Obscene

That's the only word to describe this stunt by Delphi, a major auto parts manufacturer. Delphi has announced to its unions that to stay afloat, wages will have to be slashed from an average of better than $25 an hour to $12 an hour.

I mean, that must be because the company is beset by problems, broke, and without any other recourse except to raid money from working families. Right? Clearly that can be the only explanation.

Except that as Jonathan Tasini points out, Delphi executives have already bargained their own golden parachutes worth $500 million dollars. The kicker--those parachutes open AFTER Delphi emerges from bankruptcy court. The same bankruptcy court that the union and the company in right now, trying to figure out what to do with worker pensions.

So, to summarize: Company cries poor, demands wage concessions from working class folks, tries to gut pensions in bankruptcy court, and top executives ream workers and company out of more than $500 million on compensation packages for themselves.

Can there be a clearer case of class warfare? I mean, obviously this isn't blood in the streets kind of stuff, but in terms of the interests of the wealthy and the powerful vs. the rest of America's working core, this is a pretty stark example of open warfare.

And the only thing standing in the way of Delphi getting their way?

The United Auto Workers, an organization not without its faults. Thus is the worth of the labor movement.