Judge OKs up to $37M in bonuses for top Delphi executives, eliminated tens of thousands of union job

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6267444&nav=0Rce

Judge OKs up to $37M in bonuses for top Delphi executives

NEW YORK -- A federal bankruptcy judge approved Delphi's extension of a plan to pay as much as $37 million in bonuses to top executives.

Delphi Corp. lawyer John W. Butler said that pay for managers of the auto parts maker is uncompetitively low and that the plan provides an integral part of total pay packages.

Judge Robert Drain ruled that paying the bonuses were an exercise of sound business judgment, and that he saw them as necessary to the company's competitiveness.

Troy, Mich.-based Delphi, one of the world's biggest auto parts suppliers, is going through the largest manufacturing bankruptcy in history, according to Butler.

Four unions representing Delphi employees _ the United Auto Workers, International Union of Electronic Workers-Communications Workers of America, United Steelworkers and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers _ objected to the performance-based bonus program.

UAW lawyer Babette Ceccotti said the plan posed a distraction to ongoing negotiations between the company and union. The company's execution of its restructuring plan has eliminated tens of thousands of union jobs at Delphi.

As of Feb. 15, 440 Delphi employees were eligible for the bonus plan, under which total payouts could range from $20.1 million, if targets are met, to a maximum of $37.4 million.

The size of the bonuses were tied to a companywide earnings target and profit goals for Delphi's various divisions for the first six months of this year.

FULL story at link.

[aquart]

1. Gosh, who trained this judge?

[Dr.Phool]

5. Probably another judge.

It's pretty much unheard of in bankruptcy court, in the last 25 years, for a judge not to allow this bullshit.

I went through it twice with LTV Steel. And I've seen it happen countless times in the airline industry and other steel companies.

People don't matter anymore. We need another revolution.

[aquart]

6. This time with a guilotine.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Good.

Because Middle Class people suck. Let's offshore their jobs and make 'em slaves - they deserve it for not being smart enough to be born into wealth.

[Double T]

3. criminal corporate executives always get the golden parachutes........

while the employees get the shaft.

[stillcool]

4. I just had an epiphany!

regarding the term 'trickle-down-economy' and the phrase 'piss-poor'!

Roger Waters: Perfect Sense
http://www.roger-waters.com/intheflesh.htm...
The monkey sat on a pile of stones
And he stared at the broken bone in his hand
The strains of a Viennese quartet
Rang out across the land
And the monkey looked up at the stars
And he thought to himself
Memory is a stranger
History is for fools
And he cleaned his hands
In a pool of holy writing
Turned his back on the garden
And set out for the nearest town
Hold on, hold on soldier
When you add it all up
The tears and the marrowbone
There's an ounce of gold
And an ounce of pride in each ledger
And the Germans killed the Jews
And the Jews killed the Arabs
And the Arabs killed the hostages
And that is the news
And is it any wonder
That the monkey's confused
He said Mama Mama
The President's a fool
Why do I have to keep reading
These technical manuals
And the joint chiefs of staff
And the brokers on Wall Street said
Don't make us laugh
You're a smart kid
Time is linear
Memory is a stranger
History is for fools
Man is a tool in the hands
Of the great God Almighty
And they gave him command
Of a nuclear submarine
Sent him back in search of
The Garden of Eden

Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense
Expressed in dollars and cents
Pounds shillings and pence
Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense

[slampoet]

7. I know a current Delphi exec.

He is a true jerk.

Before he was at Delphi he was with my last company.

He basically ripped off an other company's designs and then made claims that it did what it was not capable of doing and then tried to blame my department (tech support) when it didn't work. People lost raises they were supposed to get because of this jerk and it was never remedied after it was found out that one of the other reasons we were having problems was because we didn't even have an example of the product in front of us to do tech support with. Because of him customers wanted us to teach us how to use the product when we had never even seen them and we didn't even have a manual for a couple of the missing products.

During the middle of this he left the company to join Delphi. He left none of his notes or any other information behind.

[antigop]

8. Bio here

http://www.nysb.uscourts.gov/judges/rdd.html