Mark Sweazy is the president of the UAW Local 969 in Columbus. The local union represents GM workers at the AC Delco distribution center in Groveport. Sweazy says it’s too early to say how many workers will accept the buyouts.

“People have to go home and talk it over with the family and probably that’s one of the most important decisions that they ever make,” he said. “And it has to be right not just the worker but for everyone.”

Sweazy says he does not see GM trying to break the union. He says the company will now be able to streamline operations and decide where it needs personnel. In 1999, GM cut ties with Delphi which recently closed its doors. Sweazy says the recent buyouts are a ripple effect. So he says the streamlining of operations that will come from the buyouts may also mean more jobs moving overseas.

“Once again it’s the open door policy for them to take this work and have someone else do it for them,” he said.

General Motors also announced Tuesday the largest annual loss ever for an American automaker. Last year the company posted a loss of about $39 billion.

“I was home mowing the lawn and I jumped in my car and made it here right at 11… about two minutes till so I could be here when they walked out,” she said.

The Groveport plant employs around 100 people. Connolly who has been with GM for nine years, says workers were generally upbeat as they prepared to picket.

“I just want to show support, unity for the union,” she said.

“I was excited. It’s time for the union to take a stand,” said Roger Minton who has been with GM for 10 years. He says GM wants the UAW to take over responsibility for health care. In turn, he says, the union wants better benefits and fewer jobs going overseas.

“We’ve given up enough over the last, I don’t know, 8…10 contracts. We keep giving and giving, so it’s time to make a stand and see if we can’t get something back,” he said.

Workers are picketing at other plants around Ohio including Toledo, Lordstown and Parma. A GM spokesman says the automaker is disappointed in the UAW’s decision to call a national strike.

Chairman of the bargaining committee for the local United Auto Workers union, Ken Clem said seniority rights were a major issue at the bargaining table. He said the company proposed to eliminate seniority rights.

“We’re not really asking for a whole lot,” he said. “This is not over economics.”

Ron Mason, the attorney representing Daido Metal said the company was in financial distress and were seeking concessions. Clem said seniority rights were hurting factory efficiency.

“Under the contract we we’re required to give it to the most senior person even if that person was not qualified for the job,” he said.

Negotiations began in May and Clem says the union became frustrated when the bargaining sessions proved to be unproductive.

“It’s just like they wanted to stonewall us and get us working without a contract,” he said.

But Mason said negotiation delays were caused by the union. He said workers’ benefits were extended past the contract’s expiration, which is a requirement by law. The union would have received a complete proposal on wages and benefits if the workers cooperated, Mason said.

“Nobody was taking a pay cut when the contract expired,” he said. “And on top of that, as far as the negotiations go, the union walked out early on one negotiation and refused to attend two others.” The plant, which manufactures engine bearings, continues production. The factory contracted temporary workers. Mason said they plan to hire replacements.

The next bargaining session is scheduled for July 19.

At one time, the Delphi plant on Georgesville Road employed more than 5-thousand people. Now the workforce at west Columbus facility is below 500. All but 23 employees took buy-outs or early retirement last year. The company hired a so-called supplementary workforce with a starting salary around $14 dollars an hour. A significant decrease from the $28-dollars-an-hour the company paid before it went bankrupt. On his way into the union hall to cast what could be his final vote, supplemental worker Brian Brown wore a special t-shirt.

“It says ‘First Annual Kick to the Curb.’ It has to do with last year’s buyout,” Brown says. “And now I need a second t-shirt: ‘UAW: Unwanted Auto Worker.’”

Jim Harman is the United Auto Workers Local 969 shop chairman at Delphi. A worker passing by told Harman it was hard to cast a vote that would put him out of a job. But Harman says this latest Delphi offer was hard fought and he expects it to pass.

“The reason we feel like we have all that we can get in this contract negotiation is that we could have crippled GM,” Harman says. We supply 80% of their parts. And they’ve stepped up to avoid this strike and made this reasonable offer. And we’re going to accept it, I do believe.”

If the labor proposal does pass, workers could take a $25,000 offer to relocate to another Delphi plant that’s not being closed. Or they could take a cash settlement or what’s known as sub-pay. Even though he called it a win-win agreement, Harman lamented the impact passage would have.

“The United States’ economy has been built basically on manufacturing. And when this plant was built in the 40s this land was nothing but country. Now look at it. There was a mall built; now it’s vacant. This whole community was built based on this plant. At one point we employed 5500 people and put a lot of money in the West Side economy,” Harman says.

Just east of the plant, the head of a GM dealership also says he wonders what globalization means for the U.S. economy’s future. Chris Haydocy is president of Haydocy Automotive.

“Globalization may be great for a lot of the world but the fact of the matter is this is the first time ever that our kids won’t have the same potential that we do. Ohio being number one in bankruptcies, number one in foreclosures, number one in job loss is feeling the pain in this new world order. And for the community on the West Side, I don’t necessarily think it’s a good thing.

The membership at all Delphi facilities is voting this week on the proposal.

While union lawyers yesterday argued against Delphi’s proposed wage and benefit reductions in a US bankruptcy court in New York, union members in Columbus were voting at local UAW headquarters to approve a strike authorization. Mark Sweazy, president of local 969 says Delphi – not the union – is solely to blame.

“This provocation that we have today was not brought on by any member or any part of the organization,” Sweazy says. “It was brought on by the bankruptcy filing of Delphi Corporation. So we’ve been put in a precarious situation. The corporation wants to nullify the agreement we have with them. So the international union wants us to be prepared if necessary should a strike be necessary.”

Delphi employs 13,000 workers at its ten plants in Ohio. The company wants to cut workers’ wages from $27 an hour to $16.50 if General Motors agrees to pay a portion of the amount. If not, wages would be reduced to $12.50 an hour. Evelyn Martin, who says she’s worked at the Columbus plant for 29 years, flatly rejects the proposal and says she voted in favor of the strike authorization.

“I voted “yes” because of what they’re trying to do to us,” Martin says. “You know the ‘man at the top,’ they’re making all the money and they want to cut our wages. And it’s not right. If they want to cut down to $10 or $12 an hour, they need to ask themselves if they can make it at $10 or $12 an hour. I don’t think so,” she says.

Delphi’s ‘man at the top,’ Steve Miller says difficult but necessary decisions have to be made if the company is to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. He says labor agreements must be modified if the company is to remain competitive.

But Tom Meyers, who says he works for Delphi and the UAW, says a contract is a contract.

“I’m almost to retirement,” Meyers says. “And obviously to me, I want to keep my pension, I want to keep my benefits in tact. It was negotiated. It was all negotiated; nothing was ever given to us. Everything was always negotiated – it was give and take.”

But if negotiations between the union and Delphi fail, local UAW president Mark Sweazy says he thinks a strike might turn things around.

“With the pressure of a bankruptcy pending – which would mean disaster to General Motors – if we would shut down at Delphi for say, 60 days, it would cost that corporation $7 billion to $8 billion. That’s not our goal. But we want them to live up to their obligations,” Sweazy says.

All UAW members working at Delphi plants will complete voting on the strike authorization this week.

The company says it wants to close or sell 21 of its 29 plants in the US. Six Ohio plants, including the Columbus facility, would most likely be shut down.