Delphi retirees get ear of Congress today

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

CANFIELD

Delphi Corp. salaried retirees, who’ve seen their pensions cut by as much as 70 percent, and others were to testify today at a U.S. House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee field hearing.

The hearing, called “After the Financial Crisis: Ongoing Challenges Facing Delphi Retirees,” in the Canfield High School auditorium, 100 Cardinal Drive, is scheduled to start at 9 a.m.

Subcommittee Chairman Dennis Moore, a Democrat from Lenexa, Kan., will oversee the hearing. It will focus on Delphi’s pension plan.

The salaried retirees’ pensions were cut by 30 percent to 70 percent when the Delphi retirement obligation was turned over to the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. during the government’s restructuring of General Motors last year. Delphi had been a part of GM until it was spun off in 1999 as an independent company.

GM agreed last year to cover the pension losses of most of Delphi’s hourly workers, but no provisions were made for salaried employees.

The Delphi Salaried Retirees Association filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. 6th District Court of Appeals in Detroit seeking to stop the PBGC from cutting the pensions.

“This economic crisis has hurt far too many working families, and they deserve to be heard,” said U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville, D-6th.

Wilson, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, requested the subcommittee field hearing and will deliver opening remarks.