It was a bad day for GM’s retired auto workers, who will lose their benefits in the wake of the auto giant filing for bankruptcy.

It was recently unveiled that a fund set up a few years ago to protect those benefits had been mismanaged and is now  underfunded. The UAW – United Automobile Workers union – has learned that retirees will lose their dental and vision insurance beginning in July and that further cutbacks may occur in 2010 and 2011.

The General Motors Retirees Association, a national advocacy organization devoted to the preservation of pension, health care, and other benefits earned by GM retirees, is outraged.

“Imagine a city larger than Peoria, Illinois, or Abilene, Texas. Now imagine that every single person in that city might lose catastrophic health insurance, prescription drug benefits, life insurance, and her or his hard-earned pension,” said Karen DeOrnellas, Director of Communications for GMRA. “This is the situation today for GM salaried retirees.”

“We want a reorganized GM to succeed, but bankruptcy shouldn’t push tens of thousands of retirees and their families into poverty or endanger their health when those people did nothing wrong,” DeOrnellas added.