Delphi salaried retires out in cold

topey@sanduskyregister.comBankruptcy proceedings in 2008 left Delphi salaried employes feeling abandoned, particularly with heath care.U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman are hoping to help Delphi salaried retirees extend their Health Coverage Tax Credit."Delphi retirees and their families rely on the Heath Coverage Tax Credit as a bridge to affordable health coverage," Brown said "This bill would provide relief for the thousands of Delphi workers and their families who have been forced to wait to long. This is an issue that cannot wait."There are about 5,000 Delphi salaried retirees in Ohio.Hourly Delphi employees who were part of the UAW union were protected in the bankruptcy proceedings.Salaried employees were left out in the cold.Howard Collins retired from Delphi, now known as KBI, after 36 years.He was a New Depature/ Delphi manufacturing supervisor, a salaried position.Collins did not enjoy his retirement for very long.He went back to work, this time as a science teacher for St. Mary High School.He loves his job but when it comes to reality he works to pay for the health care coverage, which is through the school, of his wife. Insurance for his wife is about $1,000 a month. His coverage costs about $100 a month.The credit helps trade-affected workers, select group of retirees, and their families purchase private health coverage to replace the employer-sponsored coverage they lost. It provides a 72.5 percent refundable tax credit to eligible workers enrolled in a qualified health plan, allowing these people to pay a portion of their health insurance.The credit lapsed in January 2014. This bill would extend the Health Coverage Tax Credit by five years, as well as retroactively cover the workers from the time when it lapsed, Brown said.House of Representatives Mike Turner- R and Tim Ryan – D have also tried to address the issue, Collins said."You can always hope it can get done. It would sure be nice," Collins said.It bothers Collins that his own representative, Rep. Marcy Kaptur has not been more vocal to help Delphi workers.It is important action is seen soon. Retirees are aging, moving closer to qualifying forMedicare, said Mike McCurdy, salaried retiree who was with General Motors for 37 years, the last 15 of those years at Delphi."Quite a few, however, are still eligible. It helps quite a bit," McCurdy said.McCurdy explained that in addition to the loss of the Health Coverage Tax Credit Delphi salaried employees pension were reduced."The pensions, in some cases, are not enough to cover health insurance," McCurdy said. "My pension was hit 42 percent and my health coverage more than doubled."Some employee pensions were reduced up to 70 percent, McCurdy said.A friend of his had to put off prostate surgery because he could not afford it. Some have lost homes. Others are having to make hard decisions, like pulling their children or grandchildren out of college.You do what is right and you work hard to only get it taken away, McCurdy said.SidebarMike McCurdy was a salaried retiree who was with General Motors for 37 years, the last 15 year with Delphi.He spends his time working with Delphi Salaried Retiree Association trying to determine what happened with the money from their pension and why.The association has spent more than $4 million in a six year legal fight trying to get information from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and from the U.S. Treasury that they are entitled to have but is being kept from them. That money is contributions from the retirees.Rodney O'Neal is the CEO of Delphi, now headquartered in Britain.O'Neal, who is to retire on March 1, was at the reigns during the bankruptcy proceedings.In an interview with the Detroit News O'Neil said it was never in the plan to "throw the pensions over."He said he did three plans for reorganization of the company. The pensions survived in the first two but not in the last."I failed and I failed miserably," O'Neil was quoted by the paper as saying.Timeline of Delphi events2005 Dephi files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.Feb, 2008: Delphi plant in Sandusky sold to Kyklos Bearing International2008: Bankruptcy proceedings stripped Delphi salaried retirees of their heathcare benefits as well as shrunk pensions.April 2009: Delphi Salary retiree heathcare terminatedDecember 2013: HCTC heathcare subsidy to Delphi salary retirees ended. Register photo/LUKE WARK Howard Collins talks about how he had to go out to get a second job after retiring from Delphi to pay for his health care coverage. Collins is now a science teacher at St. Mary Central Catholic, which gives him health care coverage and helps him pay the nearly $1000 a month to cover his wife's insurance costs.