Officials Hope Sale of Delphi Bearings Plant Will Keep Facility, Jobs in Township, County

Local officials say they hope the potential sale of Delphi Corp.'s Perkins Township bearings plant will keep the factory and its jobs in Erie County. The officials said they were encouraged by the news that Resilience Capital Partners has bid $44.2 million on the plant and its assets.

More information could come to light next week when the U.S. District Court in New York holds a Jan. 25 hearing on bidding procedures for a sale of the bearings plant.

"The way this company is talking up there in Cleveland, they want to make this thing go," said Erie County Commissioner Nancy McKeen, a retired benefits administrator at the plant. "If that's what they're going to do, it bodes well for the community because we need those jobs."We would certainly welcome them into our community and do anything we can to assist them," she said.

The news is good for workers there as well, Commissioner Tom Monaghan said."They're interested in making that plant work," Monaghan said. "We're excited that the dust is starting to settle and having those people out there know who their employer is going to be."

The commissioners said their office has had no contacts from Delphi or Resilience Capital Partners about the deal.

The companies also have not approached the Erie County Economic Development Corp. about plans, said Mark Litten, executive director of that group. Last year, two other potential buyers did call his office for information; Litten said neither was Resilience Capital, but he declined to identify them.

"My understanding is that Delphi has settled on a potential buyer," Litten said. "Now they have to take that potential buyer to the bankruptcy court and see if the judge agrees."At this point in time, they've taken another step in the process and our hope here in Erie County obviously is that the business will be sold and it will continue operating, making wheel bearings and supplying the automotive market," Litten said. "We hope the jobs are still there because that will be a positive for this community."

Spokesmen for Troy, Mich.- based Delphi Corp. and Resilience Capital Partners LLC of Cleveland did not return telephone calls seeking comment. The United Auto Workers Local 1219 and the UAW's international office in Michigan also kept mum about the potential sale.

The sale agreement said Resilience Capital Partners would offer employment to all of the factory's active employees, including hourly and salaried workers.

"Salaried employees would be offered compensation and benefits that are substantially comparable in the aggregate to the compensation and benefits offered prior to closing," the sale motion said.

It appeared the agreement might spark new negotiations with the UAW workers at the plant.

"It should be noted that the Agreement provides that the Purchase Price may be adjusted to $18.2 million, subject to certain further adjustments," if, prior to the closing, a competitive operating agreement between Delphi and the local UAW has not yet been executed or become effective or Delphi entities have failed to achieve certain labor-related cost savings, the sale motion said.

With about 1,000 hourly and salaried employees, the Delphi plant ranks among the largest employers in Erie County.

For industrial and manufacturing jobs, it is second only to the Automotive Component Holdings LLC plant, which formerly was the Visteon Corp. factory in Margaretta Township. It is fourth overall behind ACH, Firelands Regional Medical Center, which is the county's largest employer for full-time year-round jobs, and Cedar Point, which is the largest overall employer when it has its full staff of summer workers.

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