Brown pushes bill to provide health care for Delphi retirees

STAFF REPORT

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown has introduced legislation that would provide funding for health care for Delphi Corp. retirees who lost their health coverage.

The bill is the Senate companion to legislation introduced last month by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th.

The bills propose creating a trust fund known as a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association to provide health coverage to salaried retirees and hourly retirees in the International Union of Electrical Workers, United Steelworkers of America and International Association of Machinists unions.

“Delphi retirees worked hard and played by the rules, but are now seeing their health benefits eliminated or greatly reduced,” Brown said.

The funds for the health-care account would come from money that was loaned to financial companies during the nation’s credit crisis last year and has since been repaid.

Delphi, which operates Warren-based Delphi Packard Electric, canceled its retiree health care this summer as part of a four-year-old bankruptcy case.

Under the proposed legislation, the VEBA would provide health benefits similar to those Delphi retirees received before Delphi’s bankruptcy.

Both the hourly retirees from the IUE and salaried retirees were able to negotiate limited health-care benefits since then, but the plans are more expensive than the previous coverage.