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Delphi retirees get support; Turner, others seek pension investigation

Members of Congress want to know why the company’s assets weren’t liquidated to satisfy pension obligations.

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By Thomas Gnau, Staff Writer 9:30 AM Thursday, August 12, 2010

For Delphi retirees, the fight for their pensions goes on.

It continues on two avenues — through a lawsuit in a federal court in Detroit and with the aid of legislators. And it’s the latter that is getting attention these days.

Congressman Chris Lee of New York state has called for an investigation by the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) into how the pensions of Delphi retirees were surrendered last summer to the federally backed Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC). U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, supports that call.

In addition, U.S. Rep. John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., and a senator from Mississippi, Roger Wicker, this week asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for an independent analysis of the federal assistance General Motors Corp. received and its treatment of Delphi retirees.

Turner questions why certain Delphi assets weren’t liquidated to answer pension obligations. The PBGC released liens on Delphi property that retirees contend were worth billions. Turner also questions also why the federal government chose to treat certain classes of retirees differently. Salaried retirees, in particular, feel cheated: Many worked for decades for GM before the automaker spun off Delphi, its parts-making arm, in 1999.

Salaried retirees stand to lose a large chunk of their pensions because GM never offered contractually to make their pensions whole if they were transferred to the PBGC. Hourly retirees benefit from such contractual support, though salaried retirees contend Delphi, GM and the government can afford to do right by them, too.

“They used taxpayer dollars to own 60 percent of General Motors and did it on the backs of the (Delphi) retirees,” Turner said.

Springboro resident Jimmy Mayne, 64, is a former Delphi chief brakes engineer. He was classified a Delphi retiree though he spent only 18 months of his 38-year career working for Delphi. As he sees it, Delphi spent millions in bankruptcy reorganization to cut his benefits..

“We were uniquely singled out,” Washington Twp. resident Tom Rose (who spent 30 years with GM and nine years with Delphi) said of salaried retirees. An attorney representing salaried retirees in a lawsuit against the government, Michael Khalil, of Washington, D.C. firm Miller & Chevalier, declined to comment.

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