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

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.

Detroit General Retirement System board held special meeting for retirees Sept. 25, 2012 to educate them on pension rights and upcoming threats.

_________________________________________________________

14-year-old Rafael Jones leads march for Justice for Aiyana and freedom for Charles Jones April 23 at Frank Murphy Hall in downtown Detroit, with his grandmother Mertilla Jones (l), and aunt LaKrystal Sanders (r) holding signs behind him.

Apparent collusion between court, attorneys for both sides, to get cop off

By Diane Bukowski 

September 29, 2012 

Killer cop Joseph Weekley, Jr (l), Aiyana Stanley-Jones (r); below is expert depiction of Aiyana’s killing by Weekley as she slept with her grandmother.

DETROIT – Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway delayed  ruling on a motion to dismiss charges against Detroit Officer Joseph Weekley, Jr., killer of Aiyana Stanley Jones, 7, during a hearing Sept. 28, until after the child’s father is tried for first-degree murder in another case.

Weekley faces involuntary manslaughter and firearms charges for shooting Aiyana through the head after a Detroit police “Special Response Team” conducted a military-style raid on her home in a poor east-side Detroit neighborhood March 16, 2010. A&E’s “First 48” was filming the midnight raid for national television.

Instead, world-wide media told the story of a little girl’s killing by Detroit police.

Charles Jones with his only daughter Aiyana. Jones also has six younger sons.

Weekley is free on personal bond, while Aiyana’s father Charles Jones and Chauncey Owens have been remanded without bail, charged with killing 17-year-old Je’Rean Blake two days earlier.  Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Moran is prosecuting both Weekley and Jones, in what some have termed a “conflict of interest.”

“It took him a few seconds to murder my baby in front of my eyes,” the child’s grandmother Mertilla Jones wept outside the court after the motion hearing. “But two and a half years later, they haven’t tried him yet. Instead they’re going after her father who’s still grieving for his child.”

Jones was sleeping on a front-room couch with Aiyana when police lobbed an incendiary grenade through a window overhead, and watched as Weekley shot her granddaughter to death.

Joseph Weekley at arraignment. He lives in wealthy Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe.

During the hearing, the diminutive Weekley sat stone-faced in the courtroom and avoided looking at Jones as she passed by.

“They arrested me and held me in jail for days,” Jones said, “but the man who killed my baby hasn’t spent a minute in jail.”

Police claimed Jones had “interfered” with Weekley, but never charged her. According to witnesses, after racing Aiyana’s body out of the house, they terrorized the rest of the family, including infants and children, before arresting Owens. He lived in a flat upstairs from the Jones family.

Weekley and Charles Jones were arrested a year-and-a-half later, after a prolonged Michigan State Police investigation and secret one-man grand jury proceedings in front of Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Kenny. Kenny charged Weekley, while Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Jones and Owens.

Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway

Hathaway, the prosecution and the defense appeared to collude during the Sept. 28 hearing.

“I’ve discussed the situation at length with Officer Weekley, and he absolutely agrees with me and quite frankly with the prosecutor and the court that his trial should be delayed,” defense attorney Steven Fishman said.

Moran had just explained that the prosecution is waiting for a ruling from the Michigan Supreme Court in Jones’ case. He and Owens face trial before Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Richard Skutt, who earlier barred the use of hearsay testimony by “jail-house snitch” Jay Schlenkerman against Jones.

Robert Moran

Moran at first called the Blake killing case a “companion case,” then corrected himself. The companion case in Weekley’s trial is that of Allison Howard, an A&E producer charged with perjury and interfering with an investigation of Aiyana’s killing.

Skutt said the testimony could be used against Owens, who Schlenkerman cited as his source, but not against Jones, under Michigan Rules of Evidence. He said that Schlenkerman, a six-time felon with a history of severe domestic abuse and drunk driving, appeared to have constantly prompted Owens to obtain an alleged statement that Charles Jones gave him the gun used to kill Blake.

Steven FIshman

The prosecution asked the Michigan Court of Appeals for leave to appeal. Instead, an appeals court panel consisting of Judges Michael Talbot, a member of the right-wing Federalist Society, Kurtis Wilder and Kirsten Kelly summarily reversed Skutt’s decision Aug. 13.

Jones’ attorneys, from the offices of nationally-known attorney Geoffrey Fieger, have asked the Supreme Court for leave to appeal that ruling, and according to Moran received a stay pending their decision.

“Our intent was to try that case first anyway,” Moran said. “The appellate office says they expect the Supreme Court to deny the application by the end of the year, since they don’t usually get involved in pre-trial proceedings.”

Hathaway held a lengthy secret sidebar with both Moran and Fishman prior to her ruling.

Aiyana’s aunt LaKrystal Sanders, grandmother Mertilla Jones, and mother Dominika Stanley at national police brutality coalition meeting in May.

“I basically called this pre-trial today to admonish both the prosecution and defense,” she said, although the hearing was listed in court records as a motion hearing. “ I don’t see how I can adequately decide on [the motion to dismiss] without receiving the indictment discovery, which is two to three feet high. I’m going to need time to review this material.”

She indicated that it would be best to postpone her ruling on the dismissal until after the Jones/ Owens trials, since that would give her time to review the discovery materials.

Hathaway has had the cases against Weekley and Howard since November 11, 2011.

Meanwhile, she scheduled another pre-trial hearing for Weekley for Oct. 29, after pre-trial hearings in the Jones/Owens case are held.

Jones’ trial had been set for Oct. 22.

In a civil case brought against him by Aiyana’s family members, Weekley’s attorneys are trying to delay that trial until after the Jones/Owens’ criminal trial. On Oct. 11, at 9 a.m. Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Daphne Means Curtis will hold a hearing on a defense motion for a stay of proceedings. A status conference is set for October 26, with trial scheduled for November 11, 2012.

Curtis earlier denied a defense motion for a “protective order” to seal records in the case, including depositions of the officers involved in the raid. She ruled that those depositions should go forward on the completion of the State Police investigation. It is unclear from court records, however, if the officers have been deposed. Defense attorneys from the firm of Plunkett & Cooney, paid by the City of Detroit, have however deposed many of those in the Jones family, according to Mertilla Jones.

Sky banner flown by the Justice for Aiyana Jones Committee across Detroit on the first anniversary of her death, May 16, 2012.

Phyllis McMillon, president of AFSCME Local 452, who represents city workers on Belle Isle, tells rally, Bing told a lie when he said we have 36 workers here. There are only four permanent workers, the rest are seasonal from April to September. The seasonals are being laid off Sept. 23, and the four permanent workers have been re-assigned even though the lease deal is not approved.”

•  Detroiters rally on island to save largest  public river park in country
• Union president says city workers re-assigned without lease approval
• Councilman Kwame Kenyatta calls for public to weigh in at committee meeting Thurs. Oct. 4, 1 p.m.

By Diane Bukowski 

September 24, 2012 

(Note: story upcoming on Detroit City Council hearing on Belle Isle takeover Sept. 25, 2012, with analysis. Meanwhile, Councilman Kwame Kenyatta has set public discussion on the Belle Isle takeover for his committee meeting October 4, 2012.)  

DETROIT – Grass roots Detroiters, many from community groups, turned out Sept. 21 to save their beloved Belle Isle from a state takeover Sept. 21, rallying in front of a bright yellow banner declaring “Hands Off Belle, No More Takeovers, Occupy Detroit,” affixed to Picnic Shelter #2.

They were also mobilizing to defeat Public Act 4, popularly known as “The Dictator Act” in the coming November elections, vowing to go door-to-door in the community to educate people about the dangers of PA 4. It led to the April 4 “Fiscal Stability [consent] Agreement” which has stripped Detroit’s elected officials of most of their final powers. Even if Detroit’s City Council votes down a proposed state lease of Belle Isle, their decision can be overridden under that agreement, contrary to City Charter provisions.

Punco of the Black Motorcycle Riders Club pull up to rally, is greeted by Valerie Glenn of Free Detroit-No Consent.

“This is family here, real Detroiters,” declared Debra Taylor, who chaired the rally. “We purposely pulled together just grass roots folk who love our city and Belle Isle.”

They swelled the ranks to at least 100 on a rainy day. Among them was “Puncho,” who roared in on his brilliant white and chrome bike, representing the Black Motorcycle Riders Association. Although state proposals for an annual Belle Isle entry fee say that pedestrians, bicyclists and boaters can enter the island free, all vehicles including motorcycles would have to have a $10 annual state “Recreation Pass” to get on the island.

Classic Chevy Caprice on island.

“We must draw a line in the sand,” Monica Patrick Detroit No Consent told the crowd. “This is a family meeting. We will not tolerate tyranny in our own city.”

Beach on Lake Michigan at Jean Klock Park in Benton Harbor.

Cecily McClellan of Free Detroit No Consent compared the Belle Isle proposal to what has happened in Benton Harbor, where corporations including Whirlpool took over land adjacent to the publicly-owned Jean Klock Park, which has a gorgeous beach with a spectacular view of Lake Michigan.

“Benton Harbor residents have been impoverished, unemployed, and foreclosed on since the takeovers there,” McClellan, who has spoken at rallies in the small majority-Black city on Michigan’s west coast, said.

Some of Belle Isle ralliers, including Puncho, who denounced Mayor Dave Bing.

“They didn’t get bailed out like the banks did,” she said. “Here in Detroit, we have lost Cobo Hall and the water and sewerage department is facing an 81 percent cut in jobs. People are being laid off, shrinking our tax base. The same thing has happened with the Public Lighting Department, lights are out in most of our neighborhoods while we pay DTE to power them. It’s being done on purpose to set us up to fail. They’re doing the same thing on Belle Isle, laying off the staff who maintain it. Detroiters have voted millions in bonds for Belle Isle, but for some reason we can’t find it. Who wants to own Belle Isle, if you have no control or gain no benefit from the island?”

Phyllis McMillan, president of Recreation Department Local 542 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees , gave an eye-opening report on the reality of what has been happening to the island.

Grass roots crowd listens to speakers at Belle isle rally 9 22 12.

“This is no new thing,” McMillan said. “I’m here at 6 a.m. every morning, but we have no equipment to clean the island. We do the best we can anyway, even bending and stooping to pick up trash. Bing told a lie when he said we have 36 workers here. There are only four permanent workers, the rest are seasonal from April to September. The seasonals are being laid off Sept. 23, and the four permanent workers have been re-assigned even though the lease deal is not approved.”

Rally included rap.

She said Detroit City Councilman Andre Spivey was on the island earlier in the week to take a tour before dealing with the state proposal.

“He crouched down when he saw me because he didn’t want to hear the truth,” McMillan said. “The state’s lying in their proposal. They’re not going to put any more money into an island we own. None of that money is coming to the city, just like happened at the DIA, the Science Center, the Historical Museum, and Cobo Hall. They want Compuware to take over our payroll system.”

Monica Patrick speaks: Belle Isle for our children!

McMillan said Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Paula Manderfield invalidated two sections of the Detroit consent agreement in her ruling on a lawsuit by AFSCME Sept. 12, Sections 4.1 and 4.3, restoring collective bargaining rights that would force the city to negotiate terms of any changes to the Belle Isle workforce.

Although she said she would issue a written stay of her order while the City appealed, according to state records, she has not done so yet. But Mayor Dave Bing and Michigan Governor Snyder are proceeding as if she never ruled.

(Click on Manderfield decision 9 12 12, also Ingham judge strikes down 2 parts of Detroit consent agreement with state. )

Crowd listens to speakers.

As wind gusts and rain brought an end to the rally Attorney Jerry Goldberg of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition wrapped up it, pinpointing the devil behind the scenes.

“Driving to Belle Isle today, I thought of the recent report by the Pew Center which shows that 57 percent of Detroit’s children are living in poverty,” he said. “Detroit families need every single penny to survive and must not be charged to enter their own island. The banks have destroyed our neighborhoods with illegal mortgages and are holding the city hostage with billions in debt. Detroit paid $597 million to them just this past year. Public Act 4 is a bankers’ bill—it busts union contracts, but the banks get guaranteed payment of their debts. The fight against Public Act 4 is one step in the struggle, but we must go beyond that to take back our city, and force the state and the banks to pay reparations to Detroit.”

Jerry Goldberg, Cecily McClellan, Chris Griffiths

The rally was sponsored by Free Detroit-No Consent, Hood Research, and We the People of Detroit.

Worker marching with others at Coleman A. Young Center Aug. 2, 2012. Local 207 has been conducting periodic informational pickets to mobilize its members for the possibility of a strike.

VOD UPDATE SEPT. 27, 2012: Detroit’s AFSCME Local 207 , representing workers at the Detroit Water & Sewerage Dept., voted to authorize a strike yesterday, with 64 percent of members voting “YES,” according to union officials. Local 2920, representing clerical and other DWSD workers,  authorized a strike Sept. 25  if ongoing contract negotiations fail.  Union leaders are still negotiating, but have said that negotiations are so far not productive.  The Detroit Water Board recently approved a $46 million second-stage contract with the EMA Group, which involves cutting 81 percent of the DWSD workforce. The locals are asking all city workers to join to fight the city’s nullification of their union contracts under the Detroit PA 4 consent agreement, and severe lay-offs, wage and benefit reductions, and entire department cuts that have resulted. They are also asking for broad community support.