Congress has hearing on Delphi pensions

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - The bang of the gavel signals another day of work for a group of retirees who thought they'd put in their time already.

"I have been put in this crushing position because the government intentionally choose to treat me and other Delphi salaried retirees with disdain and disregard," says Mary Miller.

Miller and other salaried Delphi retirees testified Monday before a standing room only crowd at a field hearing of the House Oversight Committee held at Sinclair Community College.

The hearing, called by Congressman Mike Turner, was designed to get to the bottom of why salaried Delphi retirees had their pensions cut by 30 to 70 percent, while Delphi union workers got their full pensions.

"We want to know what happened to the money for the delphi salaried retiree plan," Rep. Turner says. "Where did it go? How do we put it back?"

The salaried retirees told the committee about the impact that missing money has already had on them this early into their retirements.

"Many of our members have already had to declare personal bankruptcy," Bruce Gump told the committee members. "Some have had their homes foreclosed."

In a response sent to 2 News, the U-S Department of the Treasury says there's a reason why the salaried retirees were treated differently than their union counterparts.

They point to a 1999 deal made by the unions and GM to "top-off" their pensions. Salaried workers weren't included.

The new GM that emerged from bankruptcy decided to honor that deal, but it was a raw one according to those at Monday's hearing.

"These things would have been thrown out in the bankruptcy court," says Chuck Cunningham, a former Delphi executive. "They always were but they weren't."

"I believe evidence uncovered by this committee shows Obama's Auto Task Force made this decision for purely political reasons," says Rep. Dan Burton, (R-IN5).

The committee has requested more documents from the government as to what went into the decision.

In addition, the retirees have a lawsuit that seeks to get their pensions restored.