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Press Release Published: Jan 14, 2010

Oversight Republicans Demand Answers on GM-Delphi Union Pension Deal

Members want to know what role the Treasury Department’s Auto Task Force played in GM’s decision to discriminate against non-union workers while spending billions on union pensions

WASHINGTON. D.C. – House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Republicans today sent letters to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) Acting Director Vincent Snowbarger asking for all records and communications relating to General Motors Corporation’s decision to funnel funds to the pensions of 46,000 Delphi corporation union workers while denying over 21,000 Delphi non-union employees the same benefit.

“As I said when I requested a Congressional hearing on this issue in October 2009, it seems fundamentally unfair that salaried and union employees from the same company, who are faced with the same unfortunate situation, are being treated so unequally by the Federal government,” said Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN).  “The American people, especially the thousands of Hoosier families who have been impacted by this, and whose tax dollars will be used to pay the supplemental funds to the Delphi union workers, deserve a full and transparent explanation from all parties involved.”

“The Obama Administration denied more than 21,000 salaried Delphi retirees nationwide the pension benefits they were promised,” said Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH).  “Many of these former employees, including over 1,000 in the Dayton region, made their careers by supporting the automotive parts manufacturer.  Delphi’s former workers – union and non-union – should not be treated differently in their retirement years. The Administration owes these men and women a detailed explanation.”

The letters to Geithner and Snowbarger are a follow up to an unanswered November 12, 2009 letter from Ranking Member Issa to Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Ed Towns (D-NY) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) demanding hearings on the GM Delphi pension deal for unionized employees.

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