Delphi

 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://www.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.