Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans activists from from Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown and Warren appeared today at a U.S. House subcommittee field hearing in Canfield, Ohio. They were there to support Delphi retirees (over 300 present) fighting for fair treatment, and to denounce the pervasive weakening of retirement income security.
Congressman Charlie Wilson (OH-CD 6) arranged a hearing of the House Financial Service Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation at Canfield High School Auditorium to review the challenges faced by Delphi retirees as a result of the corporate collapse in the auto industry and the effects of the fiscal crisis on retirees created by the implosion of the financial industry.
Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans State Director Norm Wernet testified:
“The Delphi workers fighting for full pension or at least “top-off” of the reduced pension payout from PBGC are asking for some measure of economic justice for the compensation they have earned through a life of work.
“To allow those who managed this company into bankruptcy to walk away with huge sums of money that guarantee their livelihood at the expense of the retirees is not just an injustice but also a structural weakening of the local and state economies. The recent study [http://bit.ly/bcQRnQ] by Youngstown State University of the loss of pension by the salaried retirees alone will cost the area $58 million a year in economic losses.”
Norm Wernet and the Ohio Alliance encouraged Congress to act immediately in 4 ways:
1. To support mechanisms that would make all Delphi retirees whole in the same manner as the “top-offs” in GM.
2. To pass H.R. 4677 and its companion S. 3033, The Protecting Employees and Retirees in Business Bankruptcies Act of 2010, that would bring a measure of equity to workers caught in the financial web of corporate gamesmanship or fiscal failure in bankruptcy
3. To strengthening Social Security by:
Raising the payroll tax cap on Social Security taxes for the wealthiest Americans.
Freezing the estate tax at 2009 levels and apply those revenues to Social Security.
Putting people back to work in good-paying, American jobs.
4. To enacting (S. 2927), and (H.R. 4191)….., this modest tax of 0.25 percent on Wall Street speculation would raise over $75 billion a year.
Public invited to Delphi hearing - Tribune Chronicle (Warren, Ohio) [July 13, 2010]
Hearing to Focus on Delphi Retirees - The Business Journal (Youngstown, Ohio) [July 13, 2010]
Congressional hearing held on Delphi pension issues - People's World [July 19, 2010]
They were there to support Delphi retirees (over 300 present) fighting for fair treatment, and to denounce the pervasive weakening of retirement income security
Posted by: James Morgan - Puritan Financial Advisor | 08/15/2010 at 10:12 PM