By Michael Husar, President, Delphi Retirees Chapter
The Delphi Retirees Chapter was formed in June 2022 through an agreement between the NRLN and the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association (DSRA). The Chapter provides Delphi retirees (salaried and hourly) broader exposure to retirement issues, efforts to protect Social Security and Medicare and additional exposure for lobbying Congress to fully restore salaried retirees’ pensions.
Also, we are working to get the Healthcare Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) made permanent by the reintroduction and passage by the new Congress of the Bob von Schwedler Permanent Health Coverage Tax Credit Expansion Act. The HCTC helps Americans cover their health insurance costs if they are retired and their pensions have been taken over by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), or if their job was outsourced abroad and they qualify for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA).
Currently, the primary focus of Chapter members is to convince a Representative and a Senator in the new Congress to reintroduce the Susan Muffley Act to rectify the injustice that 20,000 Delphi salaried retirees suffered during the Delphi and General Motors bankruptcies. Please note that this is not a “bail out” but a correction to an error that the PBGC and the Auto Task Force made in terminating our pensions. As currently proposed, this Act should require no tax payer funds.
Delphi, General Motors’ biggest supplier, filed for bankruptcy in 2005, but continued to build and ship parts to its customers. In 2009, during the GM bankruptcy the U.S. Treasury, in an effort to avoid an auto industry collapse, formed an “Auto Team” to direct GM through bankruptcy in an unprecedented 40 days.
The Auto Team needed Delphi to quickly exit bankruptcy and insisted that Delphi shed its pension obligations. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) took over the Delphi salaried retirees pension plan which was a historically well-funded pension plan until 2009. As a result, 20,000 salaried retirees lost up to 70% of their pension.
Federal funds propped up the Delphi and GM unions’ pension plans and they were not taken over by the PBGC. Thus, very few union members saw any pension reduction.
Initially, salaried retirees pleaded their case in the courts. After the U.S. Supreme Court declined on January 18, 2022, to hear their case, they turned to Congress to restore their pensions.
The effort by Delphi salaried retirees to rectify their unfair treatment during the Federal governments involvement in the bankruptcies took a major step forward on July 27, 2022, when the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.6929, the Susan Muffley Act of 2022. The bill passed by a 250-174 vote. The House sent the bill to the U.S. Senate where despite an intense lobbying campaign by DSRA and NRLN the bill was not taken up and died at the end of the 117th Congress on December 31, 2022.
On February 1, 2023, U.S. Representatives Mike Turner (OH-10), Dan Kildee (MI-8), Claudia Tenney (NY-24), and Gwen Moore (WI-4) reintroduced the Susan Muffley Act to restore the pensions of the Delphi salaried retirees. The four Representatives continue to advocate to make Delphi retirees financially whole, who lost their pensions through no fault of their own.
During the NRLN’s fly-in to Washington, DC in mid-September NRLN members lobbied for the passage of the Susan Muffley Act and the bill to make HCTC permanent. DSRA continues to urge for the reintroduction and passage of the Susan Muffley Act by the 119th Congress The Susan Muffley Act is named after the deceased spouse of a Delphi salaried retiree.
Visitors to the NRLN website may be interested in learning about Delphi retirees’ corporate history. Our roots go back to 1909 when 5,000 spark ignition sets were ordered for the 1910 Cadillac from National Cash Register Company (NCR) co-workers Charles Kettering and Edward Deeds. That caused them to form the Dayton Engineering Laboratories company (Delco).
In 1918, General Motors (GM) acquired the United Motors Company which had been formed to house several prominent parts manufacturers, including Delco. All of those companies became part of General Motors Corporation in 1920. Other component manufacturers such as Packard Electric were acquired in the years that followed.
GM established the General Motors’ Automotive Components Group in 1994, which changed its name to Delphi Automotive Systems in 1995. GM spun off Delphi on May 28, 1999, as a publicly traded company.
A group of private investors purchased Delphi’s core assets to create a new Delphi Corporation in October 2009. The old Delphi Corporation was renamed DPH Holdings Corporation. Now the company is Aptiv PLC an Irish-American global technology company with headquarters in Dublin.
NRLN Delphi Retirees Chapter
Recently the board of directors of the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association (DSRA) sent an email to its members announcing that the National Retiree Legislative Network (NRLN) has formed a Delphi Retirees Chapter, independent of DSRA, for all Delphi retirees (salaried and hourly).
The DSRA message invited Delphi retirees to join the Chapter by signing up at https://nrln.org//email-sign-up, and selecting Delphi Retirees Chapter – NRLN. Delphi retirees have been signing up daily to join over 700 Delphi retirees who were already receiving NRLN’s emails and supporting its work in Washington, DC to create a better future for retirees.
The Delphi Retirees Chapter is now one of 14 NRLN Chapters. Already posted on the webpage in addition to this welcome message is the NRLN’s Action Alert requesting that members of Congress become cosponsors of H.R.6929/S.3766, the Susan Muffley Act of 2022, which would wholly restore the pensions for Delphi salaried retirees. Also posted is an article on the Delphi Retirees Chapter Members’ Corporate Linage.
The Chapter’s webpage is intended to provide information of interest to Delphi retirees. We request your comments on what you would like to see on the webpage. Send an email with your ideas to contact@nrln.org. Please provide your input on our thoughts and information for:
- A “tombstone” section to post recent retiree deaths.
- Set up “plant/divisional” sub chapters for retirees’ comments.
- Post plant and divisional pictures to enhance the webpage.
- Provide links to retirees Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.
If you would like to be part of the Chapter’s leadership team, such as, vice presidents for legislative affairs, membership development, webpage editor or some other role send an email to presdelphichapter@nrln.org.
We believe you will see the value of being a Chapter member and will want to encourage Delphi retirees you know to join the Chapter. There are no Chapter membership dues. A letter will be sent to invite members to make an annual voluntary contribution of $25 or more. Contributions support the Chapter and the NRLN’s work to lobby for legislation to protect retirees’ interests.
One of the NRLN’s lobbying efforts is for the funding of Social Security and Medicare. The Social Security Trustees annual report issued last month stated, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund will only be able to pay scheduled benefits until 2034. At that time, the funds reserves will become depleted and tax income will only be sufficient to pay 77% of the scheduled benefits. The Medicare Trustees reported, the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund (Medicare Part A) will only be able pay scheduled benefits until 2028. At that time, the fund’s reserve will become depleted and will only be sufficient to pay 90% of scheduled benefits. Medicare Part B (physician services) is adequately financed from general revenues and beneficiary premiums.
We encourage you to regularly visit your Chapter’s webpage and the entire NRLN website at www.nrln.org. One of the important navigation tabs is “Legislative Action Network” where you will find the NRLN’s 2022 Legislative Agenda, White Papers, Executive Summaries and Talking Points on our lobbying issues. Take a few minutes to watch or listen to one or more of our video/podcasts.
Together we can make the Delphi Retirees Chapter an asset for our retirement years.
Mike Husar, President
Delphi Retirees Chapter
Bill Kadereit President
National Retiree Legislative Network
Delphi Retirees Chapter Action Alerts
The 13-year effort by Delphi Salaried Retirees to fully restore their pensions which were harmed in the General Motors bankruptcy took a major step forward Wednesday, July 27, when the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.6929, the Susan Muffley Act of 2022. The bill passed by a 250-174 vote. (How your Representative voted, see at: https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2022396?BillNum=H.R.6929 .)
The next step is the U.S. Senate for the Delphi Salaried Retirees’ quest to rectify the injustice when the federal government stepped in and protected GM’s and the Delphi United Auto Workers unions’ pensions, but the well-funded pension plan for Delphi salaried retirees was terminated, taken over by PBGC, and many of the 21,000 Delphi salaried retirees suffered payment reductions of up to 70%.
We want to thank the NRLN members, including members of the recently formed NRLN Delphi Retirees Chapter, who responded to the Monday, July 25, NRLN Action Alert to urge Representatives to vote for the passage of H.R.6929. Congratulations are in order for the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association who have led the effort to gain pension restitution, first in the courts and now in Congress. Your help will be needed again to encourage Senators to either pass H.R.6929 or the Susan Muffley Act of 2022 companion bill S.3766.
Bill Kadereit, President
National Retiree Legislative Network
Mike Husar, President
Delphi Retirees Chapter – NRLN
Bob Martina, Vice President
NRLN Grassroots
Click here to email your letter to urge your Representative to vote for the passage of H.R.6929 https://nrln.org//action-alert/#/home/. Also, call your Representative to say how important it is to restore pensions for Delphi Salaried Retirees. (See calling information in instruction #5 and #6 below.)
It is expected there will be a House vote as early as Wednesday, July 27, on H.R.6929, the Susan Muffley Act of 2022. Passage of the bill would wholly restore the pensions for Delphi Salaried Retirees by making up the difference between the pension benefits earned by Delphi Salaried Retirees and what they received from the PBGC following the GM bankruptcy in 2009.
Representative Dan Kildee (MI-05), Chief Deputy Whip of the House Democratic Caucus, introduced H.R.6929 on March 3, 2022. He stated in his press release, “If you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to retire with dignity. The government rescued GM but left these workers hanging. That’s why what happened to the Delphi Salaried Retirees is such an injustice. These hardworking retirees have waited too long to receive the benefits they earned…”
The Delphi Salaried Retirees Association (DSRA), which the NRLN helped organize, has been relentless in its efforts to fully restore the pensions for 21,000 Delphi Salaried Retirees.
After the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its order on January 18, 2022, that denied the Delphi retirees’ request that the justices hear their case, the DRSA worked to get H.R.6929 introduced in the House and companion bill S.3766 introduced in the Senate. (In November 2021 the NRLN funded and submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court urging the Justices to hear the Delphi Salaried Retirees’ case that termination of their pension plan followed an illegal process.)
I am asking not only members of the newly formed NRLN Delphi Retirees Chapter, but ALL NRLN members, to take a few minutes to immediately email the NRLN’s letter and call your U.S. Representative to urge him or her to vote for the passage of H.R.6929. (See instruction #5 and #6 below for phone call.) Also, share this message with your family members and sympathetic friends and urge them to email the letter and make the phone call.
Bill Kadereit, President
National Retiree Legislative Network
Mike Husar, President
Delphi Retirees Chapter – NRLN
Bob Martina, Vice President
NRLN Grassroots
You may have responded to the NRLN Action Alert in March that asked NRLN members to write to their U.S. Representative and Senators to urge them to become a cosponsor of H.R.6929/S.3766, the Susan Muffley Act of 2022, which would wholly restore the pensions for Delphi Salaried Retirees by making up the difference between the pension benefits earned by Delphi Salaried Retirees and what they received from the PBGC following the GM bankruptcy in 2009.
Many Delphi Salaried Retirees lost up to 70% of their pensions in the PBGC’s takeover of their pension plan while the federal government stepped in and fully protected General Motor’s and the Delphi unions’ pensions.
In November 2021 the NRLN funded and submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court urging the Justices to hear the Delphi Salaried Retirees’ case that termination of their pension plan followed an illegal process. The Justices declined to hear the case. On June 28, I sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s senior policy adviser requesting that he discuss with Speaker Pelosi a statement made my Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during a recent Congressional hearing about the Delphi Salaried Retirees pension issue. She stated: “So first of all, let me say I know this is an issue that’s been difficult to resolve, around for a long time and that the issues are complicated. [I] Strongly support attempting to find a legislative solution.”
Last month the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association (DSRA) and the NRLN agreed to form the Delphi Retirees Chapter – NRLN, independent of DSRA, for all Delphi retirees (salaried and hourly). It is the 14th NRLN Chapter.
In this Action Alert, I am requesting that you send the NRLN’s sample letter to President Biden to urge him to take an active role with Congress to restore the pensions for 21,000 Delphi Salaried Retirees. You may wonder, why email a letter to President Biden on this issue?
President Biden was in Cleveland last week to tout using American Rescue Plan money to retroactively restore pensions for two to three million union retirees and workers in Multiemployer pension plans. The President needs to be reminded that in 2020 during his campaign for the presidency, at a stop in Alliance, OH, he said: ”…So, what I am going to do is be working with your Senators to figure out how we can bring in the salaried workers who are really hurt as badly [as the union workers], they deserve a pension.”
To assist your fellow Delphi Salaried Retirees, We are asking that you take a few minutes to send the NRLN’s Action Alert letter to President Biden.
Bill Kadereit, President
National Retiree Legislative Network
Mike Husar, President
Delphi Retirees Chapter – NRLN
Bob Martina, Vice President
NRLN Grassroots
Clink here to urge your Representative and Senators to rectify an injustice to Delphi salaried retirees.
https://nrln.org//action-alert/#/home/
When the federal government cheated Delphi salaried retirees out of their pensions, members of Congress should have taken action to rectify what happened to retirees.
Such was the case in 2009 during the auto industry meltdown when the federal government task force intervened in the bankruptcies of General Motors and Delphi, (GM’s parts-making divisions that were spun off into a separate company in 1999). The government stepped in and fully protected GM’s and the Delphi unions’ pensions, but the pension plan for Delphi salaried retirees was terminated, taken over by PBGC and 22,000 families suffered payment reductions of up to 70%.
Ironically, the Delphi salaried pension plan was well-funded and did not require termination. Subsequently, the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association (DSRA) sued, with the case ending up on appeal to the Supreme Court last year. You may recall that the NRLN filed an amicus brief, pleading that the appeal be heard. The appeal was denied so now Delphi retirees are seeking help to get Congress to take action.
To assist your fellow Delphi salaried retirees, I am asking that you send the NRLN’s Action Alert letter to your members of Congress to urge them to become a cosponsor of H.R.6929/S.3766, the Susan Muffley Act of 2022, which would wholly restore the pensions for Delphi salaried retirees. This bill would make up the difference between the pension benefits earned by Delphi salaried retirees and what they received following the GM bankruptcy in 2009.
The legislation is named after Susan Muffley who was part of the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association’s (DSRA) core leadership in the effort to restore their pensions. Her husband, David, worked at Delphi as an electronics technician for 31 years, but lost the full value of his pension in 2009. Despite health problems, Susan avoided seeing her doctor given her family’s financial constraints due to losing their pension. She was ultimately diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away on August 9, 2012.
Delphi Retirees Chapter Members’ Corporate Lineage
Wikipedia serves and as an ancestry family tree for Delphi Retirees Chapter members. Their roots go back to National Cash Register Company (NCR) co-workers Charles Kettering and Edward Deeds. Working in Deeds’ barn in their spare time around 1908 they worked on developing a high-energy spark ignition system.
Formation of Delco
In 1909, Henry Leland of Cadillac ordered 5,000 ignition sets for the 1910 Cadillac and Kettering and Deeds formed the Dayton Engineering Laboratories company (Delco).
In 1911, Kettering invented and patented the first useful electric starter, adapted from a cash register motor. The starters were first installed in the 1912 Cadillacs.
