Delphi rattles salaried ranks

The Detriot News reports:

Delphi Chairman and CEO Robert S. "Steve" Miller said Friday he does not expect pay cuts for salaried workers, but he wouldn't promise every U.S. engineer will keep their job.

"I'm not about to shut down the tech centers in the U.S.," Miller said during an interview in Washington. "We'll continue to have a need for them. But the growth is in other locations (overseas), because that's where the market is expanding rapidly."



At Delphi Electronics & Safety's Kokomo tech center, engineers and software designers say the bankruptcy is only the latest trauma.

Pressure has mounted over the years to adopt Japanese-style management practices and handle an increasingly complex workload.

The engineering ranks here have dwindled as Delphi high-tech centers sprouted up in outsourcing capitals such as Bangalore, India; Krakow, Poland; and Shanghai.

Workers, most of whom asked that their names not be published, pointed to a statement Miller made earlier this month: "As we shrink our business and become more productive, we might have fewer salaried workers going forward."

Within minutes of its online publication, the statement spread via private e-mails throughout Delphi's engineering and salaried ranks in the United States.

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