AUBURN - TRW Automotive's three-year plan to save $1 million through union concessions was met with little enthusiasm on Sunday after several local union members stormed out during a reading of a new contract proposal.

With the new contract asking hourly workers to accept a pay cut of $1.35 an hour in addition to accepting health care cuts and the loss of a paid holiday, Sue Parker, president of Local 192C of the International Chemical Workers Union Council, said she was not surprised by the members' reaction.

According to a copy of the contract proposal, wages for employees at Auburn's TRW's plant, which manufactures vehicle safety equipment, could range from $11.71 an hour to $19.05 an hour.

“We knew coming into this meeting that they were not going to like it,” Parker said. “I think it's unrealistic for the company to expect them to take these concessions, and the union is the only one taking these cuts. (The corporate office's) reasoning is that they have already laid off 40 percent of their staff.”

But with eight employees laid off two weeks ago in addition to another 65 who were laid off last summer, several union members said they believe the company's manufacturing plant on Crane Brook Drive has also taken its fair share of losses.

The employees who still remain have still seen their hours decrease, working only three or four days a week under the state's shared work program, which provides partial unemployment benefits for those lost hours.

With the economic recession forcing many employees to collect partial unemployment, Dale O'Bryan, an electronic assembler with 16 years of experience working for TRW Automotive, said the contract's concessions will only push the remaining employees closer to needing other public assistance programs to support their families.

“I think TRW is cutting our throats. If we accept this, it won't be long until we are all making minimum wage,” O'Bryan said. “Why can't we take cuts from the big guys who are making more (money) than we are?”

Because the union understands that the entire automotive industry is losing money, Parker said she believes the members will accept some concessions as everyone has made them.

“I think yes, (the union) will accept some concessions if the (corporate office) does too,” Parker said. “Whether they will do that or not, I don't know.”

At the close of 2008's fourth quarter, TRW Automotive reported a net loss of $946 million. Despite the total sales for 2008 increasing by 2 percent when compared to 2007, the company still experienced a net loss of $779 million last year.

The company's stock, which sold for $29.56 a share a year ago, have plummeted to $4.08 a share on the New York Stock Exchange as of Friday.

With the contract's vote scheduled for April 1, the union's decision will come exactly two weeks after members of the United Auto Workers union at New Process Gear in Syracuse voted down a second contract proposal offered to them by Magna International, a Canadian company that manufactures SUV and truck transfer cases.

That New Process Gear contract hinged on the plant at least coming close to its performance goals by June. Even if the plant achieved its goals, Magna International still planned to lay off at least half of the factory's 1,400 employees.

With the plant losing $117 million in 2007, Magna International had said that it planned to close the plant if the UAW voted down the second proposal.

Representatives from TRW Automotive's corporate office were not immediately available for comment about the proposal, but Jones said both sides will have until May 8 to get a new contract in place if the union rejects it.

“If that happens, then unless the company extends our current contract, we could strike,” Parker said. “But we haven't done that in a long time.”

Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net