By Thomas Gnau, Dayton Daily News ~ Oct 05, 2010

An investigation into the federal government’s treatment of Delphi retiree pensions is being joined by another agency.

The Government Accountability Office has agreed to look at how Delphi pensions were dealt with, said an announcement from U.S. Rep. John Boehner, R-West Chester.

Only last month, Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), assured a New York congressman that he will audit whether salaried retirees were treated differently than union or hourly retirees and whether the TARP program or the Obama administration pressured General Motors Corp. to “top off” the pensions of hourly retirees.

“Was this yet another decision by the Obama administration to reward union bosses and liberal special interests?” Boehner said in his statement, released today. “American taxpayers and Delphi’s salaried retirees deserve answers.”

In 2009, Delphi Corp, then in bankruptcy protection, surrendered its pension obligations to the federally backed Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. That has meant large cuts to the pensions of both salaried and hourly retirees.

But hourly retirees are benefiting from a promise from GM — of which Delphi was once a part — to bolster their pensions if they were ever transferred to the PBGC. Salaried retirees never received that contractual assurance, and they face the biggest losses.

Delphi salaried retirees have sued in Detroit’s federal court to have their pensions restored.

There are some 700 salaried Delphi retirees in the Dayton area — many of whom spent most of their careers working for GM, not Delphi — who will lose much or most of their pensions because of the PBGC takeover.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or [email protected].