Retirees of Delphi organize to fight for health benefits

By Don Shilling

A Boardman retiree said she has ‘no clue’ what she will do if benefits are canceled.

Salaried retirees are fighting Delphi Corp.’s attempt to take away their health care benefits.

One multistate group has hired a San Francisco law firm to file legal objections, while some retirees in Michigan are considering signing on with a Chicago law firm.

One local retiree said she was glad to hear groups are organizing to try to keep the benefits.

“It does give me some hope,” said Janet Jackson, of Boardman. “It’s better than laying down and playing dead.”

Jackson, 59, is one of many local retirees from Delphi Packard Electric who thought they had health-care benefits for life. Delphi, which has been struggling through a bankruptcy proceeding since 2005, notified them Feb. 5, however, that it plans to cancel those benefits April 1.

The action needs approval from Judge Robert Drain of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

Delphi retirees in several states scrambled last week to oppose Delphi’s request. Quick action is essential because all objections must be filed by Tuesday. A hearing is set for Feb. 24.

Jim Conger, a retiree from Saginaw, Mich., said he would like all retirees to file personal objections with the court, although he acknowledged that making the deadline will be difficult because there is no mail service Monday.

He also is asking salaried retirees to contact him by e-mail at salaryhelp@hotmail.com.

He said he expects to be part of a group that hires legal help. A Chicago firm that has assisted retirees at an auto supplier has been in contact with the group.

A separate group of retirees already has hired the San Francisco law firm of Farella, Braun, Martel, which worked with Delta Airlines retirees in 2006.

This group of Delphi retirees — who are from Indiana, New York, Virginia and Ohio — is collecting donations of $50 or more. More information is available by e-mailing djharv69@yahoo.com.

Joe McHugh, a retiree from Indiana who is working with this group, said the law firm will file an objection by Tuesday and then represent the retirees.

The group also is working to set up a legal entity to represent the retirees’ interest, he said. If the judge denies Delphi’s request, he could order that a committee be formed to negotiate benefits with the company, he said.

Jackson, the Boardman retiree, said she doesn’t know what she will do for health care if Delphi is successful.

She retired as a registered nurse in 2002 because Delphi Packard was reducing its medical staff. Area Packard workers were transferred from General Motors Corp. to Delphi when GM spun off the auto parts maker as a separate company in 1999.

Jackson thought her health benefits were secure, but Delphi now says she and her husband, Howard, would have to pay about half of their monthly income if they wanted to pay for their own benefits. Their share of the premium now is about $70 a month.

Her husband is retired on disability from WCI Steel, now known as Severstal Warren, and has some Medicare coverage. She works part-time at a local drug and alcohol rehabilitation center and doesn’t have benefits through that job.

“We have no clue what we’re going to do,” she said.

Another salaried retiree, Kathy Hilditch of Howland, said her husband will have to work three more years if she loses her benefits. David Hilditch, 65, was planning to retire this year from his job as an engineer in Akron.