Retirees United forms to protest Delphi cuts

The group will update Packard retirees on its pension protest efforts Wednesday.

By Don Shilling

Hourly retirees of Delphi Packard Electric are not taking cuts in their pensions without a fight.

They have formed Retirees United and hope to involve the thousands of people who have retired from area Packard plants over the years.

The group introduced itself to the press Monday and talked about possibly filing a lawsuit, having protests, conducting a letter-writing campaign and erecting yard signs.

Retirees are asked to provide their names and e-mail addresses to the group by calling the union hall at (330) 392-1591, ext. 232, or sending an e-mail to maryloudever@gmail.com.

Retirees will receive more information at a meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Warren Amphitheatre on Mahoning Avenue Northwest near downtown.

“We are going to organize and fight this injustice by General Motors and this administration,” said Chuck Church of West Farmington, a group spokesman.

The retirees say they feel abandoned by both the automaker and the federal government, which directed GM’s course through a brief bankruptcy.

The federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. is preparing to take over the pension plan of Delphi Corp., which has been in bankruptcy nearly four years. Union officials have said that retirees who left Packard in 2000 or later should expect benefit cuts if they are under 65.

They say retirees who are under 65 can expect to lose pension supplements of about $1,500 a month and have their regular pensions of about $1,500 reduced by several hundred dollars. Supplements are paid until workers are eligible for Social Security.

GM, which spun Delphi off as an independent company in 1999, has said it will pay to restore the full pensions of Delphi retirees if they were members of the United Auto Workers but not if they belonged to the International Union of Electrical Workers, which local workers did.

Linda Marchese, who retired in 2004 after working most of her years for GM, said this arrangement is unfair. “We deserve for GM to recognize our GM years and not throw us out in the garbage. We are not trash,” she said.

Church said the group wants the same benefits that UAW workers are receiving.

About 60 retirees attended the meeting Monday at the union hall of Local 717 of the IUE. Group leaders hope for many more once word of Retirees United gets out.

Church said group organizers also plan to involve retirees from Delphi locations in other states who were represented by the IUE. He also said he will speak to the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association about working together.

Church, 59, who retired in 2007 after working 33 years, said he expects his pension benefits to be reduced from $3,000 a month to $700 or $800. The retirees also are expecting to lose their health-care benefits.

“How am I going to pay for my health care on $700 a month? And who’s going to hire me at 59?” he said.

shilling@vindy.com