Wednesday, February 18, 2009
STaff report
A San Francisco law firm has filed a legal objection to Delphi Corp.’s attempt to take away health-care benefits for salaried workers.
Farella Braun and Martel, which represented Delta Airlines employees in 2006, filed its motion Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. That objection was joined by another one from the United Auto Workers, which represents salaried workers at two Delphi Plants.
Tuesday was the deadline for filing objections to a motion Delphi made Feb. 5 to eliminate health care and life insurance benefits for 15,000 salaried retirees.
A hearing on Delphi’s request is scheduled for Tuesday.
A group of retirees called the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association retained the firm. These retirees have been meeting by phone conferences and e-mail since Feb. 5 and have drawn interest from retirees in Indiana, New York, Virginia and Ohio.
More information about the group is available by e-mailing djharv69@yahoo.com.
The law firm argued that bankruptcy law calls for a debtor to provide information about benefit cuts and negotiate those cuts with a committee representing the workers.
Its motion said Delphi opposed the formation of such a committee earlier because it said it was not considering benefit cuts.
After more than three years in bankruptcy, it was unfair of Delphi to announce benefit cuts without giving retirees enough time to make other arrangements, the motion said. Delphi plans to cancel benefits April 1.
Delphi has many retirees in the Mahoning Valley because it is the parent company of Delphi Packard Electric, which produces components for vehicle wiring harnesses.