The Vindicator keeps going back to those old rumors and ideas that certain unions had negotiated contracts with GM to protect their pensions. While some did negotiate contracts with OLD GM, New GM was found by the bankruptcy courts to not be obligated to those old contracts, so they carried no weight at all. What the unions had was an administration friendly to them and willing to spend the taxpayer's money to protect them, but not others who worked just as hard and was the only group to actually "play by the rules" and not depend on behind-closed-doors agreements with the US Treasury. Comments from the retirees in other sources say that their proposal wouldn't cost the taxpayers any money like the union rescues did. It has been too long and our community has been hurt too badly to let this continue. It is time to settle this and treat the salaried folks as well as the union folks. It is time for the Vindicator to get their facts right too!
Did anybody see that Obama's original Auto Czar Steve Rattner admitting it was him and the US Treasury who decided who would get to keep their pensions? http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/... The Obama Administration has said it was GM, then Delphi, then the PBGC. Truth has a way of coming to the surface, and it only hurts if it is supposed to. Watch out, Obama, this one is going to hurt! He should just resolve the issue now and be fair to all the middle class workers, not just the union-represented workers. 1700 jobs for our area alone depend on it!
Some people just don't get the point. The issue is not who made what or didn't, the issue is that our government is required to treat every citizen equally, not determined by what associations they keep. That's just the First Amendment. What happened to these retirees could happen to us too if we allow the government to get away with this. Fair is fair and this wasn't just wasn't fair, or right, or maybe not even legal! It apparently can be fixed, and if so it should - immediately. Not waiting for the Treasury to sell GM stock - probably at a significant loss, not dependent on the court system which we all know can take years (in this case it already has!) and not dependent on who is in power. We all know that the right thing to do is correct this mistake and for the life of me I don't understand why the party that claims to "stand up for the common man, the middle class worker and for those who worked hard and played by the rules" doesn't just do it. As I said before, words mean nothing, only actions have any meaning in politics. The actions of this administration have been to divide us further and further; benefiting some favorite groups over others who are not as well liked. That, plain and simple, is bad and even dangerous government. They should man up and fix it now.
Words don't matter, actions do. The Obama Administration has had more than 3 years to correct what they did to the Delphi salaried retirees, but they have not only refused to do so, they have actually fought against them by denying them access to records. No transparency, no accountability, no ethics, just politics and the taxpayer's money. If Tim Ryan thinks the Delphi salaried retirees have a better chance with the Dems, why hasn't this issue been fixed already. Didn't I hear that something like 1700 jobs were lost right here in the valley because of the way the salaried folks were treated? Those jobs should come back if they are just able to achieve a fair resolution from the Obama Administration. Instead, they have to fight for what they earned while the unions were well protected. Seems like I remember too they have proposed a solution that doesn't cost the taxpayers anything unlike the unions. Where is that "we support the middle class" ethic? The Dems only seem to care about unions while they leave the majority of the country to rot. We can't trust them any more than we trust hedge fund managers.
The Brown and Ryan bills suggest one way to treat the Delphi Salaried Retirees in a more fair manner than the Obama Administration did. It is not ALL Democrats that did this and many have spoken up for the retirees, including Brown and Ryan. The President's Auto Task Force did not even follow the President's direction and assure that all parties were treated fairly and nobody received anything they would not have received just because the government was involved. What they did was illegal which explains why they have worked so hard to keep their records hidden, just like Nixon did in the Watergate scandal. Apparently there is another offer on the table that doesn't require the sale of stock or any funds from taxes. If true then that sounds like a better and quicker path for the retirees and in turn our community! Let's all hope that the Obama Administration's efforts to use politics to determine which citizens are treated in which manner is set aside and corrected - quickly! I went to the www.delphipetition.com site and signed it and I hope thousands more do too. It was easy and just said the retirees should be treated fairly and have their full pensions restored. It said I would take that into consideration when I vote too, but that goes without saying anyway.
What Senator Brown's bill does is change the discussion from why this happened and who did it to how to fix what went wrong. That is exactly where this discussion should be. The damage done to our community needs to end and it can by simply treating the Delphi Salaried Retirees in a fair and equitable manner. It was our government that did this, and it is they that can fix it. Senator Brown is well aware of other options and has offered this solution to help bring the issue to a conclusion. So thank you Senator Brown. Let the best idea win!
From what we have all heard, the old contracts were with old GM. New GM claimed to not be obligated to them, and the bankruptcy court had agreed because New GM no longer employed any of the workers from the favored unions. A BILLION DOLLARS of our taxes were used to support a politically favored group at the expense of another less politically favored group and that has damaged our economy in this area, and caused more people to lose their jobs as a result. That is just bad or even corrupt government and it should be immediately corrected.
Delphi moved 45,000 good paying manufacturing jobs overseas while the Obama Administration not only stood by and watched, but they actually encouraged them to hurry it up so they could exit bankruptcy faster. Same reason the President's Auto Task Force decided to terminate the Delphi pension plans. PBGC was Treasury's lap dog on this and acted because they were told to. Then the President's Auto Task Force coerced New GM into topping up the pensions of the hourly retirees (a good thing) but NOT the salaried retirees. Our area has taken an economic hit because Obama's cabinet wanted to make a political statement and sacrifice the salaried group in favor of the hourly group. Anybody NOT in a union (88% of the American work force - 93% of the private work force) should be very worried that Obama will somehow take what they earned away so his buddies in the big labor unions can have it. Fair is fair, and this is just wrong. He screwed the Delphi salaried retirees just for fun, and he'll do it to you too if you're not in a union!
Wow, talk about drinking the kool-aid! This "editorial" is filled with the propaganda that has been shoveled on this community for three years by those who simply want to hide what really happened. How does Mayor Franklin explain the bankruptcy court proceedings telling NEW GM that they were NOT obligated to those old contracts, or GM's own filing with the SEC stating that the top-up payments were "gratuitous in nature, not obligatory" or the GAO report that actually states that NEW GM was under no obligation to top-up the pensions of the unions? I wonder, did he actually read that report?? I'm guessing not as this is verbatim, copy-and-paste stuff from the Obama Administration's play book on the Delphi Salaried Retirees issues. Truth, indeed... The TRUTH is the President's Auto Task Force decided that the Delphi pension plans had to be terminated because they were in a hurry to get them out of the way. They deny that because it is unconstitutional for our government to make such decisions in a discriminatory manner like they did. All they had to do was to treat all the worker groups in an equitable manner and it would have all been legal, but they didn't and it isn't. Why are they fighting when no taxpayer provided funds are needed to pay the full pensions to the salaried retirees? Because they want their major political supporters to be treated better than anyone else even if it is illegal, immoral and unethical. Why would the mayor not want the salaried retirees to get what they earned in the same manner as the hourly folks did? Why would he spout such falsehoods when the truth is readily available? 1,500 people in the Mahoning Valley could get their jobs back if the salaried retirees' pensions were restored. Everybody not protected by a major labor union should be scared to death about this. If they can do this to the Delphi salaried retirees, they WILL do it to you too. The Obama Administration should never have allowed this to happen. They should fix it now before it gets worse!
Anybody who worked for 30 or 40 years would agree that the pensions they were promised were not a "benefit" but rather were earned over decades of hard work. The fact that the President's Auto Task Force shored up the pensions of those represented by unions was not only a good thing, it was good for the entire local and national economy. Lost pensions represent lost spending. Lost spending represents lost jobs to those downstream - those whose jobs were dependent on that spending. The big issue is that the Auto Task Force illegally, unethically and immorally chose some over others in their decisions. Our government is not permitted to choose winners and losers based on membership in some group or another. That is the point of the First Amendment Right of Association. Had the President's Auto Task Force simply chosen to treat all the worker groups in a fair and equitable manner, it would have been perfectly legal and appropriate. Now they have spent millions hiding records and denying - even under oath - that they made or influenced these decisions. The recent letter to the House Oversight and Gov't Reform Committee from the Special Investigator General for TARP stated that in spite of not being able to confirm what he had learned over a more than two-year period looking into the disparate treatment of the various worker groups because the members of the President's Auto Task Force refused to cooperate with his investigation (unlike the PBGC, GM, Delphi, other unions and elected officials), he said "SIGTARP believes the Auto Task Force played a role in the pension decisions..." Liars are like fish, they can only be caught if they open their mouths. These people, appointees by the President of the United States, simply lied about their actions. President Obama could choose to fix this issue, but so far he has not. The salaried issue, unlike the union pensions, do not require any taxpayer provided money to be made whole. The money needed is already at the PBGC; they simply need to choose to use it for the benefit of the participants in the pension plan instead of for themselves. The President could "encourage" them to do so, after all, it is his cabinet members who make up the PBGC Board of Directors, and he appointed the Director who serves at his pleasure. It would mean an additional $58 million per year to our local economy, and that would mean about 1500 jobs "downstream" of the retirees who would simply be treated in a fair and equitable manner. As it is, President Obama has chosen to hurt the retirees instead of helping them and in turn helping this community. So much for hope and change; lots of change, but no hope at all... He could fix it; will he???
School district plans job fair
The Vindicator keeps going back to those old rumors and ideas that certain unions had negotiated contracts with GM to protect their pensions. While some did negotiate contracts with OLD GM, New GM was found by the bankruptcy courts to not be obligated to those old contracts, so they carried no weight at all. What the unions had was an administration friendly to them and willing to spend the taxpayer's money to protect them, but not others who worked just as hard and was the only group to actually "play by the rules" and not depend on behind-closed-doors agreements with the US Treasury. Comments from the retirees in other sources say that their proposal wouldn't cost the taxpayers any money like the union rescues did. It has been too long and our community has been hurt too badly to let this continue. It is time to settle this and treat the salaried folks as well as the union folks. It is time for the Vindicator to get their facts right too!
April 10, 2013 at 11:04 a.m. permalink suggest removal
Romney’s GM and Chrysler ads are an insult to Ohioans
Did anybody see that Obama's original Auto Czar Steve Rattner admitting it was him and the US Treasury who decided who would get to keep their pensions? http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/... The Obama Administration has said it was GM, then Delphi, then the PBGC. Truth has a way of coming to the surface, and it only hurts if it is supposed to. Watch out, Obama, this one is going to hurt! He should just resolve the issue now and be fair to all the middle class workers, not just the union-represented workers. 1700 jobs for our area alone depend on it!
November 1, 2012 at 12:28 p.m. permalink suggest removal
Bailout, Delphi take center stage in Romney charge in 'Nation'
Some people just don't get the point. The issue is not who made what or didn't, the issue is that our government is required to treat every citizen equally, not determined by what associations they keep. That's just the First Amendment. What happened to these retirees could happen to us too if we allow the government to get away with this. Fair is fair and this wasn't just wasn't fair, or right, or maybe not even legal! It apparently can be fixed, and if so it should - immediately. Not waiting for the Treasury to sell GM stock - probably at a significant loss, not dependent on the court system which we all know can take years (in this case it already has!) and not dependent on who is in power. We all know that the right thing to do is correct this mistake and for the life of me I don't understand why the party that claims to "stand up for the common man, the middle class worker and for those who worked hard and played by the rules" doesn't just do it. As I said before, words mean nothing, only actions have any meaning in politics. The actions of this administration have been to divide us further and further; benefiting some favorite groups over others who are not as well liked. That, plain and simple, is bad and even dangerous government. They should man up and fix it now.
October 19, 2012 at 1:41 p.m. permalink suggest removal
Bailout, Delphi take center stage in Romney charge in 'Nation'
Words don't matter, actions do. The Obama Administration has had more than 3 years to correct what they did to the Delphi salaried retirees, but they have not only refused to do so, they have actually fought against them by denying them access to records. No transparency, no accountability, no ethics, just politics and the taxpayer's money. If Tim Ryan thinks the Delphi salaried retirees have a better chance with the Dems, why hasn't this issue been fixed already. Didn't I hear that something like 1700 jobs were lost right here in the valley because of the way the salaried folks were treated? Those jobs should come back if they are just able to achieve a fair resolution from the Obama Administration. Instead, they have to fight for what they earned while the unions were well protected. Seems like I remember too they have proposed a solution that doesn't cost the taxpayers anything unlike the unions. Where is that "we support the middle class" ethic? The Dems only seem to care about unions while they leave the majority of the country to rot. We can't trust them any more than we trust hedge fund managers.
October 19, 2012 at 9:35 a.m. permalink suggest removal
Restore Delphi pensions ASAP
The Brown and Ryan bills suggest one way to treat the Delphi Salaried Retirees in a more fair manner than the Obama Administration did. It is not ALL Democrats that did this and many have spoken up for the retirees, including Brown and Ryan. The President's Auto Task Force did not even follow the President's direction and assure that all parties were treated fairly and nobody received anything they would not have received just because the government was involved. What they did was illegal which explains why they have worked so hard to keep their records hidden, just like Nixon did in the Watergate scandal. Apparently there is another offer on the table that doesn't require the sale of stock or any funds from taxes. If true then that sounds like a better and quicker path for the retirees and in turn our community! Let's all hope that the Obama Administration's efforts to use politics to determine which citizens are treated in which manner is set aside and corrected - quickly! I went to the www.delphipetition.com site and signed it and I hope thousands more do too. It was easy and just said the retirees should be treated fairly and have their full pensions restored. It said I would take that into consideration when I vote too, but that goes without saying anyway.
September 23, 2012 at 9:08 p.m. permalink suggest removal
Brown will seek funds for Delphi retirees
What Senator Brown's bill does is change the discussion from why this happened and who did it to how to fix what went wrong. That is exactly where this discussion should be. The damage done to our community needs to end and it can by simply treating the Delphi Salaried Retirees in a fair and equitable manner. It was our government that did this, and it is they that can fix it. Senator Brown is well aware of other options and has offered this solution to help bring the issue to a conclusion. So thank you Senator Brown. Let the best idea win!
September 7, 2012 at 5:48 p.m. permalink suggest removal
Delphi retirees Rep: Emails show ‘back-door deal’ to cut benefits
From what we have all heard, the old contracts were with old GM. New GM claimed to not be obligated to them, and the bankruptcy court had agreed because New GM no longer employed any of the workers from the favored unions. A BILLION DOLLARS of our taxes were used to support a politically favored group at the expense of another less politically favored group and that has damaged our economy in this area, and caused more people to lose their jobs as a result. That is just bad or even corrupt government and it should be immediately corrected.
August 9, 2012 at 11:43 a.m. permalink suggest removal
Delphi retirees sacrificed
Delphi moved 45,000 good paying manufacturing jobs overseas while the Obama Administration not only stood by and watched, but they actually encouraged them to hurry it up so they could exit bankruptcy faster. Same reason the President's Auto Task Force decided to terminate the Delphi pension plans. PBGC was Treasury's lap dog on this and acted because they were told to. Then the President's Auto Task Force coerced New GM into topping up the pensions of the hourly retirees (a good thing) but NOT the salaried retirees. Our area has taken an economic hit because Obama's cabinet wanted to make a political statement and sacrifice the salaried group in favor of the hourly group. Anybody NOT in a union (88% of the American work force - 93% of the private work force) should be very worried that Obama will somehow take what they earned away so his buddies in the big labor unions can have it. Fair is fair, and this is just wrong. He screwed the Delphi salaried retirees just for fun, and he'll do it to you too if you're not in a union!
July 29, 2012 at 9:39 p.m. permalink suggest removal
Don’t ignore Delphi truth
Wow, talk about drinking the kool-aid! This "editorial" is filled with the propaganda that has been shoveled on this community for three years by those who simply want to hide what really happened. How does Mayor Franklin explain the bankruptcy court proceedings telling NEW GM that they were NOT obligated to those old contracts, or GM's own filing with the SEC stating that the top-up payments were "gratuitous in nature, not obligatory" or the GAO report that actually states that NEW GM was under no obligation to top-up the pensions of the unions? I wonder, did he actually read that report?? I'm guessing not as this is verbatim, copy-and-paste stuff from the Obama Administration's play book on the Delphi Salaried Retirees issues. Truth, indeed... The TRUTH is the President's Auto Task Force decided that the Delphi pension plans had to be terminated because they were in a hurry to get them out of the way. They deny that because it is unconstitutional for our government to make such decisions in a discriminatory manner like they did. All they had to do was to treat all the worker groups in an equitable manner and it would have all been legal, but they didn't and it isn't. Why are they fighting when no taxpayer provided funds are needed to pay the full pensions to the salaried retirees? Because they want their major political supporters to be treated better than anyone else even if it is illegal, immoral and unethical. Why would the mayor not want the salaried retirees to get what they earned in the same manner as the hourly folks did? Why would he spout such falsehoods when the truth is readily available? 1,500 people in the Mahoning Valley could get their jobs back if the salaried retirees' pensions were restored. Everybody not protected by a major labor union should be scared to death about this. If they can do this to the Delphi salaried retirees, they WILL do it to you too. The Obama Administration should never have allowed this to happen. They should fix it now before it gets worse!
July 29, 2012 at 3:43 p.m. permalink suggest removal
Obama’s GM bailout aimed at aiding unions
Anybody who worked for 30 or 40 years would agree that the pensions they were promised were not a "benefit" but rather were earned over decades of hard work. The fact that the President's Auto Task Force shored up the pensions of those represented by unions was not only a good thing, it was good for the entire local and national economy. Lost pensions represent lost spending. Lost spending represents lost jobs to those downstream - those whose jobs were dependent on that spending. The big issue is that the Auto Task Force illegally, unethically and immorally chose some over others in their decisions. Our government is not permitted to choose winners and losers based on membership in some group or another. That is the point of the First Amendment Right of Association. Had the President's Auto Task Force simply chosen to treat all the worker groups in a fair and equitable manner, it would have been perfectly legal and appropriate. Now they have spent millions hiding records and denying - even under oath - that they made or influenced these decisions. The recent letter to the House Oversight and Gov't Reform Committee from the Special Investigator General for TARP stated that in spite of not being able to confirm what he had learned over a more than two-year period looking into the disparate treatment of the various worker groups because the members of the President's Auto Task Force refused to cooperate with his investigation (unlike the PBGC, GM, Delphi, other unions and elected officials), he said "SIGTARP believes the Auto Task Force played a role in the pension decisions..." Liars are like fish, they can only be caught if they open their mouths. These people, appointees by the President of the United States, simply lied about their actions. President Obama could choose to fix this issue, but so far he has not. The salaried issue, unlike the union pensions, do not require any taxpayer provided money to be made whole. The money needed is already at the PBGC; they simply need to choose to use it for the benefit of the participants in the pension plan instead of for themselves. The President could "encourage" them to do so, after all, it is his cabinet members who make up the PBGC Board of Directors, and he appointed the Director who serves at his pleasure. It would mean an additional $58 million per year to our local economy, and that would mean about 1500 jobs "downstream" of the retirees who would simply be treated in a fair and equitable manner. As it is, President Obama has chosen to hurt the retirees instead of helping them and in turn helping this community. So much for hope and change; lots of change, but no hope at all... He could fix it; will he???
June 26, 2012 at 4:37 p.m. permalink suggest removal