Union Favoritism - GM Bankruptcy and Delphi Pensions

[WhiskeyGirl]

Why didn't they just privatize all the pensions?  Convert them to 401K's like they do in private business?  Why play favorites with the unions?

U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and U.S. House of Representatives Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) thanked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for agreeing to conduct an independent analysis of the administration’s treatment of union and non-union Delphi retirees. The GAO will coordinate their work with the Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, who has also agreed to investigate the matter.

“Americans deserve to know how this administration used taxpayer dollars during the GM bankruptcy proceedings,” said Wicker. “I am glad the GAO has agreed to investigate this important issue so we can determine whether union members received preferential treatment on pension decisions. Delphi workers, retirees, and their families have waited long enough for a resolution to this matter.”



“I’m pleased that the GAO has taken up this investigation, and hope that they’ll succeed in getting a full explanation from GM and the Automotive Task Force regarding the special treatment of certain Delphi retirees,” Boehner said. “Was this yet another decision by the Obama administration to reward union bosses and liberal special interests? American taxpayers and Delphi’s salaried retirees deserve answers.”

Following the 2009 bankruptcy negotiations between Delphi Corporation, General Motors, and the Department of Treasury’s Automotive Task Force, many non-unionized Delphi workers received devastating cuts to their pension plans while unionized retirees were made whole. To date, GM has received more than $70 billion in taxpayer funding to sustain the company. Under the Obama administration, the federal government acquired a 60-percent ownership of GM as a result of the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. The United Auto Workers Union received a 17.5 percent ownership in the auto manufacturer. Wicker and Boehner expressed concern that not all Delphi retirees’ pension plans were treated equitably in the GM bankruptcy proceedings and have called on the administration to be more transparent about how pension decisions were made.

more here - http://politicalnews.me/?id=5190&keys=Congressman-John-Boehner-DelphiRetirees

Didn't Obama say he was everyone's president?  It's not that he's against the non-union folks, he's just for the union.

[WhiskeyGirl]

The 20,000 or so white-collar retirees shafted in Delphi Corp.'s emergence for bankruptcy have yet another bit of hope. In response to pleas from, among others, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, the Government Accountability Office has agreed to investigate  the circumstances surrounding the decision to "top-up" pension obligations to Delphi's union retirees even as obligations to their salaried counterparts were relegated to the quasi-governmental Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

The net effect is that some Delphi retirees lost as much as 70 percent of their expected annual payouts, even as their former colleagues at the new General Motors Co. retained most of their benefit. The GAO move follows a similar step by the special inspector general for the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, who said he would investigate whether salaried retirees were treated differently than union retirees (they were) and why.

BLOCKED WEBSITE

For some reason, unions seem to benefit from Obamacare.  They get 'reinsurance' payments to beef up their healthcare plans, and are now getting waivers and don't have to participate in Obamacare.  

They fought for Obamacare for EVERYONE, and now they get to keep their own coverage.  Go figure.

[WhiskeyGirl]

A federal judge has rejected motions to dismiss the Delphi Corp.’s salaried-retirees lawsuit against the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., a ruling that virtually assures that their case will be tried in federal court.

The PBGC’s attempts to dissolve the Delphi salaried retirees’ case were thwarted in a preliminary hearing last week, when Judge Arthur Turnow in a Michigan U.S. District Court denied the PBGC’s motions for dismissal and summary judgment.

The case now will move to the discovery phase of the trial, said Chuck Cunningham, legal liaison for the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association. A date has not been set to schedule discovery proceedings, he said, but added he expects the case to move forward soon.

As the case moves to trial, the retirees likely are going to subpoena documents from the Treasury Department and GM regarding the federal Auto Task Force’s bailout of the company, said Bruce Gump, chairman of the Warren Legislative Group of the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association.

The retirees argue these documents will show that the PBGC’s decision to terminate the salaried pension plans was improper and made under political pressure to expedite GM’s exit from bankruptcy.

more here - http://www.vindy.com/news/2010/sep/29/ruling-allows-delphi-retirees8217-suit-t/?newswatch