Delphi retirees prep for House hearing

WARREN - Delphi Corp. salaried retirees this morning will ask members of a House of Representatives subcommittee to support their fight to regain health care and pensions, a spokesman said Tuesday.

''We hope to gain the support of the committee members to ask that the decisions that canceled our health care and life insurance and sent our pensions to the PBGC will be reconsidered in order to be fair and equitable with other worker groups in the auto industry,'' Delphi Packard retiree Bruce Gump wrote in an e-mail.

Gump said he will join retired Delphi Packard senior executive Chuck Cunningham in speaking to the House Education and Labor Committee in a hearing slated to start 10:30 a.m. in the Rayburn Building in Washington.

Some salaried retirees face pension cuts of 30 percent to 70 percent after federal insurer Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. terminated Delphi's pension plans as of July 31 as part of the auto parts maker's exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The retirees lost full health care insurance on April 1

The hearing follows testimony Gump provided at a Senate session Oct. 29. Gump noted that hearing addressed pension plans in general, while today's House hearing will focus on Delphi's nearly four years in bankruptcy.

The House hearing will consist of two four-person panels, the first including Congress members.

U.S. Rep. Timothy J. Ryan, D-Niles, who requested the hearing, is scheduled to speak on issues that include Delphi Packard hourly retirees. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Avon, who helped set up the Senate session, also is set to speak.

lringler@tribtoday.com