Delphi salaried retirees have a couple more allies in their battle to regain lost pensions and health care.
House Speaker John Boehner this week asked the Obama Administration for an accounting of why it permitted Delphi Corp. to terminate pensions for 21,000 salaried retirees, including about 1,500 in the Mahoning Valley.
Earlier this week, special investigator Neil Barofsky filed a quarterly report with Congress concerning his probe into whether the Obama administration favored one group of workers over the Delphi salaried retirees.
There is a lot at stake for the economies in Trumbull and Mahoning counties.
A Youngstown State University study indicates the Valley stands to lose 5,000 jobs and $161 million per year unless the retiree pensions are topped up just like their counterparts.
The PBGC decided that Delphi retirees will receive between 30 and 70 percent of what they were promised from their pensions. The U.S. Treasury Department, which owns 33 percent of the company thanks to a federal bailout, then decided to use the taxpayer funds to top-up the pensions for union retirees so that they would receive 100 percent of their benefits. Top-ups had never before been used in PBGC cases.
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