Bill seeks to restore Delphi pensions

PERKINS TWP. — A new bipartisan bill backed by Ohio's two U.S. senators aims to fix an old problem: The loss of pensions for salaried Delphi employees. Ohio has about 5,200 salaried Delphi retirees who lost much of their pensions during the 2009 automotive industry bailout — unlike union member Delphi employees, whose pensions were protected. Some of those retirees worked at the former Delphi plant in Perkins Township. The recently introduced Susan Muffley Act of 2025 is co-authored by U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio; U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio; and two Democratic lawmakers: U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York; and U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Michigan. If the measure passes, Delphi salaried retirees would get a lump sum payment covering the pension benefits they should have received over the past 15 years with 6% interest added, according to a news release explaining the proposal. The bill would also fully restore their pensions going forward. "Delphi salaried retirees were robbed of their pensions and the stable retirement they worked hard for throughout their careers. It's right and fair to ensure these workers, including more than 5,100 Ohioans, receive the pensions they earned," Husted said. Added Moreno: "The Delphi Salaries Retirees should never have lost their pensions under the Obama Administration, and for the sake of fairness, it is long past time for Congress to step in and restore them. I am proud to help lead the Susan Muffley Act to ensure that nearly 5,000 hardworking Ohioans' benefits are properly restored." A similar bill, also named the Susan Muffley Act, was backed by former Ohio U.S. senators Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance about two years ago. It passed the U.S. House in 2022 but didn't get through the Senate. Vance is now the vice president, and Brown left office after losing his re-election bid to Moreno last fall. In 2009, as part of the bailout of the auto industry during the Obama administration, pensions for salaried employees were terminated while pensions for union employees were kept. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation took over salaried pensions, but most of them were lost. If the latest attempt to restore salaried pensions finally passes, it would restore pensions for more than 21,000 Delphi salaried retirees, including approximately 5,180 in Ohio. The Delphi plant in Sandusky later became KBI, which closed in 2017. Delphi had four locations in Ohio, including Dayton, the largest plant; Warren, the second-largest; Columbus and Sandusky. The former KBI plant site at Hayes Avenue (Ohio 4) and Perkins Avenue is now owned by Aligned Data Centers, a Texas-based cloud computing company. Other co-sponsors for the new bill are U.S. senators Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin.