Earlier today, Vice President Joe Biden said of auto workers who lost pensions and benefits, "Some of them got hurt. The vast majority, because of the federal pension board they have out there to make up differences when companies go under like this. Most did fine." The Romney campaign has responded with a new web video titled, "A Few More Of The 23 Million."
Here's the text:
VOICEOVER: “As GM and Chrysler went through bankruptcy, employees of major auto supplier, Delphi, saw their pensions slashed. Vice President Joe Biden said ‘most did fine.’ They don’t agree.”
VIDEO TEXT: “…MOST DID FINE” – Vice President Joe Biden, May 16, 2012
· VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: “The Vast Majority, Because Of The Federal Pension Board They Have Out There To Make Up Differences When Companies Go Under Like This, Most Did Fine.” “Here's Vice President Joe Biden, in an interview in Ohio yesterday, insisting there's no comparison between his criticisms of Mitt Romney's time in private equity with the complaints of non-union Delphi auto workers, some of whom are suing over lost benefits that happened during the auto bailout and the GM restructuring. ‘Some of them got hurt,’ Biden tells the interviewer. ‘The vast majority, because of the federal pension board they have out there to make up differences when companies go under like this, most did fine.’” (Maggie Haberman, “Biden On Non-Union Auto Workers: 'Some Of Them Got Hurt...Most Did Fine',” Politico, 5/17/12)
MARY MILLER, FORMER DELPHI EMPLOYEE: “Well I thought about this one job I had in my long career and I worked alongside an hourly appointed person and we managed the local joint training fund for the brake operations. And I got to be very good friends with this person. And we worked side-by-side for years. That person has their healthcare and that person has their pension.”
ALAN SCHIDE, FORMER DELPHI EMPLOYEE: “I don’t think the current administration looked upon us as favorable. I think they truly did pick winners and losers in the automotive bailout.”
MARY: “It is unjust. And when your government is making this choice and then using my own tax money to make this choice and declare me ‘not deserving’ I feel that they have disdain for us.”
ALAN: “They funded the GM salary and the UAW pensions. They funded the IUE pensions. And they left the salary people just for mere fact we didn’t have a union, we didn’t have inner recourse.”
· “Retirees Who Belonged To The United Automobile Workers And Two Other Unions While At Delphi Got Their Full Benefits After The Bankruptcy, Because Of An Unusual Side Agreement With General Motors.” “Retirees who belonged to the United Automobile Workers and two other unions while at Delphi got their full benefits after the bankruptcy, because of an unusual side agreement with General Motors, which was honored even as G.M. also went into Chapter 11 that year.” (Mary Williams Walsh, “Panel Hears Complaints On Pensions At Delphi,” The New York Times, 6/22/11)
MARY: “What? Wait a minute… Is this still America?”
VIDEO TEXT: “ON NOVEMBER 6, 2012 BELIEVE IN AMERICA”
Vice President Joe Biden didn't seem too worried about the auto workers who lost pensions and benefits because of the restructuring that the auto bailout required:
Is corporate America downsizing itself to death? So you would think from watching Up in the Air, the popular movie starring George Clooney as a “downsizing expert” who racks up more than 10 million frequent flier miles going from city to city to terminate an endless parade of desperate employees.
