DELPHI: Congressmen ask Obama to help save pensions of salaried retirees

Staff Reports

A group of Congressional representatives, both Republican and Democrat, are sending a letter to President Barack Obama asking for his help to encourage General Motors to save the pensions of Delphi salaried retirees.

On Friday, U.S. Sens. Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as U.S. Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, Eric Massa, D-Corning, Chris Lee, R-Clarence and Dan Maffei, D-DeWitt, announced that they sent a personal letter to Obama. The group is asking Obama to help bring GM to the negotiating table in efforts to reverse a decision to move the pension plans of the Delphi Corp.’s salaried retirees to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. A total of 32 members of Congress have signed the letter.

“The way Delphi’s salaried retirees are being treated is fundamentally unfair,” Schumer

said. “Many of them have been longtime employees, and some even began their careers, decades ago, as GM employees. They have sacrificed enough already, and to ask them to accept another burden is unfair and unreasonable. They deserve equitable treatment, and that’s why I am urging the Obama administration to bring GM to the negotiating table and bring this saga to a fair and equitable end.”

While both GM and Delphi were in bankruptcy, as part of GM’s restructuring plan, the company bought back five Delphi facilities, including one in Lockport. GM also agreed to cover the reductions of Delphi hourly workers’ pensions, but not that of the salaried workers. The salaried workers could be facing cuts of up to 70 percent.

In the letter, the members wrote: “As a 60 percent shareholder in GM, the federal government is in a position to do something to restore fairness for these retirees and to minimize the economic impact of the pension loss on their communities.”

“I’m encouraged that so many of my colleagues, Democrat and Republican alike, have joined this fight to demand fairness and equity for all Delphi retirees,” Lee said. “Delphi salaried retirees are not looking for more than they have earned. They are simply looking for fair and equal treatment, just like the men and women they worked beside for so many years.”

“We need to ensure that Delphi’s salaried retirees receive equitable treatment,” Gillibrand said. “In the midst of these tough economic times, families in Upstate New York cannot afford to sacrifice their pension benefits.”

“The workers at Delphi don’t deserve this,” Slaughter said. “The Western New York workers that built GM’s proud local tradition should not bear the brunt of this action. The idea that Delphi workers who have worked side by side with others at GM are not only losing their health care and life insurance benefits, but also stand to lose 70 percent of their pension is not only unwanted, it’s unjust.”

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