Delphi creditors on Thursday asked a bankruptcy judge to approve the supplier’s bid to reject about 5,000 contracts with its biggest customer, General Motors.
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The Associated Press noted that Delphi in March asked bankruptcy judge Robert Drain in New York to void supply contracts with the automaker. GM, Delphi’s former parent, filed an objection earlier this month, saying Delphi’s request was tantamount to blackmail and that monetary damages “could easily exceed $US1bn per month.”
In the filing on Thursday, the committee representing Delphi’s creditors in bankruptcy court said voiding the contracts is essential to the company’s “efforts to obtain, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, GM’s contribution to solve the problems that GM created”, AP said.
The creditors reportedly said Delphi makes clear that it does not intend to stop supplying parts to GM, but, at most, to raise the prices.
“GM would have this Court believe that, when faced with the choice between paying more for its parts or shutting down its production, GM would choose to shut down its production,” the creditors said, according to the report. “It is simply not credible to believe that GM would choose suicide over survival.”
In its own filing Thursday, Troy-based Delphi denied it was holding the threat of a shutdown over GM’s head and predicted the companies would come to an agreement on new pricing, The Associated Press said.
“GM’s position is not surprising,” Delphi said. “It wants to continue, for as long as possible, to receive parts from its former parts division at prices that do not compensate the debtors’ estates for GM-inherited production costs.”
AP noted that Delphi has also asked Drain to allow it to throw out its contracts with the United Auto Workers and other unions. Last week, Drain agreed to postpone a hearing on that request until 11 August to let the parties focus on negotiations. Delphi requested the postponement after reaching agreement with the UAW and GM on buyouts for all its UAW-represented workers.
A hearing on the GM contracts is scheduled for 15 August, the news agency said, adding that Delphi is still negotiating with the UAW on wage and benefit reductions and has said it would prefer a negotiated settlement to court action.
At the close of the UAW convention in Las Vegas on Thursday, President Ron Gettelfinger said the union and Delphi were not close to an agreement and that the matter would not be resolved soon, The Associated Press said.
