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Niagara County Legislature calls on Congress to 'Do right by Delphi retirees'

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Fri, Jun 24th 2022 03:00 pm

Niagara County Legislator Rick Abbott reports the Niagara County Legislature passed a resolution calling on Congress to restore the pensions of salaried Delphi retirees that were cut during the Great Recession of 2008-09. The resolution passed unanimously.

“During the turbulent economic times of more than a decade ago when General Motors filed for bankruptcy, the pensions of certain Delphi retirees were cut by the U.S. Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp.,” Abbott said. “The federal government then bailed out GM, but nothing has been done to restore the pensions of these Delphi workers.”

Abbott said there has been bipartisan legislation introduced in Congress “to right this terrible wrong” and restore full pension benefits – called the Susan Muffley Act. The legislation is named after the wife of Delphi retiree David Muffley. He worked at Delphi for over 30 years as an electronics technician, but lost the full value of his pension in 2009. His wife, Susan, fell ill, but avoided seeking medical care due to the family’s financial constraints. She was later diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away.

“The fact is these Delphi workers played by the rules and earned their pensions, but they are now suffering financial hardship through no fault of their own,” Abbott said. “It’s long past the time that Congress finally act on this legislation.”

Abbott said there are more than 20,000 Delphi retirees nationally impacted by this pension cut. Of that, some 2,000 are from New York, including retirees from the Lockport plant. 

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