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

Police, firefighters and other city workers demonstrated in May 2010 against pension system takeover by private Michigan Employee Retirement System, which was funded at a rate of 50 percent at the time, while Detroit’s $6 billion pension systems were 100 percent funded.

BELOW IS A LETTER FROM SHIRLEY LIGHTSEY, PRESIDENT OF THE DETROIT CITY RETIREES ASSOCIATION (DRCEA), TO MAYOR DAVE BING

July 11, 2012

SUBJECT: “City Employment Terms For All Non-Uniform Employees”

Dear Mayor Bing,

The Detroit Retired City Employees Association (DRCEA) has reviewed the “City Employment Terms For All Non-Uniform Employees” Agreement that was recently distributed to the civilian employee unions of the City of Detroit. After thorough review, the DRCEA is outraged and vehemently opposedto the proposed attempt to change the composition of the General Retirement System Board of Trustees. The changes that are contained in this document represent, (as described below) a radical power play to wrest control of $2.4 Billion dollars of Trust Fund assets under management by the Board and to manipulate the takeover that could ultimately undermine the entire System.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Program Management Director Kriss Andrews, both proponents of assault on city’s pension systems. Both Bing’s company The Bing Group and Andrews’ former employer Energy Conversion Devices went bankrupt, ECD in February, 2012.

This idea now follows the ill-fated attempt in 2010 by the Bing Administration to transfer both the General and Police & Fire Retirement Systems to the Municipal Employees Retirement System (MERS) – a system that is severely under-funded in comparison to both Detroit Retirement Systems, charges excessive administrative fees, and imposes iron-clad restrictions if a municipality wishes to exit at any time.

The effective date of the General Retirement System is July 1, 1938, when a governing body was created to administer, manage, and conduct the operations of the System. There was never any consideration given to change the representative membership of the General Retirement System Board of Trustees when major Charter revisions were adopted in 1974, 1997, and 2011. The Board of Trustees, (as described below) has continually performed their duties as fiduciaries to the System, the members, and the City ofDetroit. They represent the City administration, the citizens of the City of Detroit, active and retiree members; and, have always acted in the best interest of the Plan.

Thousands protested Gov. RIck Snyder’s presence in Benton Harbor last year, calling him a DICTATOR. Snyder and corporate backers are behind PA4, Detroit consent agreement, CET, and attack on Detroit’s pension systems.

There has never been any individual control or majority rule by one party-in-interest; however, this will change if the new Board design is implemented. The Mayor would control seven (7) of the eleven (11) seats through appointment which will tilt the balance of power on the Board. Governance of the Trust cannot be administered in the form of a dictatorship whereby one individual, or those appointed by that individual, monopolize the decision making process that affects the lives of thousands of current and former employees.

AFSCME city workers protest Bing attack on pension systems.

Although unsuccessful, recent experience under a prior Administration with pay-to-play, bribery, indictments, favoritism, Federal grand jury and SEC investigations should clearly dictate that no one person or Administration should ever hold the type of power that is being proposed here. In addition, to place control of the pension system in the hands of any one Trustee destroys the concept of independence and undoubtedly is a violation of the requirements set forth in Public Act 314. A balance of power that has worked until now should continue. Therefore, there is no rational justification to even consider such a structural change to the composition of the Board that could have serious detrimental consequences.

The current General Retirement System Board of Trustees, as described in Article 11 Retirement Plans, Sec.11-103 Principles Applicable in Administering Plans of the Detroit City Charter, consists of:

• The Mayor
• A City Council member selected by that Body
• The City Treasurer
• Five (5) members of the retirement system, to be elected by the members of the retirement system under rules and regulations as may be adopted by the Board; except that not more than one (1) trustee shall be elected from any department,
• A citizen of the City who is neither an employee of the city nor eligible to receive benefits under the retirement system, appointed by the Mayor, subject to approval by the Board; and
• One (1) retirant, receiving benefits under the retirement system and elected by retired city employees under procedures established by ordinance.

The proposed change to representation on the General Retirement System Board of Trustees is:

• The Mayor, ex-officio or designee
• The President of the City Council, ex-officio
• The City Treasurer, ex-officio
• The Budget Director, ex-officio
• The Finance Director, ex-officio
• The Human Resources Director, ex-officio
• Three members of the retirement system to be elected by the members of the retirement system, under such rules and regulations as may be from time to time adopted by City Council, except that no more than one trustee shall be from any one department.
• The Mayor, shall appoint, subject to the approval of City Council, as a trustee, an individual with a background in investment and/or municipal finance.
• The Mayor shall appoint, subject to the approval of the City Council, a retiree who is receiving benefits under the retirement system.

Following are several critical matters of concern that can be affected by the change in the representation on the Board of Trustees. These actions can be easily manipulated when the balance of power is so one-sided.

• Enforcement of timely contribution payments to the Plan. The City has failed to make their required contribution on numerous occasions to both the General and Police & Fire Retirement Systems. Both Boards have filed “demand payment” lawsuits in the past and have always been successful, whereby the City was ordered by the Court to make an immediate payment to the Fund or establish a payment arrangement that included penalties and interest. If the administration controls the General Retirement Board, the collection effort may be delayed or never enforced.
• Establishing the actuarial assumptions and funding levels, the wage inflation factor, and smoothing of gains/losses. Control of these decisions can have a material affect on the health of the overall Plan.
• Selection of Board actuary, auditor, investment managers, consultants, and other service providers.
• Control of duty & non-duty disability process.
• Control of Employee Benefit Board that approves health care rates and administers the Death Benefit Fund.
• Possible loss of the Internal Revenue Service qualified Plan status that could ultimately result in tax consequences to retirees and active members’ annuity loans.

Even though efforts are being made to control the severe financial distress of the City of Detroit under the Financial Stability Agreement negotiated between the Governor, State Treasurer, Mayor, and City Council, restructuring the Board of Trustees will in no way solve those problems. It is the DRCEA’s belief that all parties to the Financial Stability Agreement should direct their efforts at working togethebudgetary problems of the City rather than causing fear and anxiety among members of the Retirement System.

Specific to the changes that are cited above, the DRCEA is profoundly troubled by the proposal to take away the rights of all retirees (approximately 11,900, which includes 5600 Detroitresidents) to elect their independent representative on the Board of Trustees. Citizens in this country have fought and died for the opportunity to vote and let their voices be heard through the election process.

The proposal to allow the Mayor to choose the retiree representative will take that right away from retirees for no logical reason. The retiree representative will now perform his/her duties under the influence of the Mayor and be governed accordingly. This cannot and must not happen. The DRCEA will take whatever legal steps are necessary to continue the practice of electing a retiree representative and make every effort to support that individual’s total independence to act as a fiduciary in the best interest of all members and the System.  We will rally our members if necessary, coordinate our efforts with all unions, and stop this attack on our retirement system.

Sincerely,

Shirley V. Lightsey

President – DRCEA

Cc: Detroit City Council, City Clerk, General Retirement System Board of Trustees,  City of Detroit Civilian Unions

VOD: this letter was sent prior to the presentation of an even more stringent CET to City Council July 16, 2012. Click on City CET Council Discussion Document 2012-07-16_1_5 for full CET.

For additional info, click on:

http://michigancitizen.com/retirees-fight-b-takeover-p8513-1.htm (article by this author)

 http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20120720/FREE/120729993.

Opponents of PA4 hold sit-down rally in Cadillac Place lobby in Detroit June 28, 2012 to demand that PA4 referendum be placed on the ballot immediately.

Buses leaving from around Michigan for Lansing hearing

From: Lucianna Sabgash

July 20, 2012

Attorney Butch Hollowell points out PA4 referendum has 14 pt. font size, but says most others recently placed on the ballot had smaller sizes.

Oral arguments will be heard by the Michigan Supreme Court in Lansing this Wednesday, July 25th concerning the font size of the petitions to repeal the emergency manager law, Public Act 4. The Stand Up for Democracy Coalition will argue for immediately certifying the petition drive and placing the PA 4 “Dictator Law” on the Michigan State November ballot. Once certified, the law and the EMs are immediately suspended.

[VOD: Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, the group which lodged a protest against the PA4 referendum, brought this case before the state’s high court. They are asking them to overturn the  appeals court decision ordering that the PA4 referendum be placed on the ballot. The appeals court said June 4:

“Defendants [Board of Canvassers] have a clear legal duty to certify the petition for the ballot because the petition has the requisite number of signatures and meets all other statutory requirements,” the COA ruled. “Under all of the circumstances presented here, the act of placing the petition on the ballot is ministerial . . . we direct the Board [of Canvassers] to certify plaintiff’s petition for the ballot.”

Stand Up for Democracy filed  a motion with the Appeals Court asking that their ruling be given immediate effect, so that the referendum can be on the ballot in time for the November elections, but the Appeals Court has continued stalling.]

Michigan Supreme Court justices.

The Supreme Court Justices, with a current Republican majority, should see the ongoing popular demand for ending the Dictator Law. It is important to note that three of the Michigan Supreme Court seats will be up for election this November. Oher ballot initiatives coming up may very well be contested as well [e.g. the constitutional amendment guaranteeing collective bargaining as a right.]

Buses are being organized in various cities around the state to leave early Wednesday morning for a Lansing 9:30a.m. arrival in Lansing, leaving as early as 7a.m. from Detroit, to rally on the Supreme Court steps.

Some of those who conducted sit-in at Cadillac Place June 28, 2012.

If anyone would be able to offer support for logistics in the form of buses, staging on the court steps; including, sound equipment, supporter sign-in, media wrangling/sign-in, food/water, first aid, political signs, event marshals, or any other recommendations, it would be greatly appreciated.

Follow-up actions are currently under consideration and planning stages following this event as well to keep the pressure on the justices. This is not just one event, but an on-going campaign to raise the voice of the people, build momentum for voter outreach and education so we don’t just put PA4 on the ballot, but vote it down, restoring democracy to our great state.

Map link to Supreme Court Building (Hall of Justice, 925 West Ottawa Street, Lansing, MI), click here for those organizing buses or carpools.

Please contact me directly if you have any questions or could offer support regarding logistics organizing this event!

Regards,

Lucianna Sabgash
Organizer for the 99%
lsabgash@gmail.com
c 313.458.1467

Rainbow PUSH Michigan is coordinating buses leaving from following cities on the July 25, 2012. YOU MUST RSVP BY TUESDAY MORNING, JULY 24.

Washtenaw County delegation at march on Gov. Snyder’s house MLK Day, 2012.

ANN ARBOR/
YPSILANTI: 7:00 AM
ARBORLAND MALL
3765 Washtenaw Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48104.
For More Information Contact:
Rod Casey Sr, Washtenaw County Coordinator
734-340-7417
or email Casey_36@ juno.com

Rev. Edward Pinkney speaks at march against PA4 and PGA in Benton Harbor May 26, 2012.

BENTON HARBOR: 6:30 AM
Benton Harbor City Hall
200 E. Wall Street
Benton Harbor, MI 49022
For more information Contact:
Reverend Edward Pinkney
(269) 369-8257
banco9342@sbcglobal.net

DETROIT: 7: 00 AM
Bethany Baptist Church
15122 W Chicago
Detroit, MI 48228
Earline Hunter
313/836 – 7667

Detroiters traveled to Mason Michigan for Court of Claims hearing on Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon’s lawsuit v. PA4 consent agreement June 13, 2012.

FLINT: 7: 00 AM
Hasselbring Community Center
1002 West Home Avenue, Flint, MI 48505
For more information Contact:
Pastor Latrell Holmes or Bishop Jefferson
(810) 252-3010
bljfaith1@yahoo.com

Marchers from Muskegon Heights at march on Snyder’s house MLK Day 2012.

MUSKEGON HEIGHTS: 7:00 AM
Greater Harvest Baptist Church
2435 Riordan St, Muskegon, MI 49444
For more information on the event please call B.W.P.C. Chairperson Marianne Harris-Darnell at (708)-456-6116.

PONTIAC: 7:00 AM
Trinity Missionary Baptist Church
123 Wesson Street, Pontiac 48341
Pastor John Tolbert
For more information call:
(248)334 – 5043

(VOD editor: Detroit must take a cue from Baltimore and other cities who are taking a stand against the banks.)

“Baltimore has been leading a battle in Manhattan federal court against the banks that determine the interest rate, the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, which serves as a benchmark for global borrowing and stands at the center of the latest banking scandal. Now cities, states and municipal agencies nationwide, including Massachusetts, Nassau County on Long Island, and California’s public pension system, are looking at whether they suffered similar losses and are weighing legal action. Dozens of lawsuits filed by municipalities, pension funds and hedge funds have been consolidated into a few related cases against more than a dozen banks that are involved in setting Libor each day, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and Barclays.” (New York Times)

The Huffington Post | By Mark Gongloff

 July 11, 2012

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announces lawsuit against banks over LIBOR scandal.

The news on Wednesday that cities and states are suing some of the world’s largest banks over Libor manipulation shows how this scandal could blow up into one of history’s biggest bank frauds.

That’s because interest-rate manipulation might well have kept your town or state from hiring firefighters or teachers, from paving roads or paying for indigent care or after-school programs for your kids — adding to the human suffering of the economic collapse these same banks caused in the first place.

Citibank one of many being sued.

If it’s any consolation, the lawsuits and fines over this manipulation could potentially cost the banks — which include not only Barclays but Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and many more — billions of dollars.

“This could get very ugly in a hurry for some banks,” Peter Tchir of TF Market Advisors wrote in a note.

And this could finally be enough to make Americans stop reacting to the Libor scandal with “a shrug,” as Joe Nocera recently put it, and push them closer to believing what Robert Shapiro, founder of economic advisory firm Sonecon, calls possibly “the biggest financial fraud in history.”

Would it be enough, maybe, to finally cause banks to lose the argument that regulating them too much will hurt the economy?

Detroiters march to demand action against banks on May 9, 2012.

The New York Times wrote Wednesday that several states, towns and other municipalities are rounding up posses of lawyers to sue big banks over their manipulation of Libor, a short-term interest rate that affects borrowing costs throughout the global economy. Barclays has admitted to manipulating the rate for years, paying $450 million in penalties. Other banks are under investigation for doing the same thing. The scandal has already engulfed Treasury Secretary Tim Geithnerand Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke who have been asked to testify before a Senate subcommittee about rate manipulation.

Interest rate swap.

The states and cities suing the banks often bought — from some of the same banks they’re suing — credit derivatives called interest-rate swaps. The swaps protected them when Libor rose, but hurt them when Libor fell. If these states and cities can prove the banks manipulated Libor lower, then they could have a case that the banks owe them some money.

Other potential litigants — hedge funds, maybe — bought derivatives that cost them money when Libor rose. Again, if they can prove that banks manipulated Libor higher, then they, too, could have a case that banks owe them money.

How much money are we talking?

Some of Wall Street’s best thinkers have scoffed that such lawsuits will likely result in small potatoes, or maybe tater tots at best. It could be hard to suss out how much financial damage somebody really suffered from this, or how much any one bank — or even more than one bank — is responsible.

And a lot of borrowers, maybe including the same states and cities suing the banks, arguably benefitedwhen the banks manipulated Libor lower, because it lowered their borrowing costs.

$800 trillion.

But the sheer vastness of the derivatives market makes this a potentially huge headache for the banks. There’s a general estimate floating around that Libor affects about $800 trillion in notional derivatives — that’s “trillion,” not “billion” or “million.” Banks are not going to be on the hook for anything near that much, as the bulk of this amount is “notional” — meaning, roughly, “not real.”

What is far more likely is that people with derivatives contracts tied to Libor lost tiny percentages of that $800 trillion with some regularity because of Libor manipulation. Some municipalities in the Times story estimate Libor manipulation cost them millions of dollars — $13 million in the case of Nassau County, New York, for example. That’s the same Nassau County whose crushing long-term unemployment is the subject of an HBO documentary, “Hard Times: Lost On Long Island.”

Protest against massive education cuts in Pennsylvania.

That’s “millions,” not “trillions.” Tater tots, if you’re a bank. But priceless for a municipality struggling to hire workers, build infrastructure or take care of the people being crushed by the recession and painfully slow recovery.

And there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of municipalities involved in this. A 2010 Wall Street Journal article about how states and cities were losing money on derivatives noted that in Pennsylvania alone, 107 school districts owned interest-rate derivatives during the time period banks were allegedly manipulating rates.

That’s 107 school districts in one state alone losing untold millions of dollars because of lower interest rates, which may have been lower than they should have been because of Libor manipulation. That’s 107 school districts in one state alone that had a harder time paying teachers, buying computers, of funding art programs.

Peter Tchir of TF Market Advisors tried in a research note this morning to arrive at what some of the big numbers might look like, if all of these potential litigants decided to up and hit the banks all at once.

If the banks were responsible for moving the three-month Libor rate by just 1/100th of a percentage point on that entire universe of $800 trillion in notional derivatives contracts, then that would be worth $20 billion, according to Tchir’s calculations.

Banks are probably not going to be on the hook for derivatives worth anything close to that $800 trillion. But if banks manipulated rates by more than that 1/100th of a point, or for more than 90 days — the term of three-month Libor — on even smaller notional derivative amounts, then the numbers can still get big in a hurry. And that doesn’t even include punitive damages. And it doesn’t include the estimated $10 trillion in mortgages and other loans tied to Libor, including $275 billion worth of U.S. mortgages, according to an estimate from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency referenced in the FT.

“That is the real exposure a bank caught ‘lying’ faces,” Tchir writes. “If the lie was big enough and for a long enough period and anyone entitled to receive payment based on LIBOR can make the claim, the potential damage to the bank is enormous.”

For more info, click on:

• http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-07-14/business/bs-bz-libor-suit-20120714_1_baltimore-suit-banking-watchdog-libor
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/baltimore-takes-lead-in-suit-against-banks-over-alleged-libor-manipulation/2012/07/11/gJQAN3V7dW_story.html?wprss=rss_business

Detroit’s “Gang of Four” plus one: (l to r) LR director Lamont Satchel, Police Chief Ralph Godbee, COO and city’s defacto mayor Chris Brown, CFO Jack Martin, and Program Mgt. Director Kriss Andrews, at Council table 7/16/12.

Detroit City Council “no” vote on imposed contract likely to0 late 

By Diane Bukowski 

July 18, 2012 

DETROIT – Despite Detroit City Council’s 5-4 “no” vote on a corporate-sponsored assault on city workers July 17, a union-busting “City Employment Terms”  (CET) contract will likely take effect in 30 days, under terms of the city’s Public Act 4 “consent agreement.”

Council President Charles Pugh said he was the deciding “No” vote on the CET. By the same reasoning his was the deciding “Yes” vote on the consent agreement, the poisonous tree from which all subsequent actions have fallen. The consent agreement clearly spelled out its union-busting intent.

Sheila Pennington, President AFSCME Local 1023, calls CET “wrong, low-down and dirty.”

Detroit’s new “Gang of Four,” Chief Operating Officer (COO) Chris Brown, Program Management Director Kriss Andrews, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jack Martin, and Labor Relations Director Lamont Satchel, along with Police Chief Ralph Godbee, presented the CET package to Council July 16. It includes even more severe cuts than those in a package sent to unions earlier.

“All the time, you are talking like the sky is falling and there are going to be payless paydays,” Sheila Pennington, President of AFSCME Local 1023, told the Gang of Four. “We went to the table with you, Chris and you, Chief Godbee, and negotiated a tentative agreement, but it didn’t see the light of day. You have torn apart and destroyed our contract without any input at all from us. We have NOT lost the right to collective bargaining. This is WRONG, DIRTY AND LOW DOWN.”

Pennington represents civilian workers at the Police Department.

Tyrone Travis of Free Detroit-No Consent, previously with Coalition to Stop Privatization and Save Our City, working-class activist since the 1960’s.

“According to the Charter, the Financial Stability [consent] agreement doesn’t exist.” Tyrone Travis, of Free Detroit-No Consent, said. “You are giving all the jobs in the city to the suburbs and private contractors. We will no longer agree to proposals you put on the ballot. Say NO to the DIA! Put any funds owed to the state in escrow!”

The CET  includes a 10 percent wage cut and other financial cuts, with more possible in the future, an assault on the city’s pension plans and retirees, including elimination of dental and vision care after Jan. 1, 2013, a 20 percent annual premium co-pay on health care, elimination of seniority rights in promotions and transfers, work rule changes at the city’s whim, and cuts in union representation rights, to cite a few.

(See chart and link to 7/16/12 CET package at end of article.)

Detroit PMD Kriss Andrews (r) glares at camera as COO Chris Brown (l) discusses proposed CET with Atty.Michael McGee, a co-author of PA4, before FAB meeting June 28, 2012.

The plan allegedly will save the city $102 million in labor costs.  The city’s PA4 Financial Advisory Board (FAB) vetted and approved it earlier in three closed sessions with State Treasurer Andy Dillon, Brown, Andrews, and Satchel also present. Under the consent agreement, the FAB can impose the contract regardless of the Council’s vote.

A coalition of city unions earlier bargained a contract that would have saved the city $180.2 million, according to its chief negotiator Ed McNeil, but Gov. Rick Snyder and State Treasurer Andy Dillon would not agree to let the Council finalize it.

This was the first time city workers and union officials even saw the current plan.

Al Garrett, Pres. AFSCME Council 25 (in red shirt), with COO Chris Brown (l, looking bored), chief negotiator Ed Mcneil at Garrett’s right, Richard Mack at far right, during Council meeting July 16, 2012.

“I’m amazed at what you don’t know,” Al Garret, President of AFSCME Council 25, stood to say. “The consent agreement says if there is a collective bargaining agreement and they bring it to you, you can put it in place. There AIN’T no collective bargaining agreement. This has gone too damn far. At some point, you are going to have to stand up. Don’t vote for this, let them impose it.”

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson at table July 16, 2012, says city needs to re-negotiate debt to banks.

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said the City Charter requires collective bargaining, and that the consent agreement does not pre-empt that obligation under three sections of the Public Employee Relations Act (PERA) not barred by Public Act 4.

“Folks are acting like Michigan has a right-to-work [anti-union] law in effect,” Watson said. “It does not. Detroit is the home of organized labor. This package throws all respect for the legacy of the unions out the window.”

She also brought up the possibility of a moratorium on the city’s debt.

Linda Willis at demonstration calling for a moratorium on Detroit debt to the banks, held May 9, 2012 in downtown Detroit.

“Why was there no effort to re-negotiate the city’s huge debt load to Wall Street bondholders who got bailed out by the taxpayers to the tune of trillions of dollars?” she asked. “You want to get tough with the working class, but you won’t confront Wall Street.  Power concedes nothing without a demand.”

The city paid $597 million to the banks in the 2011-12 fiscal year, and carries a total debt load of $12.6 billion.

Watson added that Gov. Rick Snyder should restore residency requirements for city workers to increase the city’s revenue base. She asked why the Law Department, headed by Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon, had not been consulted on the package since it must approve all contracts.

City officials admitted that the law firms of Butzel Long, Miller Canfield, and Ernst & Young have been retained instead to advise on the contracts, at millions of dollars in expense to taypayers, let alone the costs for the salaries and staff of the CFO, the PMD, and the FAB.

Council members JoAnn Watson (l), Brenda Jones, (center) Kwame Kenyatta (r) consult after consent agreement vote April 4, 2012.

Council members Pugh, Gary Brown and Saunteel Jenkins contended that an emergency manager would have been worse.

“We’ve basically got 14 emergency managers in place already [referring to the FAB, the CFO, the PMD, Dillon and Snyder among others],” countered Councilwoman Brenda Jones. Unless we change things at the top, someone can give the city $1 billion and we would be in the same place. It is not the employees’ fault.”

Brown, a former DTE executive and international privatizer, said, “Things are not the same. It may not be fair, but it’s necessary. The market is not providing these services anymore.”

Detroit’s defacto first white mayor, COO Chris Brown, smirks at Council table July 16, 2012.

Neither Mayor Dave Bing nor Deputy Mayor Kirk Lewis were at the table. Brown, who led the administration’s presentation at the opposite end of the table from Council President Charles Pugh, appears to be the city’s first white mayor, de facto.

Andrews was most recently Chief Financial Officer at Energy Conversion Devices, which filed for bankruptcy in February.

Neither he nor Brown have had any prior experience dealing with the public sector. Under the consent agreement, Andrews has veto power.

“We are looking at the possibility of more reductions in force, significant reductions in overtime, and using selective furlough weeks,” he noted. “We are going to re-evaluate retiree health care coverage as a whole. We retained a third party actuary to deal with things in the most ‘humane’ way.”

Jack Martin, also former Highland Park schools EM, chewed out by Highland Park parents.

Martin was a member of the Detroit financial review team Snyder appointed and also Highland Park Schools EM. He previously served under U.S. President George W. Bush as CFO for the U.S. Department of Education, where he helped implement the pro-charter school No Child Left Behind Program. He is making $224,000 as the City’s CFO, also with veto power under the consent agreement.

“It’s Doomsday,” he said. “No matter what happens with Public Act 4, the bottom line is that we are running out of cash and we don’t want to file bankruptcy. We may have to shut down parts of the city. The only way we can survive and prosper is to take actions like this.”

Labor Relations Director Lamont Satchel (l) listens intently to COO Chris Brown at Council table July 16, 2012.

Martin did not produce any financial documents detailing evidence of projected cash flow shortages.

“The most significant part of this package is the management rights clause,” Satchel said. “Management reserves the right to make any changes as it deems necessary to act to achieve its desired goals. We will sit down with the unions to inform them of the changes if there is time.”

Satchel insisted that the Labor Relations Division and department heads were responsible, in “collaboration” with the FAB, for producing the meat of the CET.

Jan Winters, Snyder’s director of Office of State Employer.

However, Ed McNeil, chief assistant to AFSCME Council 25 President Al Garrett, said that State Treasurer Dillon told him that Jan Winters, head of the Office of the State Employer (as she was under former Gov. John Engler), oversaw the drafting of the package.

Satchel also repeatedly insisted that the “duty to bargain has been suspended” under PA4. However, Attorney Richard Mack, representing AFSCME, cited three clauses in PERA that were not suspended.

“In the next 30 days that the consent agreement gives you, have the Corporation Counsel look at specific sections of state labor law that say that the city still has to bargain with the unions,” Mack said. You made a mistake last time not getting her advice.”

Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon

Mack and AFSCME Council 25 have asked Crittendon to review the proposed CET and issue a legal opinion, in a letter sent July 16. He also gave Council a copy of the letter.

“With this letter, the Coalition of Detroit Unions formally asks you, Madam Corporation Counsel, to issue a legal opinion indicating that the City of Detroit may not impose employment terms on its unionized workforce, because of the city’s duty to bargain with the unions,” the seven-page letter begins. “This duty is found expressly in the City Charter . . . . If the leadership of the City refuses to comply with your opinion of an existing duty to bargain, we then ask that you seek ‘judicial action’ to require such bargaining. Charter 7.5-209.” (Click below for full copy of letter.)

Michael McGee advising Council on PA4 consent agreement April 4, 2012.

When it voted 5-4 for the consent agreement, which allowed the current scenario to take place, the Council instead listened to legal advice rendered by Attorney Michael McGee of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone. Council member Kwame Kenyatta exposed McGee as a co-author of the language in Public Act 4, a contention confirmed by McGee himself in an article for the Michigan Municipal Advisory Council newsletter.

SAAA Vice-President Greg Murray said, “This is tyranny, a way to pay the corporate interests first. When will Detroit’s greatest assets—its people and workers—be used? We didn’t vote for this consent agreement. Stop this subjugation! This 21^st century document amounts to indentured servitude, taking the city back to the 1800’s.”

EMS tech Joseph Barney (r), tells Council, “People are dying out here because we can’t get to them!”

Joseph Barney, an EMS technician and union representative with the Fire Department, said, “People are dying out here! EMS is killing them because we can’t get to them. There are no ambulances in southwest Detroit. We are 60 technicians below budget. This is not a collective bargaining agreement, it’s nothing but getting rid of the workers while you still have too many managers.”

Click on City CET Council Discussion Document 2012-07-16_1_5 to read entire package.

Click on AFSCME 25 letter to Krystal Crittendon to read entire letter.

Georgia prison hunger strikers facing death.

By: Deborah Dupre

July 16, 2012

Nine prisoners face death on a hunger strike for human rights that began June 11 at Georgia’s massive Diagnostic and Classification prison, where Troy Davis was murdered last year and where men are tortured in solitary confinement.

“It has been 33 days since these men have eaten. We must move swiftly or people are going to start dying,” writes Delma Jackson, wife of the inmate who leads the strike, Miguel Jackson.

Miguel Jackson, GA. prisoner beaten with hammers by guards, 12/31/10. Photo courtesy Final Call.

Miguel Jackson is the prisoner beaten with a hammer-like object in retaliation for his role in the December 2010 mass sit-down strike to raise awareness about slave labor and other atrocities at Georgia’s massive Diagnostic and Classification prison, what CBS Atlanta reported the inmates call “unreasonable and inhumane treatment by prison guards and officials.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, based on claims by the Georgia Department of Corrections, reported Tuesday that the strike is over:

“A hunger strike by 10 inmates at the Georgia Classification & Diagnostic Prison has ended, according to the Department of Corrections. The strike, which sparked a protest at the state capitol building Monday, lasted from June 10 to July 6. Corrections is also denying claims that it mistreated the striking prisoners.The hunger strike ended when inmates requested food from GDC officials,’ said Dabney Weems, a public relations official.”

Georgia prisoner in pool of blood on cell floor. Photo courtesy Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World

Families and an attorney for the prisoners, however, “insist that the nine hunger strikers remain resolved and continue to insist on administrative review of their status, adequate medical care, and access to mail and visitation privileges with their families and attorneys which have been arbitrarily denied them,” reports San Francisco Bay View News, based on the story by Bruce A. Dixon, managing editor at Black Agenda Report where this story first appeared.

Dixon is a member of the state committee of the Georgia Green Party and is heard on Black Agenda Radio Commentaries.

(Listen to Bruce Dixon’s commentary on the Georgia prison strike here.)

Georgia Classification and Diagnostic Prison, location of hunger strike. Troy Davis, who received world-wide support, was executed here.

Georgia’s Green Party called on Americans to fast for one day in solidarity with the prisoners, saying in a written statement:

“Eighteen months after Georgia Department of Corrections employees brutally suppressed a non-violent work stoppage led by inmates in as many as eleven of the state’s 34 prisons, it is believed that the “Hidden-37″ have been in solitary confinement ever since. The Georgia Green Party today called on Governor Deal to end the torture; and on Georgians to join hunger striking Georgia inmates in a one day solidarity fast.”

“Prison officials are surprised at the level of outside support the inmates enjoy despite a virtual news whiteout,” states Bruce Dixon, editor of The Black Agenda Report.

Georgia denies inmates hygiene and medical treatment for injuries inflicted 18 months ago

“Miguel and other inmates at Georgia Diagnostics have been denied access to proper hygiene [and] medical treatment for their numerous and severe injuries, many of which were inflicted 18 months ago,” wrote Delma Jackson in a Change.org petition.

Jackson’s family alleges that he was beaten by prison guards at Smith State Prison in December 2010, transferred in 2011 to the Georgia Classification & Diagnostic Prison where he has been kept in solitary confinement for the past 18 months.

Protest outside Detroit’s Mound Rd. prison on Dec. 14, 2010, to support striking Georgia prisoners, nine of whom are now on hunger strike facing death.

The Department of Corrections denied those allegations in a statement to the AJC.

“[The Georgia Bureau of Investigation] investigated the claim filed by inmate Miguel Jackson regarding the 2010 Smith State Prison incident and found no validity to the inmate’s complaint,” stated Dabney Weems, a public relations official.

According to the ACJ,the department also said Jackson has not been in solitary confinement.

Bruce Dixon, editor Black Agenda Report.

In a petition that citizens of faith and conscience are asked to sign, The Black Agenda Report states about solitary confinement torture:

“As the international community has examined the research, including over a century of scientific studies suggesting that prolonged solitary confinement leads to irreversable mental degradation, experts have found that use of segregation for period in excess of fifteen days constitutes torture and cannot be supported under existing international standards for human rights.”

Many of the men now on hunger strike were involved in a hunger strike launched in December 2010. Continue reading →

Maura Corrigan, Director of Michigan Department of Human Services.

By Diane Bukowski 

July 16, 2012 

DETROIT –Genessee County Circuit Court Judge Geoffrey Neithercut today threatened to hold Maura Corrigan, director of the state’s Department of Human Services, in contempt of court if the state does not process all outstanding re-applications for state public assistance by Aug. 10.

“These cases [were] not being processed in a timely manner in spite of DHS promises that they would be expedited, and families are suffering as a result,” said Jackie Doig, Senior Staff Attorney for the Center for Civil Justice (CCJ).  “DHS created a slow, cumbersome process for handling class members’ applications, with the end result that they still are not receiving assistance because of the unlawful policy.”

Attorney Jacqueline Doig, who won State Bar of Michigan’s Champion of Justice award.

The Saginaw-based CCJ filed the state lawsuit after U.S. District Court Judge Paul Borman said he could not rule on state issues in their original case, filed on behalf of thousands of families cut off beginning last November.

Another hearing is set for Aug. 20 in front of Neithercut, in the 7th Circuit Court in Flint,  to assess the state’s compliance.

Families were allowed to re-apply for Family Independence Assistance (FIP) after Neithercut earlier barred the state from cutting them off based on time limits counted from  prior to October 1, 2007.

That was the date former Governor Jennifer Granholm’s  2006 order cutting off lifetime assistance after four years went into effect.  In August, 2011, Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation re-affirming her order and adding tougher provisions.

Neithercut’s order was overturned July 3 by the Court of Appeals (COA), but the Center for Civil Justice said July 16 that it plans to appeal the case  to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Family waits for housing assistance at local non-profit agency.

Because the COA denied the state’s order for immediate effect, the CCJ said it will not go into effect until at least Aug. 8, and certain families can still re-apply in the interim. (See link to CCJ story at end of this article for more information.)

Last year, a Detroit mother of eight, “Cathy Smith,” told VOD that she feared her children would be forced into the life of abusive foster care she led from the age of 2 if her benefits remained cut-off. Smith has severe health problems including a back injury, diabetes, asthma, a kidney disorder, and carpal tunnel syndrome, which ended her ten-year career as a waitress.

“Two of my sons have graduated from high school and are working, so they can help us out,” she said. “I have two other children in high school, one in middle school, and two in elementary school. They have zero absences. They go to school every day, because I want to make sure that they have it better than I did.”

She said she fears the state’s Child Protective Services division will take the six children still at home if she loses her ability to provide a roof over their heads.

The state reported earlier that it currently has a large budget surplus, but is battling all attempts by poor families, as well as cities like Detroit to which it allegedly owes over $307 million, to benefit from that surplus.

Click on JUDGE ORDERS DHS TO PROCESS 100 PERCENT OF APPLICATIONS BY AUGUST 10, 2012 for further information from Center for Civil Justice. The CCJ website is at http://ccj-mi.org/. Its phone number is 800-724-7441.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Herbert Sanders, backed by some of dozens who packed the courtroom to support lawsuit against Detroit consent agreement, speaks to media after hearing July 13, 2012.

Next hearing Thurs. July 26; state high court to hear case against PA4 referendum Wed. July 25 

By Diane Bukowski 

July 15, 2012

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Amy Hathaway listens to arguments in earlier case against city filed by AFSCME. Atty. Herbert Sanders is at left. Hathaway is runnning for re-election this year.

DETROIT – Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Amy Hathaway ordered a two-week delay July 13 on an emergency hearing in a citizens’ lawsuit against the city’s PA4 consent agreement.  The request for a declaratory judgment in Rose Roots, Yolanda King and Yvonne Ross v. the City of Detroit, Mayor Dave Bing, and the City Council, is now to be heard Thurs. July 26 at 9 a.m.

She denied requests by the defendants to further delay or quash the suit, took under advisement a motion by attorneys for Mayor Dave Bing to bar the Corporation Counsel’s office from representing the City in the suit, and granted a state motion to intervene.

The lawsuit alleges that city officials did not have the right to enter into the April 4 “Fiscal Stability Agreement” with the state because the state owes the city over $307 million in revenue sharing payments, water and electric bills, and other debts.

Atty. Herbert Sanders, with plaintiff Yolanda King in back, speaks to media.

The allegations are the same made by Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon in her suit against the consent agreement, which targets the state of Michigan, Gov. Rick Snyder, and Treasurer Andy Dillon as defendants.

“We are asking the court to uphold the rights of the people with regard to the consent agreement,” attorney Herbert Sanders, who represents the plaintiffs, said. “The plaintiffs are saying city officials had no authority to enter into it in the first place. The State has no affidavits or other proof saying they don’t owe the debt involved, but we have affidavits and city records kept in the normal course of business. The state is in default to us.”

Sanders called the delay “unfortunate.”

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing are “joined at the hip,” according to an earlier comment from Bing.

“The Mayor and state attorneys used the same tactics being used to challenge the peoples’ right to vote on the referendum to repeal Public Act 4. But we will continue to fight this battle in the courts and on the streets.”

Earlier, on July 11, over 400 opponents of Public Act 4 once again occupied Cadillac Place, the state’s office building in Detroit, demanding that the State Court of Appeals get Stand Up for Democracy’s  referendum on the ballot in time for the November election.

In contrast, the state’s Supreme Court moved swiftly to set a hearing on an application for leave to appeal by Citizens  for Fiscal Responsibility. The group, which filed the initial challenge to the referendum, is asking that the high court strike down the appeals court ruling that the referendum is valid. That hearing is to take place Wed. July 25, at 10 a.m.

Hundreds occupy Cadillac Place June 28, demanding “Let the People Vote Now!”

“Each side will have 30 minutes for oral argument,” the Supreme Court said in its order. “At oral argument, the parties shall address: (1) whether plaintiff actually complied with the 14-point type requirement in MCL 168.482(2), specifically given the terms “point” and “type;” and (2) if not, whether substantial compliance with the 14-point type requirement in § 482(2) is sufficient to give plaintiff a clear legal right to certification of the petition.”

The same Supreme Court has yet to hear arguments in a lawsuit filed on behalf of plaintiffs around the state in 2011 asking that Public Act 4 be declared unconstitutional and struck from the books.

Plaintiffs Yvonne Ross (l) and Yolanda King speak to media July 13, 2012.

“My parents fought for civil rights in the South,” Yolanda King, a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the city, said July 13 after the hearing. “But now we are going back to the days where we had no right to vote. The money the state owes us would get the city out of the red. We are facing hundreds of lay-offs, the closing of recreation centers, the health department and other vital services.  We don’t have the right leaders. There is no way they should have entered into an agreement giving away our power, our jewels and our right to vote.”

Co-plaintiff Yvonne Ross said, “We have expressed our displeasure beginning with the formation of the financial review team. We feel everybody including the state of Michigan ought to follow the rules. It is illegal to contract with an entity in default to the city.”

King and Ross are both city workers and taxpayers. The third plaintiff, Rose Roots, is a city retiree.

Attorney Michael McGee, representing Mayor Bing, rushes past VOD trying to avoid being photographed after court hearing July 13, 2012.

Mayor Dave Bing, the City Council and the state sent a battery of attorneys to the courtroom to fight to maintain the consent agreement, which guts city officials’ authority over everything. It has now led to the union-busting unilateral “City Employment Terms” contract being presented to the City Council July 13 by the Financial Advisory Board.

Bing’s attorneys from the law firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, including Michael McGee, a co-author of Public Act 4, asked that the office of the Corporation Counsel be barred from representing the city during the proceedings.

McGee has been omnipresent, appearing at City Council to tout the consent agreement, at Financial Advisory Board meetings, and in Ingham County Circuit Court during a hearing on Crittendon’s lawsuit. Asked to comment, he rushed past VOD trying to avoid having his photo taken.

Lawsuit supporters discuss hearing afterwards.Tyrone Travis, a member of Free Detroit, No Consent, at center, is suing City Council President Charles Pugh for ousting him from City Council meeting in violation of Open Meetings Act.

“It’s a good question where the money to pay Miller Canfield is coming from,” Sanders said. “We are not aware that the Corporation Counsel hired anybody. “From my understanding, Attorney McGee helped draft Public Act 4 and was also involved in the drafting of the consent agreement. It is ironic that they are now representing the Mayor, giving at least an appearance of impropriety.”

Under the current City Charter, the Corporation Counsel must approve any outside counsel hired to represent the city.

Assistant Corporation Counsel James Noseda on behalf of City of Detroit arguing against consent agreement in front of Ingham County Circuit Court Judge WIlliam Collette June 13, 2012.

Assistant Corporation Counsel James Noseda, present to defend the City of Detroit, admitted that the plaintiffs’ grounds are identical to the grounds cited in Corporation Counsel Crittendon’s lawsuit, but said his office is still entitled under terms of the Charter to represent its clients, which include the City of Detroit as a whole, and the Mayor and City Council as requested.

Hathaway said she would rule later on whether the Corporation Counsel’s office can represent the city at the hearings.

She granted a motion by the State of Michigan to intervene in the case.

“I objected to the state intervening,” Sanders said. “In Corporation Counsel’s lawsuit, the state argued that they could not be sued because they have sovereign immunity, trying to get out of the suit. But now they are arguing that they want to be in this case.”

Judge William Collette at hearing June 13, 2012.

Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette summarily dismissed both Crittendon’s suit and her motion for reconsideration, the last on July 12. She has 21 days to file an appeal from the Court of Claims to the state’s Court of Appeals. Crittendon met in closed session with the City Council and its Research and Analysis Division July 11 to discuss the appeal.

“Take it to the bank, she must and will appeal as is required by our city’s charter,” former Mayoral candidate Tom Barrow commented. “The Judge is simply wrong and she knows it. She gave him a chance to correct his obvious mistake and he refused. She is correct to follow the law to its ultimate conclusion and that means an appeal.”

Tom Barrow (l) is backed by dozens of supporters during Wayne County Board of Canvassers hearing in which he challenged validity of 2010 mayoral election.

Barrow said he has appealed his challenge to the 2009 Mayoral election to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Wayne County Board of Canvassers declared over 51 percent of the ballots cast in that election “unrecountable” due to gross irregularities.

Major media outlets continue to blame Crittendon’s suit as well as other “legal proceedings” for Wall Street bond ratings agencies continued downgrading of Detroit’s status. However, it is the bond ratings agencies themselves who are attacking Detroit to get the last drop of blood out of the city. The banks who pay them got $597 million in payments on the city’s debt in the 2011-12 fiscal years.

The city’s budget for 2012-13 sets aside $106,911,659 for a 2009 POC Swap Hedge Fund payment, aside from the remainder of outstanding debt. That payment results from an agreement the city entered into to avoid defaulting on a $1.5 billion Pension Obligation Certificates loan in 2005, under former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

That loan was foisted on the city by representatives of Standard and Poor’s and Fitch Ratings, who came to the City Council table and threatened the city with bond downgrades if they didn’t agree to the deal.

Instead of making the workers and residents of Detroit pay for Wall Street’s greed, many in the city are demanding a moratorium on Detroit’s debt to the banks.

To read lawsuit, click on Root v Bing – 1st Amend Complaint.

Stephen Murphy of Standard and Poor’s and Joe O’Keefe of Fitfch Ratings at City Council in 2005 foisting $1.5 billion pension obligation bond on city.

Detroit’s “Financial Advisory Board” in its meeting June 28, 2012. Its main agenda item was a closed session to discuss “upcoming contract” issues. Also present in the closed session were State Treasurer Andy Dillon, PA4 co-author Attorney Michael McGee, and Detroit COO Chris Brown.

CITY COUNCIL TO DISCUSS ‘CET’ MON. JULY 16, 1:30 pm

By Diane Bukowski 

July 15, 2012 

DETROIT – This past week, the daily media declared that the city’s Financial Advisory Board (FAB) set up under its PA4 consent agreement had “agreed” to Mayor Dave Bing’s imposed set of “City Employment Terms” (CET). The CET involves drastic cuts in services, as well as wages, benefits and terms of employment for workers and retirees, and a complete abrogation of union contracts.

City Council is to discuss this “CET” Mon. July 16, 2012 at 1:30 p.m., with public comment to follow.

It is a complete falsehood that Mayor Bing presented this CET to the FAB. From its first meeting, held after the City Council approved the final two members of the FAB, this virtual cabal has met three times primarily to draft the document.

It, not the City Council, the Mayor, or the unions has the absolute power under the consent agreement to dictate and approve this CET, which then is subject to final approval by State Treasurer Andy Dillon and Gov. Rick Snyder.

The FAB is dominated entirely by banking and corporate interests. (See sidebar). State Treasurer Andy Dillon, PA4 co-author attorney Michael McGee, of the law firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, Detroit Chief Operating Officer Chris Brown, and Labor Relations Director Lamont Satchel were all present at the FAB’s second meeting. Along with their staff, they went into the closed session on the CET and never came back out.

“These lawless people are on a fast track to dismantle the entire City of Detroit,” Cecily McClellan, vice-president of the Association of Professional and Technical Employees (APTE), said. “The terms of the CET are brutal, particularly for retirees.”

Cecily McClellan participates in first Benton Harbor protest against PA4.

Yvonne Ross is a city employee and taxpayer who is a co-litigant in a civil lawsuit against the consent agreement.

After a hearing on the suit July 13 (see story below), she said “We are facing huge lay-offs, the closing of our recreation centers, the health department and other vital services. The state needs to give us the money they owe us so this doesn’t have to happen. Detroit is a jewel, a money-maker. That’s why they want it.”

Ross, Rose Roots and Yolanda King sued the city, Bing, and the City Council for approving the consent agreement while the state is in default to the city for over $307 million as determined by Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon.

Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon

The so-called CET is headed by the hypocritical term “Agreement.” There was no agreement by city residents or workers to the Financial Stability [consent] Agreement, and there has certainly been no “agreement” by city workers or their union leaders to the CET. (Link to CET at end of article.)

“Any provisions in the most recently expired Collective Bargaining Agreements . . . .that are not expressly referenced in this CET or any addendum and are inconsistent with the terms of this CET or any addendum are null and void as of the effective date of this CET,” the document begins.

It does not acknowledge the decades-long provisions and protection that Civil Service laws provide.

While following the familiar pattern and language of previous contracts, the CET actually guts them.

AFSCME and Coalition of Black Trade Unionists members demonstrate at CAYMC May 27, 2010.

It declares that all city workers will be subject to an immediate 10 percent pay cut, and eliminates furlough days. It wipes out annual longevity payments and merit and step increases in pay, a long-time part of city employment terms under Civil Service.

It says workers will still contribute five percent of their annual pay to a retirement plan, but then astonishingly states that the workers’ contributions will be considered the CITY’s contributions, eliminating the city’s obligation to pay separately into the fund.

It eliminates the 35-hour work week.  It doesn’t guarantee a lunch hour, only two 15-minute breaks. It sets up a two tier system for workers hired after Sept. 28, 2010, cutting their available sick and vacation time.

Dave Bing with Blue Cross Blue Shield officials; photo is from city’s website.

The CET emphasizes the role of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Caremark plan, although workers are allowed to opt for other plans. They will be forced to pay 20 percent of the premium cost for all plans, and doctor visit and prescription fees will also increase.

This is especially galling to the coalition of city unions who presented a proposal to City Council Dec. 1, 2011 which cited among other savings the amount the city could save by cutting the use of Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Protest outside BCBS building in North Dakota.

“The city could achieve agreements with the major Detroit-based hospital chains to offer the option of employees signing up to have their medical care performed by the doctors at that hospital chain,” the union proposal said.

“ . . .the rate will likely be cheaper to the City and its employees than the rate charged by Blue Cross Blue Shield. The administrative fees and stop loss fees that the City paid to BCBS, during the 2009-10 contract year, were estimated at more than $14 million. . . For the last six months, the Administration has promised to seek bids from other health insurance companies, to see if the rates received from Blue Cross Blue Shield are competitive. This bid request has not been sent out, and therefore BCBSM continues to maintain its virtual monopoly.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Memphis to support striking AFSCME sanitation workers and was assassinated there shortly after he marched with them in 1968.

Coverage for sponsored dependents of city workers and retirees is cut, as is coverage for the spouses of retirees if they marry after retirement.

But for workers hired after Sept. 28, 2010, all hospital/medical and prescription benefits shall cease for retirees and their dependents after the retiree turns 65. Prescription drugs for “health habits, reproductive (fertility) and lifestyle prescription drugs except for smoking cessation and weight loss” will not be covered.

In the CET, the city reserves the absolute right to change all terms of the contract without consent of the unions. Ironically, the CET bars strikes although at the same time the consent agreement says city workers will no longer be covered under the Public Employee Relations Act, which while providing some protections for workers, has been the chief mechanism to bar strikes.

It says the city will have the absolute right to contract out and eliminate services and departments.

It says, “This CET, nor any other terms and conditions of City employment regardless of sources shall not be binding upon the successors and assignees of the Employer by the consolidation, merger, sale, transfer, lease or assignment of the Employer in any respect whatsoever by a change of any kind of the ownership of management of either party hereto of any separable, independent segment of any party hereto.”

It thus eliminates in one fell swoop the time-honored “successor clause” from all union contracts.

Despite the fact that the city has more than 40 unions, each with their own contract, and some with supplemental agreements, the CET purports to be the sole “contract” for all city workers.

The response of city unions and their workers to this outright union-busting document remains to be seen.

Click on City Employment Terms to read entire document.

Marchers support Jennifer Britt, protest Fannie Mae and Flagstar Bank outside Detroit federal McNamara Building July 9, 2012.

By Diane Bukowski 

July 11, 2012 

Jennifer Britt at her family’s home in Detroit.

DETROIT – Over one hundred marchers targeted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in front of the McNamara Federal Building in downtown Detroit July 9, on behalf of Jennifer Britt and thousands of others who are facing evictions by the two agencies. The agencies, now controlled by the federal government, now own or guarantee over 70 percent of all mortgages in the country.

Protesters chanted, “Hey, hey Fannie Mae, how many families did you evict today?”

Attorney Jerome Goldberg of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition against Foreclosures, Evictions and Shut-offs, who represents many clients facing foreclosure, explained the situation.

Attorney Jerry Goldberg explains how most evictions now carried out through taxpayer dollars by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were fully taken over by the federal government in 2008, under the Federal Housing Finance Agency,” Goldberg said. “They bought up more than $5 trillion in toxic mortgage loans for their full value. When you go to to 36^th District Court, you see that the majority of evictions taking place are being done by these agencies. But they are hiding the fact that the banks have ultimate control. This is an outrageous policy of bailing out the banks and evicting people. We are calling on President Barack Obama to issue an executive order halting all foreclosures.”

According to Detroit Eviction Defense, federal agencies now own or guarantee more than 70 percent of all single-family mortgages, in the wake of the housing collapse. Fannie Mae by itself has cost taxpayers over $116 billion for its mortgage bail-outs.

Jennifer Britt thanks protesters as Jerome Jackson (in yellow shirt) who is also facing eviction, listens.

Jennifer Britt lives with her 78-year-old mentally ill uncle, her 74-year-old mother, and her 19-year-old daughter in home in the Rosedale Park neighborhood.

“I would like Fannie Mae to reconsider the offer they made on my home,” Britt told VOD. “They need to let it go for the appraised value, not hold me to a mortgage they told me wasn’t even mine.”

Flagstar Bank first foreclosed on Britt when her husband, a member of UAW Local 600, died in 2006. She paid $26,000 from his life insurance to forestall eviction. Flagstar refused to put the mortgage in her name and negotiate a loan modification.  Then it raised monthly payments on the home from $1,550 to $1,975 by the time Britt lost her own job in 2008.

Apostle Linda (r) campaigns for Jennifer Britt and family.

Fannie Mae told the non-profit agency Southwest Solutions, which offered to buy the home on Britt’s behalf for its appraised value, that it would accept nothing less than the $121,000 full value of the mortgage.

“The average sale price for foreclosed homes in Detroit is $11,300,” says Detroit Eviction Defense in their flier. “Fannie Mae will never be able to sell Jennifer’s home for ten times that amount, meaning taxpayers will receive nothing and the house will go empty—with all the negative consequences that such blight brings for neighbors and homeowners.”

Britt and a representative tried to gain access to the McNamara Building to meet with Fannie Mae representatives, but were stopped immediately by guards on the first floor.

Jennifer Britt (center) and representative (r) are interviewed on TV.

Apostle Linda, of a group which has been advocating for Britt, said the actions of Flagstar and Fannie Mae in Britt’s case are unconscionable.

“Jennifer Britt and I sat down and figured out that her family has paid $118,000 over the course of the years on her home,” Apostle Linda said. “Every day when she’s at work, she doesn’t know if she’ll be getting a phone call that another elder in her family is dead because of the stress of this situation.”

Detroit Eviction Defense is conducting daily vigils at Britt’s home, located at 15701 Warwick at Midland, south of Grand River, anticipating that they may have to protect her from eviction any day. They are also conducting a call in and email campaign demanding that Fannie Mae accept the actual value of the home. For more information see below.

Contact numbers for the call-in campaign are:

Fannie Mae Chicago Office:                       312-368-6200

Fannie Mae Mortgage Help Center:        866-442-8572

Email: Chicago_mhc@fanniemae.com

 They are asking supporters also to call the offices of the following U.S. Congresspeople on Britt’s behalf: 

Senator Debbie Stabenow                        313-961-4330

Senator Carl Levin                                      313-226-6020

Congressman John Conyers                     313-961-5670

Congressman Hansen Clarke                    313-962-7700

Congressman Gary Peters                         247-273-4227

Congressman John Dingell                       313-278-2936

For more information, email DetroitEvictionDefense@gmail.com or go to the People Before Banks website at http://peoplebeforebanks.org/.