The Delphi 'Bankruptcy': The Continuation of Class War by Other Means

The bankruptcy filing in October of last year by the Delphi Corporation, the giant auto-parts supplier spun off by General Motors in a 1999 public offering, sent a shock wave across the American labor movement. The slow grinding down of organized labor, and with it the standard of living of American workers, has been underway for several decades. This attack on the heavily unionized auto sector, however, indicates a new level of aggressiveness by employers. Coming as it did only a few months after the controversial breakaway from the AFL-CIO of several large affiliates to form the new Change to Win Coalition, the Delphi events seemed to confirm the argument by some in the new grouping that organized labor has to look to a new postindustrial economy in order to rebuild. This is no ordinary bankruptcy, however. Rather than pointing to an economy inevitably beyond manufacturing, it represents a strategic innovation intended to exploit the value still extant in our industrial economy. The entire labor movement must confront this important development.