CONNERSVILLE, Ind. -- Former Visteon employees fighting for their insurance benefits have picked up another supporter.

Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh on Thursday sent a letter on their behalf to Visteon CEO Donald Stebbins.

Indiana had two Visteon plants, one in Fayette County, where the unemployment rate is now 15.9 percent, and one in Lawrence County, where 13 percent are unemployed.

"Many of these retirees worked at Visteon for decades and retired with a contract with the understanding these would be lifetime benefits," Bayh wrote. "In an effort to help the company deal with difficult economic circumstances, they took early retirement packages that guaranteed them these benefits for life."

Visteon, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, filed a motion last month asking the bankruptcy court to allow it to cancel health and death insurance benefits for current and future retirees, including salaried and hourly employees.

In his letter, Bayh acknowledged the economic downturn's impact on the auto industry and its suppliers, but also questioned how the company could consider asking for court permission to give performance bonuses to executives.

"Before bonuses are considered for executives at Visteon, every effort should be made to fulfill the obligation Visteon has to its retirees," Bayh wrote.

Visteon retiree Ray Guffey, who helped organize a petition last week on the insurance issue, said he was "thrilled" to have Sen. Bayh's backing.

"I think the petitions signed by 1,400 people brought him over," Guffey said. "So many people had called and e-mailed him. I appreciate his letter. He shows he's concerned."

Visteon maintains it must shed "legacy" costs like retiree health and life insurance in order to become profitable in the future. The company estimates its current and future costs to provide retiree benefits in the U.S. will exceed $300 million. In a separate motion, Visteon also asked permission to fund three bonus programs that could pay out as much as $80.1 million, a number that includes performance benchmarks unlikely to be met, Visteon spokesman Jim Fisher said.

Former Visteon workers who've just learned about the petitions, which were mailed Monday to the bankruptcy court, are still calling, Guffey said. A community petition will be available for anyone to sign at the Fayette County Free Fair which began Sunday, retiree Ruby Siler said. The petition will be in the Democrat Headquarters tent, she said. That petition will also be mailed to the bankruptcy court, she said.

Several Visteon retirees spoke Friday with a New York attorney hired by their former union, IBE-CWA, to represent them at a bankruptcy hearing Aug. 13 in Delaware. They received some assurances from the attorney that eliminating their pension benefits, which many retirees feared would be next, would be more difficult to do under federal law, Guffey said.

The retirees are trying to find old union books and contract paperwork to back up their claims, Siler said. All motions and paperwork must be filed by Thursday.

"When the union hall was closed here, so much was shredded because they didn't think we'd ever need it," Siler said.

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