Visteon Union Demands Bigger Role in Exit Plan Vote on Ballot's Last Day

A union for Visteon Corp. retirees is seeking greater influence over the auto-parts maker’s bankruptcy exit plan, saying it has a claim for $100 million that entitles it to more votes on the proposal.

The Communications Workers of America said Visteon’s valuing the union claim at $1 would “effectively disenfranchise” the retirees in creditor voting that ends today, as votes are apportioned by the size of the claim. The union, in papers filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, asked the judge to recognize its position on the claim in the balloting.

Creditors of Visteon, based in Van Buren Township, Michigan, must decide by today whether to support the company’s reorganization plan. The distressed-debt investment company, Fulcrum Credit Partners LLC, has urged creditors including Visteon’s unions and suppliers to reject the plan and force the company give them a bigger repayment.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher S. Sontchi in Wilmington, Delaware, will take the tally into consideration when he decides whether to approve Visteon’s reorganization.

On July 15, an appeals court ordered benefits for 2,100 former workers in Indiana restored after a lower court judge ruled in December that the company had the right to cancel them without first negotiating with the union, according to court records.

The case is In re Visteon Corp., 09-11786, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Church in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, at schurch@bloomberg.net.

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