VOICE OF DETROIT: The city's independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

Benton Harbor residents march past Whirlpool offices in protest of the Senior PGA sponsored by Whirlpool and Kitchen Aid, on May 26, 12.

• KitchenAid tweet cites Obama’s grandmother’s death three days before 2008 election
• Benton Harbor residents have been boycotting Whirlpool/KitchenAid for years for destroying their city.
• VOTE NO ON PROPOSAL 1 TO REPEAL PUBLIC ACT 4 NOV. 6, 2012.

Part of rally against PA 4/Whirlpool takeover of Benton Harbor in 2011.

VOD: the story below concludes that a so-called “gaffe” by a KitchenAid employee won’t do permanent damage to Whirlpool’s KitchenAid brand.

However, it fails to note that the people of Benton Harbor, Michigan, home to Whirlpool’s world headquarters is, are BOYCOTTING WHIRLPOOL due to the damage it has done to their 96 percent Black city, with the country’s highest poverty rate. 

Rev. Edward Pinkney (center) wears shirt denouncing Whirlpool and KitchenAid for “crimes against humanity.” Detroiters Cecily McClellan (l0 and Les Little (r) flank him.

Whirlpool closed its plants in Benton Harbor and then proceeded to take over the city’s public property including beautiful Jean Klock Park on Lake Michigan.

It is one of the corporations behind the “dictator law” called Public Act 4 under which the state has appointed “emergency managers” and established consent decrees that now have absolute power over the assets, revenues, debt payments, jobs and services of cities across Michigan, including Benton Harbor and even Detroit.

It is no accident that a management-level KitchenAid employee with access to the company’s official Tweet system made these remarks. They reflect the corporation’s political views as a whole.

By Martha C. White, NBC News contributor

KitchenAid is famous for its mixers, but the brand learned the hard way about the perils of mixing personal political views with official company messaging on social views.

On Thursday morning, parent company Whirlpool was in damage-control mode after an offensive message was sent from the company’s official Twitter account during last night’s presidential debate.

“Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! ‘She died 3 days b4 he became president’,” the Tweet read, a response to a reference President Barack Obama made about his grandmother’s passing. It was quickly deleted, but not before a flurry of screenshots and retweets thwarted the attempt at erasure.

Marcher confronts PGA tourists in Benton Harbor May 26, 2012.

KitchenAid’s senior director of marketing Cynthia Soledad followed up with a series of Tweets apologizing for the “irresponsible tweet that is in no way a representation of the brand’s opinion.”

“It was carelessly sent in error by a member of our Twitter team who, needless to say, won’t be tweeting for us anymore,” she wrote. “That said, I take full responsibility for my team. Thank you for hearing me out.”

In a statement, Soledad said an employee intending to Tweet the comment from a personal Twitter account mistakenly sent it from the company’s account instead. “Appropriate actions are being taken” regarding that employee, she said.

In general, branding experts say that one-off gaffes like this, while embarrassing in the short term, don’t do lasting damage to a brand. A swift, contrite apology like Soledad’s is the best response to offensive employee behavior. The incident does illustrate the perils companies face as they try to juggle an increasing number of communication channels, some of which must be managed in real time, while maintaining a consistent brand voice.

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/05/31/benton-harbor-march-demands-25-of-pga-profits-to-residents-boycott-whirlpool-kitchen-aid-repeal-pa4/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/05/31/benton-harbor-a-poem/

• For more information, Contact Rev. Edward Pinkney, 269-925-0001
• http://www.bhbanco.org
• Blogtalkradio.com   “Pinkney to Pinkney”  Every Sunday 5pm

REMEMBER: VOTE ‘NO’ ON PROPOSAL 1 TO REPEAL PUBLIC ACT 4, November 6, 2012.

WWTP workers who walked out Sunday, Sept. 30 can now celebrate victory Oct. 4.

• All fired workers will be reinstated to their jobs
• The union won a victory on the most important issues that led to the strike

PRESS RELEASE — Local 207

October 4, 2012

Women, children and babies helped hold down WWTP back gate.

Today, after further negotiations with DWSD management, Local 207 President John Riehl is proud to announce that the Local 207 Executive Board voted to end our strike today. Riehl said that the strike was a victory for the union and the City of Detroit.

The decision to end the strike was made after management signed an agreement with the union to:

1. Reinstate all 36 fired workers.
2. Stop stonewalling and refusing to discuss union rights and job security and any of the other subjects covered by Judge Cox’s November order in bargaining, and
3. Reopen the contract if Local 207 prevails at the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in its lawsuit to strike down the anti-union parts of Judge Sean Cox’s November order.

Local 207 will return to the bargaining table immediately and union members will still have the opportunity to vote on any final contract settlement.

The Local 207 lawsuit will be heard by the Appeals Court in Cincinnati next week on Tuesday, October 9, 2012, at 9 a.m.

Young people walked the picket line with the strikers.

“This is a victory for the City of Detroit because it has set the precedent that unions, the community and the City of Detroit can stand up against the whole array of powers-that-be and win,” said John Riehl, AFSCME Local 207 President.“The courts, the Mayor, the Water Board Management, working in concert, could not defeat this strike and cannot defeat us if we unite and militantly fight together.”

Workers knew EMA plans resulted in disaster in Toronto.

Michael Mulholland, Local 207 Secretary Treasurer, said, “This victory is a measure of the strength of Detroit as a whole. If Judge Cox had not feared what the public response would have been if he had taken action against our union, this victory would never have been possible. Every city union should draw the conclusion from this victory that our unions have strength and with united action we do not have to accept management’s unilateral imposition of terrible wages and working conditions and continuous job insecurity. They should remember that one city-wide strike of all the public sector unions will have the complete backing of the community and can win.”

Attorney Shanta Driver added, “For thirty five years, our union and the workers of Detroit have been excluded from participation in the lawsuit that will determine the future of Detroit’s water supply. In just five days of striking, we achieved more to get our voices heard by the Court than all the legal maneuvers and lobbying ever achieved. Building on this victory, the people of Detroit can stop the privatization or suburban takeover of the Water Board and actually be able to improve and protect the environment and the water supply for the people of the Tri-County area.”

Workers’ cars lined the street for blocks in front of the plant.

“The 34 workers of Crew Five who led the walkout and started the strike are our heroes. They took the bold action that was needed to get the strike started. They will all be returned to work. Union officials John Riehl, Michael Mulholland and Sue Ryan, all of whom received notices of a 30 day suspension pending termination today, will have their cases heard with the other 33 workers who were disciplined for their leadership of the strike.”

Sue Ryan, Local 207 Recording Secretary, said, ”Whatever happens to me, fighting side by side with the rest of my crew in this struggle is the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I’m so proud of my union and its members who showed incredible resolve in the face of every conceivable threat and now have won a great victory.”

Workers said they were battling to stop the dismantling of Detroit.

BAMN attorneys Shanta Driver and George Washington negotiated the settlement for Local 207.

“We are proud to be representing Local 207 in this fight. We are proud that our City stood behind this strike because without the support of the City we never would have won,” Driver said. “If the people of Detroit draw the correct conclusion that we have the power to control the destiny of our City and its resources even when just a few of us stand up and fight to win, this struggle will have achieved a great deal. The workers of Local 207 have proved that militant collective action is needed to win and that we are building a new movement that can change the balance of power in this city forever.”

For more information call Shanta Driver at 313-407-4865 or John Riehl at 919-5011. 

The battle for Detroit has just begun.

•  AFSCME Local 207 asks for solidarity, public show of support as negotiations continue
• Council 25 supported workers’ strike vote

By Diane Bukowski 

October 3, 2012

DETROIT– The strike by Detroit’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) workers is continuing despite the city’s claims that the walk-out has ended, after its suspension of 34 workers, and U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox’s back-to-work order.

Local 207 Vice-President and WWTP worker Lekita Thomas.

“The Executive Board of AFSCME Local 207 has voted not to end the strike until there is an agreement from DWSD management that there will be amnesty for all of the 34 fired workers, and that there will be no retaliation against any other workers or union officers,” AFSCME Local 207 said in a release.

“The power of our strike is based on the support of Detroit’s Black community and the surrounding communities of Michigan, including unions and churches, and is being expressed more and more each day. The power of our strike cannot be measured by numbers alone, but in what it represents to hundreds of thousands of people who understand that the striking members are heroes. Unless our members are all returned to work, there is no deal, and the strike is still on.”

DWSD Director Sue McCormick (l) and Water Board Chair James Fausone (r) at Board meeting Sept. 7 where EMA contract was approved.

In published reports, Mary Alfonso, spokesperson for DWSD, claimed workers have returned to their posts and the plant is now operating normally, but that negotiations continue.

John Riehl, President of AFSCME Local 207, told workers on the picket lines yesterday that the city had canceled a meeting with the union prior to sending out the suspension notices. Alfonso’s statement that negotiations are continuing lends validity to the union’s contention that it will reach no deal without amnesty for the fired workers.

DWSD workers face the loss of 81 percent of their jobs over the next several years,  under a proposal by the EMA Group. The suburban-dominated Detroit Water Board approved a $46 million contract with EMA Sept. 7.

Catherine Phillips at Water Board meeting Sept. 7, 2012.

At that time, AFSCME Council 25 negotiator Catherine Phillips told reporters, “DWSD has never been broke, it has all the money and resources. We are angry. They want to take away everything that the people of Detroit have built. Now they want us to go sit at the bargaining table and in good faith negotiate an agreement to send our members out into the streets. Well, whatever they get from us, they’re going to have to take it.”

Local 207 workers struck after meeting last week to take strike authorization votes. Both Council 25 President Al Garrett and his executive assistant Ed McNeil were present.

“McNeil said he supported us,” Local 207 Vice-President Lekita Thomas told VOD on the picket line Oct. 2. “He told us Council 25 would have our back and they would provide picket signs for us.”

Despite those stances, McNeil, Phillips and Council 25 representative Mel Brabson went to the WWTP picket Oct. 1 to give workers the judge’s order, attached to a flier from Council 25 which told them “Comply with court order, let common sense prevail in court.”

Melvin Brabson

Brabson was previously president of AFSCME Local 542, which represents the Recreation Department, including workers on Belle Isle. The city’s “jewel,” as many call it, is now threatened with a state takeover.

The Council 25 trio appeared to act as process servers for Judge Cox, who is an ultra-conservative member of the Federalist Society appointed to the bench by George W. Bush. Members on the line said they began to take workers’ names, and that police began to photograph workers after they appeared.

The trio did not give them documents filed by Local 207 attorneys Shanta Driver and George Washington which asked Cox to dissolve his order and recuse himself because he has no authority as a federal judge to issue back-to-work orders in any strike. The attorneys also asked the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to order him to do so.

Council 25 President Al Garrett told City Council he would shut the city down.

The federal Norris-LaGuardia Act says, “No court of the United States shall have jurisdiction to issue any restraining order or temporary or permanent injunction in any case involving or growing out of any labor dispute to prohibit any person or persons participating or interested in such dispute . . . from . . . ceasing or refusing to perform any work or remain in any relation of employment . . .” among other actions.

But McNeil said later that the workers had to honor the judge’s order, legal or not. (See post below regarding the historic Flint sit-down strike where workers refused to honor two judges’ back-to-work orders.)

Sean Cox

The Sixth Circuit is set to hear appeals of U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox’s Nov. 4, 2011 order abrogating DWSD union contracts on Tues. Oct. 9 in Cincinnati. AFSCME Council 25, AFSCME Local 207, and the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) filed the appeals. Local 207 members on the WWTP picket line said they will attend.

On Oct. 2, dozens of workers gathered at the plant’s front gates to listen to Local 207 President John Riehl explain what was happening, and hear from attorney Driver.

Riehl read off names of a list of workers to whom suspension notices had been mailed. As he did so, some of the workers named responded, “Well, I might as well stay out here on strike for sure now,” and “I’m going over to get a hot dog,” which workers were grilling next to their cars.

AFSCME Local 207 President John Riehl

Riehl began to count the names, but hesitated, concern for his members evident on his face. So he read them off again, as workers in the group called out “1, 2, 3 . . .” to support him in getting an accurate count. He and Driver then told the workers the union local would fight to get their jobs back.

Support for the strike from truck drivers and construction workers who honored the picket lines, and passing motorists who constantly honked their horns, has been strong. Detroit youth and members of the Moratorium NOW! And BAMN coalitions have been at the picket lines, along with union members from other city locals and the UAW.

Council 25 President Al Garrett has said the organization is throwing its support behind campaigns to repeal Public Act 4 and amend the state constitution to include collective bargaining in this year’s November elections. The union has focused on the campaign to elect President Barack Obama as well.

Belle Isle threatened too.

None of those actions, however, will stop the dismantling of Detroit, including its Water Department, Belle Isle and numerous other city departments and assets.

The City of Detroit and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder have insisted that Detroit’s consent agreement is not related to Public Act 4, despite Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon’s legal opinon that it is. Snyder and State Treasurer Andy Dillon have said that if Public Act 4 is rescinded, Public Act 72, the “emergency financial manager” act, will take its place.

Public Act 4 repealed PA 72. MCL 8.4 of the State Constitution says,

“Whenever a statute, or any part thereof shall be repealed by a subsequent statute, such statute, or any part thereof, so repealed, shall not be revived by the repeal of such subsequent repealing statute.”

During oral arguments before the State Supreme Court on putting PA 4 on the ballot,  Chief Justice Robert Young specifically noted at the close of the hearing that PA 72 could not replace PA 4.

It is clear that even if PA 4 is rescinded, the state and the banks, to which it guarantees payment of huge municipal debts, will continue to act as they please, dismantling cities and destroying the standard of living for working and poor people, unless the people take action such as that just taken by the heroic WWTP workers and the Flint workers in 1937.

(To download formatted PDF of this story, with photos, click on Water workers strike continues despite DWSD claims VOD)

http://www.sloanlongway.org/Sloanum.aspxMuse

On December 30, 1936, General Motors workers at Fisher Body No. 1 became part of what has been called the most significant strike in American labor history. These workers were fighting for recognition of their union, the United Auto Workers, and to keep their jobs from going to non-union workers. Other demands included a switch from piece work to hourly pay, a 30 hour week, ending “speed-up” production, and seniority rights.

Flint workers sit down.

Strikers decided that instead of picketing outside the building, they would sit inside the factory-preventing other people from working their jobs and stopping GM production. Inside the plant, men depended on wives, family members, and the public for support and food.

For a time, the strike was peaceful. President of GM, Alfred Sloan, did not even want to deal with the strikers. He wanted them to get out of the plant before dealing with them. This made it very difficult to arrange negotiations between the strikers and the company.

National Guard and Flint sit-downers.

On January 11, 1937, police attempted to stop the delivery of food into the plant. Until this time, women and family members of the strikers had passed items to the strikers through factory windows. Car parts and water from fire hoses were launched at the police from inside the planet. Law enforcement fired buckshot and tear gas at the strikers. Fighting ended with strikers controlling the gates to the plant and with the police retreating.

Governor Frank Murphy sent in the National Guard to maintain peace and order, but refused to direct them to act with force against the workers.

GM Sitdown Kansas City

It was not just Fisher Body No. 1 that was striking. Fisher No. 2, also in Flint, and plants in Atlanta, Kansas City, and Cleveland struck, too. All these UAW members were working towards the goal of GM recognizing the Union as a collective bargaining agent. This meant that the union workers wanted to be able to bargain with GM as a group and not as individuals.

By February 4, 1937, the strikers inside Fisher No. 1 had been living without heat or power for several weeks. Governor Murphy had persuaded GM to negotiate with strikers, but the strikers ignored court injunctions ordering them to leave the plant. More than 4,000 National Guardsmen and 1,000 citizens and policemen surrounded Fisher No. 1 and its strikers. The strikers reduced their demands to just one: GM recognition of the UAW as the sole bargaining agent for workers. On February 11, GM gave in and the strike ended.

Cigar workers sit-down.

Results

Sit-down strikes spread from the auto industry to other industries, such as laundries and cigar factories. Governor Murphy repeatedly urged negotiation and refused to use force to settle disputes. The Sit-Down Strike was ultimately successful and peacefully resolved because both sides compromised.

Flint Sit-Down Strike timeline

December 1936

December 29 – G.M. transfers union members out of the Chevrolet Fisher Body No. 2 plant.

December 30- 7:00am Chevrolet Fisher Body No. 2 plant workers start a sit-down strike.  8:00pm Buick Fisher Body workers start a sit-down strike. 8:00pm Buick      Fisher Body No. 1 workers begin a sit-down strike.

January 1937

January 1 –   Women’s Auxiliary established to aid sit-down strikers and their families.

January 2 – G.M. seeks injunction against workers. Genesee County Circuit Court Judge Black grants  injunction.

January 3 – Judge Black found to own GM Stock, injunction overturned.

• 
• Women’s Auxiliary at Flint sitdown.

January 4 –  U.A.W. presents contract demands to G.M.

January 7 – A  pro-business organization known as the “Flint Alliance” begins anti-union  activity.

January 11-  Flint police and county sheriff deputies attempt to retake Chevrolet   Fisher Body No. 2 and are repelled by workers, 27 are injured. The event  becomes known as “Battle of the Running Bulls.”

January 12 –  Governor Frank Murphy orders National Guard to Flint to prevent further violence. By strike’s end, 4,000 guardsmen are stationed in Flint.

January 20 – Women’s Emergency Brigade established “to protect our husbands and sons  from violence”

January 27 – Flint Alliance holds “Back to Work” rally at I.M.A. Auditorium

Genesee County Sheriff Thomas W. Wolcott, accompanied by Chief Deputy Gerald Ruddy, reads an injunction to sit-down strikers at General Motors’ Fisher Body plants. Genesee Circuit Judge Paul V. Gadola granted the injunction, ordering the strikers out of the plants, but the ignored it and the strike spread.

February 1937

February 1 – Genesee County  Circuit Court Judge Gadola orders workers to leave plants and stop  picketing. Sit-down strike spreads to Chevrolet Plant No. 4.

February 3 – Governor Murphy refuses to use National Guard to evict strikers from plants.

February 11 – 2:30am G.M. agrees to recognize the U.A.W.

Workers say they are fighting not just for their contract, but to stop the dismantling of Detroit by the rich and powerful.

Commentary by Donna Stern

October 1, 2012

(For PDF of this article click on An eyewitness report from Detroit’s AFSCME Local 207 strike VOD)

The first and most important thing: the strike has NOT been called off and WILL CONTINUE in full force tomorrow, Tuesday, October 2nd.

Everyone who can, every union member and every strike supporter, should be at the picket lines starting at 6am tomorrow morning. The early morning picketing is the most important time to picket because it is the time when we can get other union members to support our strike.

Where We Are Now

A strike is a clash of two forces and a struggle for power. The moment that crew 5 of Local 207 walked out of the plant on Sunday morning, the balance of power shifted in favor of the union. Until we acted, nearly all of the power to determine the future of the city of Detroit, the fate of our union, what our jobs, wages and working conditions would be–was in the hands of Judge Cox, Mayor Bing, the Water Board, and all the rich suburban interests that have stood together to try to break our union and destroy the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Detroit and its neighbors.

But once we acted, the pendulum shifted in our favor, beginning with those first thirty workers. Our union gave the people of Detroit a voice and a leadership and a cause that could win–and a chance to build a new civil rights and labor movement and era of mass struggle throughout the area.

Detroiters want the DWSD, which serves 6 counties and 40 percent of Michigan’s population, to remain in the hands of the public, not private water profiteers.

Virtually every national media correspondent and environmental group has said that people all over the country regard this struggle in Detroit as the key to determining whether the water supplies of this country remain in the hands of the public or become privatized. If we win this fight, it will be one of the first and most important victories for Detroit, for the labor movement, for the new civil rights movement, and for the environmental movement–which has had a great deal of publicity but next to no successes.

If you measure the power of a strike just by the number of people who are out on a picket line, you’ll be deceived into believing that something that is very strong–is weak.

Sunday, September 30

Sunday was a dress rehearsal for Monday. On Sunday, we began to see the outlines of the power that our strike could best, which would be confirmed on Monday. Our picket lines started small on Monday morning but grew throughout the day. Small numbers of picketers at the different plant gates were able to turn away cars and trucks by using courage, determination, and persuasion.

Detroit police set up at the corner of W. Jefferson and Dearborn, blocks away from any picket line, and have not so far harassed strikers. Local 207 attorneys say U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox is barred by federal law from issuing injunctions against strikes or similar orders, under the Norris-LaGuardia Act.

 Workers who were traveling on W. Jefferson Ave.–in small numbers, because it was Sunday–honked their horns and shouted out through their windows their support for our actions and expressed their hope that we would win. We got some media coverage, but much less than we deserved. And, for the most part, the police stayed a good distance away from the picket line.

Youth from BAMN take part in Dr. Martin Luther King Day protest against Public Act 4 outside Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s home, Jan. 16, 2012.

As the day progressed, more Local 207 members, and youth from BAMN–the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights, and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary–joined the picket lines. For the Local 207 members who had never been on strike before, and for the Detroit youth on the picket lines, stopping cars and trucks from crossing the picket lines [through presence and persuasion]  gave people a sense of power and joy that they have never experienced before.

Monday, October 1st

By the close of Sunday, spirits were high, but everybody knew that Monday would be the first real test of the strength and resilience of our strike. Monday’s strike activity got underway between 1 and 2 a.m., when trucks that haul out the sludge started arriving earlier than usual at the plant.

Youth on Belle Isle Sept. 14, 2012; child poverty rate in Detroit is 57 percent; young people desperately need public sector jobs at union wages and benefits.

Most of the trucks were turned around. Every truck driver that the picketers talked to understood that the Local 207 strike was on behalf of every person in Detroit who is struggling to maintain a job, a family, a neighborhood, and, for the young people–the hope of a decent and meaningful future. And so, even though lots of the truck drivers were scared of what their management would do to them if they refused to cross our picket lines, they still turned their trucks around, refusing to scab on our strike.

As the early morning progressed, the number of trucks that arrived was growing. But on the side of the picketers, both the number of the picketers and their resolve increased more and faster than the flow of the traffic. By 6:30 in the morning, picket lines were up at every important gate to the plant.

Historically, Teamster truck drivers have refused to cross picket lines.

The Water Board, desperate to get their management personnel inside, set up a staging area on Lafayette where managers could arrive, park their cars, and get into vans. Each van was given a police escort, but more importantly, every window of each van was covered so that the managers would not have to show their faces to the workers, who they knew they should be supporting. The police escorts made it possible for those few vans that tried to enter the plant to get in, but the window covers could not hide the shame and guilt that was felt by those who crossed.

On Sunday morning and afternoon, no Local 207 members crossed the picket lines, and on Monday morning, our members continued to stand firm in their decision to strike to win.

The construction crews–the electricians, the people doing the new cement work, and other skilled-trades contractors–had arrived and were poised to go into the plant by 7 a.m. Monday morning. The number of construction workers far outweighed the number of picketers at the back gate where they were told to enter.

DWSD construction crews fix Macomb Interceptor break, which was caused by faulty contractor work.

But, one by one, the construction workers got out of their trucks, huddled together, and after talking to a handful of striking 207 workers and BAMN youth, made a collective decision that they were not going to cross our picket lines. Those who came early and were at the front of the truck caravan of construction workers lined up at the back gate, offered to stay at the plant to make sure that late-arriving construction workers would honor the decision of those to came before them: to honor the picket lines and refuse to go into the plant. Many Teamster truck drivers who were arriving as the morning progressed followed the lead of the construction workers and, after a brief discussion with the striking workers, simply turned their trucks around and rumbled away.

Judge Cox, with no authority, issues order to end strike

The success of our early morning action, not surprisingly, was met with an attempt by Judge Cox and his cronies to use all the mechanisms of the state that they have at their disposal–the laws, the courts, the police–to try to shut down our strike. By 8:30 in the morning, Judge Cox had issued a temporary restraining order to the leaders of Local 207 and our union as a whole–ordering us to stop picketing and go back to work.

The union leaders of Local 207 fired back with our own legal initiatives. By 12 noon, our lawyers were holding a press conference making clear to the court and to the people of Detroit that we believe that Judge Cox’s order to stop the strike was not legal or valid. Continue reading →

• Lawyers say federal law prohibits Cox’s action, question Cox’s impartiality
•  Picket lines remain strong, workers determined

By Diane Bukowski

October 1, 2012

DETROIT – Lawyers for striking Detroit water and sewerage workers have gone into overdrive to overturn a “temporary restraining order” against the work stoppage, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox at 8:45 a.m. today.

Meanwhile, picket lines at the Wastewater Treatment Plant this afternoon remained strong, with members of Local 207 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) determined to stay out.

Local 207’s attorneys Shanta Driver and George Washington during press conference Oct. 1, 2012.

Attorneys Shanta Driver and George Washington said during a press conference at noon that Cox has no authority as a federal judge to issue such an order. They are asking him to dissolve the order and recuse himself. They are also filing for a “writ of mandamus” with the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals which would order him to do so.

The Sixth Circuit is already scheduled to hear a multi-union appeal of Cox’s Nov. 4, 2011 order, which unilaterally laid out employment terms for DWSD workers, on Oct. 9, 2012 at 9 a.m. in Cincinnati.

Judge Sean Cox

“Judge Cox is acting like a dictator,” Driver said. “We got a call yesterday from his ‘Special Master’ [David Ottenwess] telling us that Judge Cox planned to have a meeting this afternoon to discuss the issues involved. He said he’d call us back and give us the time. Today, we heard from some other lawyers that Judge Cox issued the TRO.”

Driver added, “This is about all of Detroit, whether Detroiters are entitled to have democratic rights over anything at all. Judge Cox hasn’t even allowed any workers or union leaders to testify before him, he’s too busy re-writing their contract himself.”

The Local’s motion for recusal says in part that Cox has “essentially become a part of the management negotiating team by repeatedly issuing, at management’s private request, orders that have changed major contractual and bargaining rights of Local 207’s members while denying any efforts by Local 207 or any other labor organization to intervene or oppose those changes.”

WWTP workers stand strong.

Cox earlier denied motions by AFSCME, the United Auto Workers (UAW), and the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) to intervene in United States of America v. the City of Detroit, Case #77-71100.

Cox’s TRO enjoins not only members of AFSCME Water Department Locals 207 and 2920, but also “all persons acting in concert with them,” from “engaging or participating in the strike,” and “obstructing, preventing or unlawfully interfering with DWSD or any of its employees or any other person or persons from entering DWSD property.”

It bans a host of other actions including violence and vandalism, as well as “failing to report to work or conduct work in accordance with DWSD personnel and attendance policies.”

It does not say how Cox plans to force the workers back on the job.

Cox also cites threats to public health and safety, although Local 207 President John Riehl said his members struck the Wastewater Treatment Plant instead of drinking water facilities to prevent such problems.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing issued a statement endorsing Cox’s order, saying “It is imperative that there be no interruption in the service or an impact on the quality of water provided to our citizens or any negative impact on the environment.”

The City claimed in its motion that the work stoppage at the WWTP threatens to increase pollution in the Detroit River, but Driver said reduction of the DWSD workforce by 81 percent presents a greater threat to the environment.

The City of Detroit’s motion for a restraining order includes as attachments the flier Local 207 published calling for community support, another informational local flier listing management’s demands, and an unrelated flier from the grass-roots “Retirees Action Movement.” The last was passed out at a Detroit General Retirement System (DGRS). It calls on city retirees to fight attempts to restructure their pension boards.

Worker during contract protest at DWSD Huber facility Aug.15,2012.

Riehl, who is also an elected DGRS trustee, said at that meeting that he had not seen the flier and did not know who put it out.

Washington said he is outraged.

“The water department is staffed by mainly Black residents of Detroit,” he said. “The judge is telling them that 81 percent of them are going to lose their jobs and they can’t do anything about it. He is treating them like the dirt under his feet. They are working in unbelievably bad conditions, the dirtiest, hottest jobs possible.”

Local 207’s motion to dissolve the order says Cox as a federal judge has no authority to ban any strike or work stoppage, under terms of the federal Norris-LaGuardia Act as well as other federal legislation.

According to the motion, the U.S. Congress passed the Norris-LaGuardia Act during the Great Depression in response to “exposes of the federal courts’ practice of allowing employers to impose the most outrageous employment conditions and then to procure ex parte and preliminary injunctions to stop the strikes that opposed those conditions.”

Cox has set a hearing on the TRO for Oct. 11, 2012, under federal court rules which mandate that such a hearing must be held within 10 days.

Washington said the unions involved in the Sixth Circuit Court appeal are planning to bring supporters with them for that hearing Oct. 9. Those who are interested in attending can call 313-468-3398.

For PDF of this story, click on UNION LAWYERS FIGHT “DICTATOR” COX’S ORDER VS. WATER STRIKE; WORKERS STAND FIRM VOD)

Related documents and posts:

COX TRO 10 1 12; C of D motion for TRO v water strike;

Local 207 motion to dissolve 10 1 12; Local 207 recusal motion; DWSD proposed contract terms (Local 207 flier attached to city motion for TRO as evidence of disobedience)

Mayor Dave Bing at podium, (l to r) Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Anthony Marrocco, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner John McCulloch; McCulloch initiated motion that U.S. District Judge Sean Cox ruled on in February, which gave the suburbs domination over the Detroit Water Board.

By Jackson Anderson

Oct. 1, 2012

(VOD note: this excellent commentary was submitted today by a VOD reader.)

The media is not reporting that the company that received the $48 Million contract (EMA) is tied to the Robert Ficano Machine and Kurt Heise. No one is disclosing EMA’s connection to Wayne County going back to 1998 – here is the proof:

http://www.co.wayne.mi.us/documents/JMC-presentation-9-17-08-final.pdf

Slide from presentation referenced in link above; note EMA in bottom corner. Brian Hurding also presented the 81 percent cut DWSD proposal to the Water Board.

Dave Bing is in over his head and does not do any homework. He is just going along blindly because he does not care and it sounds like a good idea. Ficano’s people are running the City’s Water Department (James Fausone, water board chair, Matthew Schenk, DWSD COO, Woolfson, etc.).

Brian Hurding of EMA at Detroit Water Board meeting Sept. 7, 2012, where $46 million EMA contract was passed.

How can you justify a $48 million NO-BID CONTRACT to a EMA based on a 90-day self-serving review conducted after EMA (which was paid for by the first NO-BID Contract?) All that the Water Commissioners were given was a POWERPOINT PRESENTATION!

DAVE BING AND THE WATER COMMISSIONERS ARE GOING TO DECIMATE THE WATER DEPARTMENT (ELIMINATE 81% OF THE STAFF) BASED ON A SELF-SERVING POWERPOINT PRESENTATION BY AN OUT-OF STATE COMPANY?

Where is the expert review to confirm the viability of the proposal?

Where is the due diligence into EMA (they have a spotty history and have caused problems with other water systems) – Toronto is an example. New York may be another example (someone needs to check this out).

John McCulloch, Oakland Co. Water Board rep, Pam Turner, former DWSD interim director, Kurt Heise, then Wayne Co. Ficano appointee.

Where is the outcry over a $48 million dollar no-bid contract? How can you just say “the bidding process would take too long”?!!! Since when has that been an adequate justification for circumventing the bidding process? If it were Kwame Kilpatrick, then the news media would be calling it corruption.

Do you honestly believe that you can cut 81% of the staff with no effect on service?

Which staff will they cut?

Matthew Schenk, DWSD COO and former Ficano appointee.

They claim that they are going to cross-train people to do multiple jobs – so if a person calls in sick, we have effectively lost the equivalent of three people? As a practical matter, do you believe that you can make everyone do three jobs overnight? People are not fungible.

Do we want more unemployed people in the City (950 new unemployed residents??

Water Board chair and former Ficano appointee Walter Fausone.

This decision stinks and no one is probing into it. It is going to decimate the Water Department and potentially put the health of millions of people at risk. The media is just being bamboozled by the claim that there is a horseshoer title. Are we really that easily duped by the Ficano Machine?

For PDF of this story, click on EMA TIED TO FICANO, HEISE VOD.

Related articles:

http://www.freep.com/article/20120710/NEWS02/207100354/Ficano-s-ex-appointees-get-six-figure-jobs-at-Detroit-water-department

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/09/09/board-passes-48-m-5-yr-ema-contract-to-cut-81-of-detroit-water-workforce/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/22/toronto-under-water-sewage-in-wake-of-ema-plan/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/01/26/stop-takeover-of-detroits-water/  regarding State Rep. Kurt Heise’s proposal to take over DWSD. He was also a sponsor of Public Act 4.)

VOD Update: As of Monday morning, Oct. 1, U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox’s scheduler said no hearing has been set for today on the city’s motion to ban the strike. That does not mean Cox will not issue an order without a hearing, which he has done before. Workers say support on the picket lines from the community is vital. Below is a map of the location of the Wastewater Treatment Plant at 9300 W. Jefferson, Detroit.

RELATED ARTICLES:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/09/30/city-water-workers-strike-for-detroits-future-call-for-picket-line-support-beginning-oct-1/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/09/30/the-detroit-water-workers-strike-must-win/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/09/27/detroit-dwsd-debt-shows-wall-street-never-loses-on-bad-swaps/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/09/09/board-passes-48-m-5-yr-ema-contract-to-cut-81-of-detroit-water-workforce/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/22/contractor-ema-proposes-to-cut-81-percent-of-dwsd-jobs-workers-mobilize-for-strike/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/22/toronto-under-water-sewage-in-wake-of-ema-plan/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/19/former-head-engineer-weighs-in-on-dwsd-restructuring-plan/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/12/picket-dwsd-huber-facility-wed-aug-15-4-pm-save-our-water-dept/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/05/16/rally-at-afscme-negotiations-may-18-4-pm-water-board-bldg/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/12/19/11652/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/11/16/union-challenges-cox%e2%80%99s-water-dept-takeover-order/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/11/10/cox-axes-detroiters-control-over-water-department/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/10/03/council-hires-attorney-to-fight-cox-water-takeover-as-public-calls-for-%e2%80%98civil-disobedience%e2%80%99/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/10/01/fox-2-news-colludes-with-judge-cox-in-water-takeover/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/19/local-207-presents-solutions-for-watersewerage-problems/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/14/sean-cox-right-wing-affiliations/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/14/residents-demand-that-city-council-fight-water-takeover/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/12/911-in-detroit%e2%80%94terrorist-judge-cox-strikes-water-department/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/02/22/utility-privatizer-running-water-department/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/02/13/judge-cox-mayor-bing-suburban-leaders-conspire-in-water-takeover-violate-city-charter/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/02/06/detroit-people%e2%80%99s-control-of-water-the-only-answer/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/01/07/the-feikens-enterprise/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/01/06/history-of-the-feikens-enterprise/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2010/12/26/one-man%e2%80%99s-war-against-detroit-contractor-corruption/

Detroit Wastewater Treatment plant workers outside the plant’s main gate Sunday afternoon, Sept. 30, 2012.

•  Union locals call for mass community support on picket lines
• Will top union leadership join the battle?

By Diane Bukowski 

September 30, 2012 

DETROIT – Declaring they are battling for the future of Detroit, workers at the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) walked off the job at 10 a.m. today. The afternoon shift, scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m., was shut down as well.

Local 207 members discuss strike strategy.

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) serves 40 percent of Michigan’s residents, and is the third largest system in the country. The wildcat exploded after Locals 207 and 2920 0f the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) took strike votes last week. Local 207, with 950 members, is the largest city public worker union.

“It’s about time the city stood up,” said A.B., who has worked at the plant for 11 years. “Enough is enough! The water department is the only entity in the city making money. But they came to an 80 percent Black city, where police and fire and water have become the new Big Three, and said they want to put 1,000 more people out of work, just adding to the blight in Detroit.”

WWTP workers picketing at the back gate including father and his baby.

Fifty-seven percent of Detroit’s children now live in poverty, according to A Kids Count study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation released Sept. 26.

But two weeks ago, the Detroit Water Board approved a $46 million contract with the EMA Group to eliminate 81 percent of DWSD jobs. Rumors then circulated that U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox, who oversees the WWTP under a federal consent decree, planned to issue an order Oct. 1 barring a strike.

Worker at front gate denounces EMA, which wants to cut 81 percent of DWSD workforce, has caused disastrous floods in Toronto due to sewage backups.

So WWTP workers jumped the gun.

Local 207 Unit Chair Lakita Thomas said, “All the workers except for two were ready to walk out, and then those two changed their mind and came out with us too.”

The WWTP parking garage was empty, with “On Strike” signs posted on its locked gates.

Workers said the shutdown of the WWTP, which extracts sewage from water returning from tens of thousands of households before it enters the Detroit River,, will give the DWSD, EMA and Cox a taste of what it will be like if 81 percent of the workforce is cut.

“We went on strike today because we want that little dictator Sean Cox out of Detroit,” Local 207 steward Susan Ryan said. “We want DWSD under the control of the city. We are fighting for Detroit and all of its people. Everybody is welcome to join us on the picket line.”

“”A little child shall lead them:” workers picket at back gate of WWTP Sept. 30.

Local 207 Secretary-Treasurer Mike Mulholland said local members went to churches across Detroit this morning to mobilize support, and passed out fliers at a meeting of the Detroit General Retirees Sept. 25.

“This is just as much a battle for the retirees as it is for us, because under Detroit’s Public Act 4 consent agreement, their health care and other benefits are about to be cut. We all need to stand together in this fight,” Mulholland said.

Malcolm Garrett said, “We don’t want any more takeovers in Detroit. We’re sick and tired. We want them to leave Belle Isle alone and stop privatizing.”

Worker demands stop to takeover of Detroit, the world’s largest Black-majority city outside of Africa.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has signed a no-rent 90-year agreement to “lease” Belle Isle, the largest island park in the U.S., to the state. It has not yet been approved by City Council. The city is shutting down its 187-year-old Health Department this week, handing $60 million in federal grant funds over to a newly-concocted private “Institute for Population Health.”

It is also closing two other federally-funded departments. Over the last three decades, Detroit has privatized Detroit General Hospital, the Detroit Zoo, Cobo Hall, the Institute of Arts, Eastern Market, and many other city assets.

Workers picketed at all three main gates of the WWTP, sending reinforcements as needed to other gates.

Nicole Spicer with daughter Mya and two women co-workers on picket line.

At the front gate, Nicole Spicer sat with her two-year-old daughter Mya and two other women workers on the picket line.

“They’re trying to put us all out of a job,” she said. “We will not stand by quietly while they give our jobs to contractors. We work in the city, and we live in the city.”

At the back gate, a mother who brought her children said, “People who work here have been committed to their jobs, and to providing good water for everyone, but they want to take our pensions, and cut 81 percent cut of manpower. The people who are doing this don’t know much about DWSD anyway. It’s been 10 years since we’ve had a raise, but they keep raising water rates, and they want us to pay more for health care. Most people out here don’t make any more than $15,000 to $18,000. We can barely feed our families now!”

One worker carried a sign declaring, “EMA failed in Toronto, wasting $1.2 billion and causing flooding.”

Toronto subway’s Union Station under water in June, 2012.

The city of Toronto hired the EMA Group in 1996 to revamp its water department, and eventually cut large numbers of its sewage plant workforce.  In June of this year, Toronto’s subways and many neighborhoods experienced massive flooding due largely to sewage back-ups during a rainstorm. Such floods have been commonplace since the cutbacks. Toronto voted to spend $1.2 billion in 2005 on the system, but EMA’s plans have not worked.

Workers from other unions came out to support the DWSD workers as well as word of the walk-out broke.

Picketers cover street entrance to back gate. Plant security threatened to have them arrested, but Detroit police on the scene took no such action.

“This strike is happening in the wake of the victory of the Chicago Teachers Union,” said Martha Grevatt, of UAW Local 869. “It’s another example of workers standing up, not only for their jobs, but against the banks and corporations. Whether you work for a private company or in the public sector, your bosses are part of the 1 percent.”

Local 207’s newletter, “The Organizer,” said, “We need to send the message to the power that be, early and often during this strike, that the people of Detroit are tired of being dictated to, and victimized by the rich and powerful, and that we intend to win this strike.”

A spokesman for Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said in a statement, “There has been no interruption of water service. Other than that, we have no comment at this time.”

Al Garrett, President of Michigan AFSCME Council 25, threatens to “shut the city down” during Council meeting April 2.

Al Garrett, President of Michigan AFSCME Council 25, told Detroit’s City Council on April 2 that he would “shut the city down” as AFSCME did in during a city-wide strike in 1986 if the Council voted for the PA 4 consent agreement. It did so anyway, 5-4, on April 4.

On  July 17 , using the consent agreement, Bing and the state-appointed, corporate-dominated “Financial Advisory Board” imposed unilateral  “City Employment Terms” on the city’s workforce. The “CET” applied to every department except  DWSD, which Cox ordered to conduct separate negotiations, and the Detroit Department of Transportation, which is bound by federal regulations against union-busting.

Garrett was not available for comment at press time. It remains to be seen if he will make good on his promise, and whether the leadership of the union movement across Michigan will join the battle.

The Wastewater Treatment Plant is located at 9300 W. Jefferson in downriver Detroit. Workers begin picketing at 6 a.m. every day and throughout three shifts. For information on how to support the strike, call 313-995-5691, 313-919-5011, or 313-492-9308. 

See next post  for Local 207’s statement on the strike and call for support.

Empty parking garage at Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Local 207 workers on strike Sept. 30, 2012.

WWTP workers keep front gate shut down.