Published: June 22, 2009 10:04 pm      

Delphi retirees fight for pensions

Law firm hired to take action

The Delphi Salaried Retirees Association is contemplating legal action to prevent their pensions from being transferred to a federal agency.

Delphi is seeking to default the pensions of 15,000 salaried retirees to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC).

The DSRA retained the Indianapolis law firm of Krieg DeVault LLP to consider all legal options to prevent the default.

The situation has become critical, according to Den Black, interim chair, DSRA.

“Immediate legal steps must be taken to prevent the pension default,” he said. “Some 15,000 hard-working Americans stand to lose 30 to 70 percent of their pension at a time when they suddenly have had to pay up to 10 times the cost of health care and life insurance.”

Black said the group is looking at several options to halt or slow the default to the PBGC.

“We as salaried retirees can’t endure the loss of our pensions plus the loss of life and health insurance benefits,” Black said. “The loss would put people in the poverty level.”

Black said the case could affect people other than the Delphi retirees, but the focus is the 15,000 salaried workers that retired from Delphi.

“It’s all about keeping the pension,” he said. “We believe the sensible thing is to take the Delphi salaried pensions back to General Motors.”

Black said GM has 116,000 salaried retirees and the pension plan is well-funded. He said there was an agreement to move union retiree pensions back to GM.

“Rolling it back to GM would be the best solution for the country and the retirees,” he said.

Black said if the Delphi pensions default to the PBGC, the poverty level will increase in Kokomo.

“There will be a ripple effect into all the businesses in the community,” Black continued. “We have determined a retiree that is 55 years old will lose $1,000 per month in discretionary spending.”

Black said moving the Delphi retirees back to the GM pension plan is the “right thing to do”.

“Rolling it back will save all these people from incredible heartache,” he said.

Delphi spun off from GM in 1999 and formed its own company. During the on-going GM bankruptcy proceedings the company announced plans to purchase several Delphi operations, including those in Kokomo.

• Ken de la Bastide is the Kokomo Tribune enterprise editor. He can be reached at (765) 454-8580 or via e-mail at ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com