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Delphi retirees keep up the fight
On the side
GOP candidate search: The Mahoning County Republican Party will accept applications till the end of the month from those wanting to replace Don Manning as the party’s county commissioner nominee. Manning of North Lima withdrew as a candidate July 9.
Those interested should submit a letter of interest to the party at 621 Boardman-Canfield Road in Boardman 44512. The party has until Aug. 9 to select a replacement to run for commissioner.
The plan is to hold a meet-and-greet with the commissioner candidates and the party’s central committee members, about 150 of them, a few days before the committee members select a replacement nominee, said GOP Chairman Mark Munroe.
The local Republican Party will hold an event to honor Clarence Smith, who recently retired as party chairman after serving 12 years in that position. The steak-fry event starts at 5:30 p.m. July 31 at the Youngstown Shrine Club’s pavilion on state Route 165. Tickets are $50 each. To make reservations, call party headquarters at 330-629-7006.
Delphi Corp. salaried retirees, who’ve lost up to 70 percent of their pensions, learned the hard way how politics can adversely impact their lives.
They’re also learning that the best way to get what they want is to play politics themselves.
There are a number of congressmen — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan and Charlie Wilson, all Democrats from Ohio, and U.S. Rep. Chris Lee, a Republican from western New York — who have been actively lobbying to have those lost benefits restored.
To date, the politicians haven’t been successful.
The Delphi salaried retirees aren’t giving up. And because this is a big election year, they’re attracting a lot of attention.
We’ll see if the increased attention means their pensions are fully restored.
Wilson of St. Clairsville, D-6th, convinced U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, a Democrat from Lenexa, Kan., to hold a U.S. House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee field hearing earlier this week at Canfield High School.
Moore is the subcommittee’s chairman. Of the other 12 subcommittee members [including two Ohio Democrats], only Lee showed up.
That wasn’t a good sign.
But the field hearing may prove to be helpful to the retirees who want their benefits restored.
At the hearing, Ryan of Niles, D-17th, as well as Lee and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher criticized the President Barack Obama administration about its unwillingness to rectify the situation.
Fisher is a Democrat running for U.S. Senate and a long-time supporter of restoring the retirees’ lost benefits. He testified at the field hearing.
The last thing Obama needs is fellow Democrats criticizing his administration.
Brown and Gov. Ted Strickland, two Democrats who are strong advocates for the retirees, also issued statements urging the restoration of their lost pensions.
On top of that Rob Portman, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, sent a letter the day of the field hearing to Obama urging him to help take care of this problem.
Are some looking to score political points? Absolutely, but that can only help the retirees.
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. There are about 20,000 salaried retirees.
Perhaps the increased pressure will be enough to compel GM, Delphi, PBGC and the federal treasury to resolve this matter.
That’s the hope of several retirees, including Bruce Gump, who worked 33 years for Delphi and GM and is the director of Delphi Salaried Retiree Association’s Warren Legislative Council.
“If they put it into the [Congressional] Record, it will be a waste of time,” he said after the hearing. “If they can bring [the various parties] together, it will be a success. The treasury is ignoring us. Congress is more difficult to ignore.”