Delphi, UAW discuss buyouts

Delphi Corp. and the United Auto Workers union are talking about buyout packages to reduce the auto supplier’s hourly work force, a union official who has been briefed on the talks said Thursday.

The plan under discussion would mirror a buyout and early retirement pact negotiated in March between the UAW and General Motors Corp., Delphi’s former parent company, extending buyout offers that were made only to GM workers, said Clyde Sims, bargaining chairman for UAW Local 913 at a Delphi plant near Sandusky, Ohio.

Sims, who co-chaired the UAW’s national bargaining committee during the 2003 contract talks and sat at the table in 1999, said he was told about the Delphi negotiations by UAW officials in Detroit who are familiar with the talks.

GM workers with 10 or more years of seniority were offered $140,000 to leave the company with credit for their pension but no other benefits. Many with less than 10 years were offered $70,000. As part of the same agreement, Delphi workers were offered $35,000 lump-sum payments to retire, and 5,000 would be able to return to GM.

•The government will pursue some Fannie Mae executives to recover bonus money they reaped in an accounting scheme — if the mortgage giant itself fails to do so.

At his confirmation hearing Thursday, James B. Lockhart, a longtime friend of President Bush, also assured senators he would maintain his independence as the chief regulator of embattled Fannie Mae and its smaller government-sponsored sibling, Freddie Mac.

Lockhart appeared before the Senate Banking Committee with three other Bush nominees for positions with independent regulatory agencies: Sheila Bair as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Federal Reserve Gov. Donald Kohn as vice chairman of the central bank and Banking Committee aide Kathleen Casey as a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Senate approval of all four is not in doubt.

•Fitch Ratings on Thursday downgraded the long-term debt ratings for Ford Motor Co. and its financing arm further into junk status, citing a “sparse product pipeline” and a restructuring plan that it said would be slow to kick in.

The announcement sent Ford’s stock to a 52-week low. Shares fell 13 cents, or 1.9 percent, to close at $6.66 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Fitch lowered Ford’s issuer default rating to “B+” from “BB” and its senior unsecured debt rating to “BB-” from “BB.”

ruptcy protection.