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WASHINGTON, DC -- As part of their ongoing efforts to force Congress to listen to the concerns of American workers and their families, House Democrats are launching a national online e-hearing today to give workers at General Motors and Delphi the opportunity to communicate directly with Congress about their concerns on issues like jobs, wages, health insurance, and retirement security.
“In just the last couple months, tens of thousands of U.S. auto workers have received terrible news about wage and benefit cuts, plant closings, and looming layoffs. The announcements from GM and Delphi are major economic tragedies, yet Congress has not scheduled a single hearing to examine their effects on workers,” said Rep. George Miller, the senior Democrat on the Education and the Workforce Committee, who is joining over a dozen of his House colleagues to hold the e-hearing.
“These workers have a right to be heard from their elected representatives in Washington, and Congress has to hear from these workers if it wants to do its job right. This e-hearing is the most effective way of letting as many people as possible make their voices heard to the Congress,” said Miller.
Over the next two weeks, the lawmakers will invite e-testimony from current and retired workers of Delphi and General Motors. Governor Jennifer Granholm (D-MI) plans to submit a statement for inclusion in the e-hearing. The House lawmakers have also invited local elected officials, union leaders, economists, and representatives of GM and Delphi to submit testimony.
On October 8, Delphi Corporation, an auto parts maker based in Troy, Michigan, filed for bankruptcy. The company, which has 33,000 workers in the U.S., has since has proposed wage cuts of up to 60 percent, and has threatened to dump its pension plans onto the federal government. Delphi has also indicated that it may close some U.S. plants and sharply cut employee health care and other benefits.
On November 21, General Motors announced it would close nine plants in the U.S., leading to the elimination of 30,000 American jobs. GM’s pension plan may face dramatic new liabilities and freeze pensioners’ benefits if Republican-sponsored pension legislation, H.R. 2830, becomes law. While GM has agreed to pick up some portion of Delphi’s liabilities if Delphi terminates its pension or retiree health plan, industry analysts have cautioned that GM may also be headed for bankruptcy, putting both GM and Delphi workers’ benefits at risk.
This is the third e-hearing that House Democrats have held this year. The first e-hearing – which was also the first e-hearing in history – was launched in May to give employees and retirees of United Airlines a chance to testify about how that company’s bankruptcy has affected them. Over 2,000 United employees and retirees took part, and over 400 pieces of testimony were posted online.
Democrats are using the internet to conduct e-hearings for two reasons. First, the e-hearings make it possible for people all over the country to participate at no or little expense and on their own schedules. Second, only Republicans can convene formal live hearings, but they frequently refuse to hold hearings that give American workers a voice on issues of critical importance to them.
The Democratic lawmakers sponsoring this e-hearing will write and distribute a report based on the testimony they receive, and they will enter the testimony into the official Congressional Record.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE E-HEARING
Employees or retirees of Delphi Corp. or General Motors may send testimony of 500 words or less to autocrisis@mail.house.gov. Testimony may be posted online. Witnesses must include their name, address, phone number, and email address for verification purposes; but only their name and hometown will be posted along with their testimony. Witnesses should discuss how the announced changes at GM and Delphi could affect their lives.
The e-hearing website is http://edworkforce.house.gov/democrats/labor_autocrisis.shtml.
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