: Renita Burns RBURN@DemocratandChronicle.com

BODY:

Staff writer

Ozkam Ozcuhaci is not worried about his 21-year-old daughter completing her last year at RIT as an international business major. But he loses sleep about his 15-year-old daughter's chance at achieving a college education.

Ozcuhaci is one of the hundreds of local Delphi union workers undergoing wage and benefit cuts as part of a recently ratified contract.

The agreement, which takes effect Oct. 1, will cut wages for many hourly employees from about $28 an hour to a range of $14.50 to $18.50 an hour. Workers receiving pay cuts will get cash incentives of $35,000 for three years to compensate for the loss.

Ozcuhaci said he will go from making $28 an hour to $19 an hour once the contract kicks in.

A native of Turkey, he came to the United States 25 years ago, like most immigrants, searching for a better life.

The promise of benefits and job security enticed Ozkam from a higher paying factory job in 1999.

"(I was making) $19 an hour 10 years ago," he said. The "good health insurance plan" secured a "good future for us."

With the national approval of the proposed contract, Ozcuhaci lost the benefits and pension he once relied on.

As the sole provider for his two daughters and wife, who was injured while working 14 years ago, Ozcuhaci supports his family on one income.

"I know there's no future in the U.S. for us as blue-collar workers," Ozcuhaci said, "I'm trying to get my kids an education so they won't have to go through it."

He hasn't discussed the pay cuts with his family.

"It is not possible for us to make a living unless we change our lifestyle," he said. But with mortgage, car and utility payments looming, he said, it's difficult to cut expenses that are already tight. "Maybe I can cut cable."

{}Weighing options

Like Ozcuhaci, Eugene Wilson is also trying to figure out a way to support his two daughters in college. After spending 37 years at the plant, Wilson accepted an early retirement deal after what he said were threats of wage cuts by the union and Delphi.

"I couldn't have continued working for the next four years making the same wage with increases," Wilson said.

After working six months at Delphi subsequent to his retirement as a contract employee, Wilson said he plans to spend some time fixing up his house and fishing. He will have minimal time for the serenity of bass-filled waters because, Wilson said, he will be studying for his commercial driver's license.

"It's not that I want to do it. It's necessary to supplement my income," Wilson said, adding that he plans to work another four years driving school buses.

Labor experts agree there is a ripple affect within the economy when wages are cut.

"They'll be putting less money into the economy locally," said Aron Reina, lead field organizer of the Rochester and Genesee Valley Labor Federation.

"It's going to be harder for people to get by on less," Reina said. Ultimately, he said, lower wages will also negatively affect worker retention.

Some economists and labor experts call it a "race to the bottom": a global effort by corporations to increase profits by shifting investment and work from high-wage countries in the global north to low wage countries and those without environmental and labor regulations, said Kate Bronfeubrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University.

"The labor movement is what closed the gap between the rich and poor in this country," she said. "They've been the biggest boost to the American economy."

Even with the presence of unions, she said, workers fear asking for pay raises, which may result in job loss.

Aside from the financial toll incurred by workers, there also seems to be a mental toll.

"There's a depressive state that you go through where you feel as though your worthiness is not there anymore," Wilson said. "You have to work at being positive."

While Wilson has had time to digest his early retirement, Ozcuhaci continues to survey other options.

"If they cut health care and the pension plan, there's no need to stay at Delphi. There's nothing here to hold you up anymore," he said.

For him and other union members, time will reveal "the fine print" in the 48-page contract that members said they received the night before voting.

"Either you adjust yourself or you go out and look for another job," Ozcuhaci said. "That's the impact."

RBURN@DemocratandChronicle.com

What's at stake

On June 29, Delphi's workers approved a contract that exchanged pay cuts of as much as 40 percent for buyout incentives. The agreement, along with Wednesday's decision to accept an offer led by private-equity firm Appaloosa Management LP to invest as much as $2.55 billion in the bankrupt auto-parts maker, will pave the way for Delphi to exit two years of Chapter 11 protection by the end of the year.

GRAPHIC: Shrinking work force

not available. KEVIN M. SMITH, staff artist.