LABOR ADVOCATES WORKERS SOLUTION
Not for Profit Working for American Workers, Retirees, and Families
Patricia Meyer, Director
P.O. Box 112 West Olive, MI 49460
269-998-4609
President Obama
Vice President Biden
February 24, 2011
President Obama/Vice President Biden,
It is time that you take action and work with us
I have contacted you many times both before and after your recent election concerning what has and is still happening to our middle class in America, especially our manufacturing workers, retirees and their families. People are aware that our country is failing due to the removal of jobs and technology offshore. The corruption in government, corporations and unions must be uncovered and dealt with.
You spoke in your State of the Union speech this year that jobs were a must. We have discovered that GM is going to invest $540 million in an engine plant in Mexico while the GM Spring Hill Tennessee engine plant sits only partially used. It has also been brought to my attention that skilled trades workers are being laid off at the GM Orion MI plant.
It is my understanding that the General Motors bankruptcy rules stated that GM could not invest in any off-shore plant that would create jobs for that country if GM was not operating at full capacity utilization in the United States. Would you please confirm this and seek an operational definition of the term. Senator Corker has also been contacted about this issue. What an opportunity for his state. This letter can be found on the wall of facebook page disputethis LAWS
My Credentials
You may be wondering what credentials I, a retired postal worker, and my organization of workers and retirees have information that would encourage you to work with me. I first became involved in this work when one of my daughters, who worked for General Motors, needed help getting transferred back to Michigan. As I became more involved I was approached by workers and retirees who needed help finding justice in the manufacturing sector. Eventually I organized Uniting All Workers Concern and later, LAWS, INC., a not for profit organization working for American workers, retirees and their families.
For the past 15 years we have been working with our Senators, Congressmen, federal agencies and government departments to uncover and expose corruption in corporations and union leadership where it exists.
These experiences have lead to the writing of three books, "You Win...But Lose, A Must Read for All American Workers," "America: Rightside This," and "Dispute This! America is Crumbling Within, The Keys to Uncovering the Cover-up."
1999
The So-called Spin-off of Delphi from GM.
1. The 1998 Delphi Prospectus clearly shows that after the spin-off of Delphi from General Motors, GM maintained 82.3% of the common stock thus still maintaining control over Delphi, its own parts division which was supposedly set free.
2. GM maintained control over the board.
3. GM still dictated policy which led to the "cooking" of both books which contained false information to appease Wall Street. Recently J.T. Battenberg, 111, former GM Vice Present who was sent to head Delphi, was tried in a civil court action brought by the SEC. He was found innocent of fraud charges but is being fined for other infractions.
4. GM dictated who Delphi could sell to and how much Delphi would charge. The parts were sold to GM at less than market price helping to cause the failure of the unit known as Delphi.
Would you have been interested in buying stock in this company?
Highlights of Actions Taken Over the Years
2004
1. Reported to Don Todd, Department of Labor about missing funds from a local union. I was told to take this information to our Michigan politicians.
2. Reported to Congressmen Peter Hoekstra and Fred Upton who said nothing could be done.
3. Met with Jody Calemine attorney for Rep. George Miller (CA) of the House, Education and Labor Committee. Requested that GM CEO Rick Wagoner be brought before Congress to explain the Delphi/GM spin-off and other fraudulent activities. Presented documents including 1998 Delphi Prospectus which shows that GM retained 82% of the common stock and control of the Board of Directors.
2005-2006
1. October 5, 2005 Earl Wilk, Sr. and I took Jody Calemine the information that Delphi would bankrupt on October 8, 2005 which proved to be correct. Note: Delphi, as reported in the Auto Digest, claimed they would never bankrupt.
2. American Axle - GM white-collar retiree Delphi pension dispute affecting 2000
General Motors manipulated the law by moving pensions from the GM books of white-collar workers who never worked for Delphi or worked in a plant sold to Delphi, to the Delphi books. Rita Ertman worked for General Motors Hydro-Matic from 1974 -1990. In May of 1990 the same plant began producing drive shafts for Saginaw Steering until 1994 at which time the plant was sold to Richard Dauch and became American Axle. Rita worked for American Axle until her retirement in 2003.
When she signed the retirement papers from GM they read that she was retiring from GM and was lead to believe that she would receive two pension checks, one from GM and one from American Axle. When the checks came she was surprised to see that one was from Delphi, for whom she had never worked nor had worked in any plant sold to Delphi, instead of GM. She was told that there was nothing that she could do about this situation. About 2000 other white-collar retirees found themselves in the same position.
September of 2005 she received letters from Delphi stating that it was thinking of filing for bankruptcy and that her pension was in jeopardy.
Rita and I went to Washington on February 10, 2006 to talk with Jody Calemine. He suggested that Rita contact Patrick Hyde at the Labor Department, which we did. On this trip we also left information about this situation with her Representative Dave Camp (MI) and Senators Levin and Stabenow. On February 21 a packet was also left with Governor Granholm's staff.
March 21, Rita requested her work records from Fidelity and found out that she supposedly had worked for Delphi since 1974. Delphi was not in existence until it spun off from General Motors in the mid-1990's.
April of 2006, Rita went to the Saginaw office of the FBI who referred her to the Detroit office.
Representative Dave Camp sent her a letter in May, 2007 stating that he had tried and was unable to get any information for her. Rita contacted Social Security and paid $36.75 for her work record that clearly stated that she only worked for General Motors and American Axle.
2008, she received notification from the PBGC that the GM/Delphi portion of her pension would be sent to them. She began receiving her checks from them in 2009.
Rita met with a Mike Kennedy of the SIGTARP office in May of 2010. He said that he knew someone who could help and would see that her Fidelity and Social Security work records would be given to them. When I contacted the SIGTARP office to follow up on this meeting I was told that Mr. Kennedy had retired. Rita is still waiting to be contacted about this miscarriage of justice.
3. May 2006, Morrie Henry and I went to the Criminal Division of the FBI in Washington, D.C. where we met with Audra Jolicoeur (859-288-4724) where an investigation was opened to see if there were any criminal activities involved in the GM/Delphi spin-off and other dealings. We were later advised that our information had been sent to the Detroit Division as that is the division that would conduct any investigation that was deemed necessary. When I contacted them the Detroit office claimed that they did not have the information. A meeting was finally set with agent Pam Matson who had met CEO Rick Wagoner, thought he was nice and would do nothing wrong. Later I met with FBI Agent James Hoppe at the Troy, MI office on Crook’s Rd. He informed me that the case had been closed in Michigan and ordered back to the SEC under Christopher Cox. It is interesting to note that an investigative article written by Jennifer Dixon appeared in the Detroit Free Press on June 4, 2006 entitled "A Look At The Books How GM Juggled Millions." This information came from their own library. We knew that Delphi had been fined for "cooking their books" in 2004 thusly appeasing Wall Street and lying to their investors.
4.We began to work with Wendell Primus of Nancy Pelosi's office along with Attorney Allen Huffman of Senator Dorgan's office asking that GM CEO Rick Wagoner be brought before Congress to explain his actions along with concerns about the UAW's president's position on the board of an automobile corporation.
5. Earl Wilk, Sr. and Morrie Henry, members of UAW Concern, went to the IRS office in Cincinnati, Ohio to look into the tax payment records of General Motors in November of 2006. 6. I continued to contact politicians, government offices and agencies to provide them with information and ask them to look into the GM/Delphi situation. Unfortunately, I continued to be ignored.
2007-2008
1. February of 2007, I went to the Taxpayer Advocacy office under the direction of Nina Olson and met with Laura Baek,(202-622-8368) an attorney with that division. After looking at the information and a copy of the 1998 Delphi Prospectus she recommended that I become a whistleblower against GM to the newly established Whistleblower Office of the IRS under the direction of Stephen Whitlock which Senator Grassley encouraged President Bush to set up.
2. March of 2007, I met with Mr. Whitlock. I was surprised that he was unfamiliar with my case. He cited Rule 6103 and stated that the accused had to be protected so I could not work with the agents investigating my information. He also said that an exception could be made it was deemed to be a criminal case. He informed me that if it was determined that my case had merit it might take between three and eight years to be investigated. Justice can't wait that long.
3. For 3 years and 3 months I continued to submit information that had bearing on my case.
4. May of 2007, I was given the name of Floyd Williams , (202-622-4725) Director of Legislative Affairs of the IRS, by Vice President Cheney's office as a person who might be able to help me. He suggested that we contact Senator Grassley's office about the possibility of legislation to change Rule 6103 so whistleblowers could have dialog with the investigators as he was the ranking member of the House Finance Committee. After communicating with Nick Wyatt of Grassley's office for several months it became apparent that this was going nowhere.
After the election we contacted Senator Baucus who became ranking member but nothing came of it.
5. Even though I was in the Whistleblower Office I continued to contact politicians, government agencies and departments trying to bring to light the cover up.
6. November/December 2008 I was privileged to attend the Congressional Auto Hearings thanks to Congressman Barney Frank. Many of the questions that were asked both in the Congressional and Senate Hearings were submitted by my organization. This is the closest CEO Rick Wagoner ever came to having to explain what happened to the auto industry.
7. September 2008, past white-collar and due diligence team lead for GM and Chrysler contacted us willing to provide pertinent information about auto industry illegal dealings and plans to strip the United States of auto manufacturing. He made this offer to Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner who never responded.
2009-2010
1. 2009, knew auto industry dying in the United States. Jobs and technology taken off-shore. President asks GM CEO Wagoner to step down.
2. Task Force on Autos was set up. Because of my vast knowledge of the auto industry I wrote to Timothy Geithner and volunteered to become a member of this group .
3. April 27, 2009 a letter was written to me signed by Timothy Geithner stating that they would be willing to work with me. I have never been allowed to be a part of the team. Months later I received an apology from Ron Bloom but still was not contacted to be a member of the team.
4. June, 2009 GM filed for bankruptcy. Allowed to bankrupt only in United States. Like the supposed spin-off of Delphi GM thrives throughout the world with American aid. Wrote to you, President Obama, senators and congressmen, federal agencies and departments stating that the GM bankruptcy should be filed as a Chapter 7 so all assets are accounted for.
5. 2010 GM Company allowed to purchase back parts of Delphi that they had spun off to help Delphi get out of bankruptcy and help with Delphi pensions.
6. Shortly after purchase of Saginaw Division from Delphi GM Company sold this division to China who now operates this enterprise under the name of Nexteer.
7. May 2010, due to concerns over the use of TARP monies off-shore I contacted Representative Silvestre Reyes (TX) who oversees the House Intelligence Committee to ask for help.
8. May 5, 2010 met with Mike Delaney and other staffers of the Intelligence Committee.
We talked about the Whitaker GM commercial and they responded that it was not possible that GM had paid money back from United States earnings since the bankruptcy. Suggested I go to the SIGTARP with my information about the misuse of the TARP funds.
9. May 5, 2010 went to SIGTARP office, talked with Neil Barofsky on phone and left information with his office staff.
10. May, 2010 letters sent to many offices questioning GM's use of TARP money to pay back a foreign loan (CANADA).
11. May 24, 2010 met with members of SIGTARP staff Michael Kennedy, Kari Meyers and David Lazarus. We were told that Congress gave GM Company permission to use TARP money to pay back loans.
12. June 8, 2010 learned that my Federal Postal Pension had not been deposited. Notified Civil Service Commission who informed me that I had been dropped from the rolls. John Sosa and Janet Bass, who I worked with, said that it would be reinstated in 5 to 10 days.
Interesting to note that during this process I learned my pension was routed through Bank of America. When I spoke to Treasury they stated that it came directly from Treasury to my bank. Why the discrepancy?
13. June 12, contacted Floyd Williams of the IRS who suggested that I contact Commissioner Steve Miller of the LSMB who also happens to be Stephen Whitlock's boss.
14. June 14, reported to you, President Obama, my concerns about the whistle blowing program and loss of my pension.
15. June 17, I contacted Hilda Solis and Deborah Hall of the Department of the Labor with concerns about loss of my pension and the fact that it did not come directly from Treasury but through Bank of America.
16. June 18, I received a letter from Robert Gardner, my IRS case investigator, that the IRS concluded that I could not prove my claim. He stated the investigation did not result in the detection of the underpayment of taxes. As a result a reward determination cannot be made under Section 7623B. No purpose would be served by meeting with the Deputy Commissioner or by submission of additional information. The decision on my claim is final and it is not subject to further review or appeal. I think it is important that you understand that my claim against GMC was not initiated for money but to find justice. This seemed to be the only option open to me.
17. Contacted Attorney Laura Baek at the Tax Advocacy Agency who told me that I had a right to appeal to the Tax Court.
18. June 18 Petitioned US Tax Court. Attorney Philip Sielski filed a petition on my behalf and I am waiting for a date at this time.
The above information is only a small part of what we have been doing over the past 15 years trying to find justice for the people. Mr. President and Vice President Biden, now is the time to assign someone to review our information and to stop the cover-up of the largest company in America whether it be the bankrupt GMC or the restored GM Company . Past unpaid taxes, illegal actions and the misuse of TARP funds can no longer be ignored. Even networks, reporters and newspapers have told us that this situation was too hot to handle. Since unrest is now rearing its head in our country it is imperative that trust be restored in our leaders. Something must be done now to prove that there is justice for all.
I am counting on your help with this vital situation and looking for a response from you within 5 days.
Thank you,
Patricia Meyer
269-998-4609