DAYTON — Tom Rose, a 63-year-old Washington Twp. resident, believes he has seen too many promises broken.

Rose testified Tuesday, Aug. 25, before the Ohio Joint Select Committee on the Impact of the Changing Automobile Industry at Sinclair Community College. Rose said he started working for General Motors Corp. in 1969. Thirty years later, he started working for the newly spun-off auto parts maker Delphi Corp. He watched as Delphi filed for bankruptcy protection in 2005.

Rose was “involuntarily separated” from Delphi last year, after working at four Dayton-area Delphi plants. He told the six joint committee members — six senators and six representatives — of receiving notice in February telling him Delphi could no longer offer him health, dental, vision and life insurance coverage.

Rose spoke of watching as Delphi transferred pension obligations this summer to the federally backed Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., a move that most believe will result in lower pensions for salaried retirees who won’t benefit from GM’s pledge to “top up” some pensions for certain groups of hourly retirees.

“Our defined pension depended on a trust that was broken,” Rose said. “Ohio doesn’t need any more Delphis.”

Rose also spoke of the difference between how salaried Delphi retirees and some hourly retirees — particularly those represented by the United Auto Workers — are treated. UAW-represented retirees are seeing health care benefits protected by a contract and GM’s pledge to bolster some hourly pensions, he said.

Said Rose, “This smacks of blatant discrimination.”

Rose heard expressions of sympathy from committee members but no specific assurances.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray was more direct. In his testimony, Cordray alluded to the problems facing Delphi retirees, saying at one point, “We will fight with them in court if need be.”

Cordray urged legislators to press Congress and the Obama administration for a “sensible resolution.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.