WARREN Salaried retirees from Delphi Packard Electric could get a chance to air worries about the safety of their pensions before President Obama's auto task force, a top elected official said this morning.
"We'll work to get them a meeting with the task force," U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Niles, said after adressing a packed room at the Sunrise Inn in downtown Warren, where the retirees hold regular meetings.
Ryan also asked the group to form a committee to list their chief concerns, saying he and other elected officials then will offer suggestions as legislation in the House of Representatives.
Local retirees are working with their Delphi counterparts around the country, along with those from automakers General Motors Corp., Ford and Chrysler, to meet with the auto task force, which is working to restructure the nation's auto industry.
The retirees are among an estimated 15,000 who face paying for their own health care after auto parts maker Delphi Corp. received bankruptcy court permission in March to terminate their coverage on April 1.
The company later settled with the retirees to put up $8.75 million in monthly subsidy payments to the group to Nov. 1 that would be used to help cover the retirees' health care and life insurance costs