Florida’s drug testing program was ruled unconstiutional by a Federal judge. Gov. Rick Scott’s wife owns a chain of clinics doing the testing. A similar pilot program in Michigan in 2003 was tossed out by the Michigan Supreme Court.
State Rep. Jeff Farrington (R-Utica), House assistant majority floor leader
(VOD: Michigan Rep. Jeff Farrington (R-Utica), house assistant majority floor leader, introduced H.B. 5223 in Dec. 2011, which would require that all recipients of public assistance be drug tested and denied benefits if the tests are positive. (Click on Welfare drug testing 2011-HIB-5223[1]) The Department of Human Services has now drafted a proposal for such testing.
Individual hearings on the cut-offs of thousands of families from assistance are continuing. According to advocates from Michigan Legal Services, administrative law judges are ruling against the recipients.
The Senate Fiscal Analysis division just released a report predicting that the state will have a budget SURPLUS this year of almost $1 BILLION. It is time for the state’s unions, churches, community groups and others to unite in support of these victims of corporate greed, which has eliminated hundreds of thousands of jobs in Michigan.
Below is a column by a University of Houston doctoral candidate.
State House during vote to cut off public assistance; WHY NOT TEST LEGISLATORS FOR DRUGS?
Under the guise of ensuring prudent government spending and personal accountability, state Legislatures across the country are proposing that mandatory drug testing be a condition for receiving welfare assistance. Everything from food stamps to unemployment benefits would be awarded only after screening for illicit drug use, and supporters are championing this measure as a sensible means of preventing the waste of tax-payers’ dollars on “junkies” and “addicts.”
Whatever the intent, such drug testing policies violate the constitutional rights of those who are already facing financial hardship and simply will not stand up against legal challenge.
Courts have ruled that drug testing constitutes an unreasaonable search; here a technician tests urine taken under mandate.
In previous cases, the US Supreme Court has ruled that drug testing constitutes a form of search, and when carried out by a government agency, falls under the regulation of the fourth amendment. As a result, the prerequisite of probable cause must exist prior to conducting a drug test. Such conditions must be met on a case by case basis, and the blanket approach of screening all welfare applicants is overly presumptive.
In essence, states are taking the position that all welfare applicants are suspected drug users and are subject to being searched. There is no reasonable basis for such suspicion, hence the conviction that this form of obligatory drug testing is illegal. Continue reading →
By Greg Thrasher, VOD Washington Bureau contributing editor
January 5, 2011
One of the things about living in the DC region that reminds me of living in Detroit is quite often the similar themes of inequity are always present. It is a constant of life in America regardless of one’s domicile. The specter of inequality is always present in every aspect of life for people of color. Recently the discussion about failed educational outcomes of DC students was always depicted as the sole failure of unprepared Black students who lacked the basic intellectual skill set to achieve. This ugly theme is whispered often and it is water cooler and chatter class discourse whenever Black folks are not present .
Media accounts documenting the disproportionate rates of suspensions between Black and white students in the DC Region school districts of course are not a newsflash to many people, including Black parents. The contempt for Black students is similar to what their parents encounter. The soft bigotry of low expectations shares the lesson plan with disparate rates of expulsion and suspensions for Black students. The landscape of academic success in our nation for Black students is full of obstacles; navigation is
perilous in all levels of education from kindergarten to the university venue for Black students.
Students in DC classroom
The more important issue now is how can Black families and their students navigate around these inequities and obstacles. Black parents must develop their own lesson guide to disarm educational officials, teachers and even students who discount the educational goals of Black students. We must embrace our own self worth, recognizing that we are worthy of respect and our offspring deserve superior educational efforts and outcomes. Black parents must develop strategies that equip them to combat , reject and influence educational systems that have contempt for our offspring.
Instead of lamenting the horrors of a destructive pathological educational system that has contempt for Black students, now is the time to develop our own lesson plans that produce motivated students who can themselves defeat the waves of contempt for them that exist in our classrooms across the DC region and our nation.
Brandon Jessup, leader of Michigan Forward and campaign to Repeal Public Act 4
On December 22, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rainbow PUSH and allies met at Bethany Baptist Church in Detroit for a community meeting and later press conference regarding Public Act 4. These allies included Michigan members of the Occupy Movement, faith and community leaders.
What’s been swirling around the local conservative talk crowd is “civil disobedience” and what that means in regards to the campaign against dictatorship in Michigan. The term itself leans towards some type of abnormal behavior normally frowned upon by mainstream society.
Yet, what’s abnormal about demanding my right to vote and defending not those who were elected to office, but in essence the office itself. I guess that’s the problem: the Repeal effort isn’t an attack on any one elected official so it’s not personal, this is business. Petitions, laws, legislation, recall, election and voting are the tools of our government and how we govern ourselves. This campaign engages and uses democracy to fight this odious and unconstitutional law. This state-wide movement is touching every corner of Michigan. For the record, civil disobedience began when the Michigan Legislature passed and Governor Snyder signed into law Public Act 4, March 26, 2011.
Young woman rallies against Snyder in Benton Harbor earlier this year
Over 163,000 voters in Michigan see our petition as an effort to see Democracy work again. Some signers have said to me, “I didn’t know Gov. Snyder would do this.” I understand what they mean, so I won’t draw opinions from that statement. Michigan’s Dictator Law is a reflection of the ultra conservative stand the Michigan Legislature, Attorney General, Secretary of State and Governor have taken against the majority of Michigan voters.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has pursued a state lawsuit against the Affordable Health Care Act. President Obama’s efforts to reform health care were met with a ferocity that many think crossed the line between politics and personal. Tea Party members threatened the lives of members of Congress, hurled racial, homophobic and other derogatory slurs like beads at Mardi Gras towards our national leadership. This activity was supported with 20 states filing lawsuits against the constitutionality of health care reform, another example of civil disobedience. Continue reading →
Huge rally lays plans to repeal Emergency Manager act
January 3, 2012
By Diane Bukowski
DETROIT – Over 2500 Detroiters packed a local church Jan. 2 to stop a complete state takeover of their city. Under Public Act 4, enacted last year, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and State Treasurer Andy Dillon are rapidly moving to appoint an “emergency manager” (EM) to run the city, disenfranchising the residents of the world’s largest majority-Black city outside of Africa.
US Congressman John Conyers addresses rally against PA 4 January 2, with Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, a co-convenor, at his left; Council members Kwame Kenyatta and Brenda Jones are at far right
The EM would have the unilateral power to strip the city of all its assets, including its water and sewerage department, the third largest in the country, remove elected officials, abrogate union contracts, take over its pension funds, worth $6 billion, and even dis-incorporate the city.
Wall Street’s Fitch Ratings agency has said that an EM takeover will cause the banks to call in $400 million of outstanding city bonds immediately, one-third of the city’s budget. Detroit is paying $579 million on its debt to the banks in the current fiscal year.
“It is our understanding if you choose to appoint an Emergency Manager to oversee Detroit, that would mean that approximately 50 percent of all the African American citizens in the State would be living under the authority of unelected managers,” U.S. Congressman John Conyers (D-Detroit) and 65 elected officials wrote Snyder on Dec. 15.
Part of mass audience rallies against PA 4 in Detroit January 2
They received no response. Instead, Snyder has now moved to the second step of the takeover procedure, the appointment of a 10-member formal review team to conduct a 60-day study of the city’s finances, which he can cut short at any time to declare a takeover.
Rev. Edward Pinkney, leader of Black Autonomy Network Community Organization (BANCO), in Benton Harbor, denounces effects of PA 4 on his majority Black city, its first victim. Photo by Dale Rich
Snyder and Dillon have focused their PA4 takeovers almost exclusively on the state’s majority-Black cities, including Benton Harbor, Flint, Inkster, Pontiac and the public school systems of Detroit, Highland Park, and Inkster.
Conyers also wrote U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Dec. 2 asking him to take action against the takeovers under the nation’s Voting Rights Act.
“It just so happens that I have a closer relationship with the 44th President of the United States and his Attorney General, Eric Holder, than I have ever had with anybody in the Washington White House,” Conyers said at the rally. To date, however, Holder has announced no action, despite the Justice Department’s investigations of current voting practices in other cities. An inquiry to his office had not been answered by press time.
Conyers, Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, and the Moratorium NOW! Coalition were among the chief conveners of the rally, held at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church on the city’s central west side.
PA 4 referendum organizer Brandon Jessup explains how to get valid petition signatures at rally January 2
Brandon Jessup, leader of Michigan Forward, which initiated a referendum petition drive to overturn PA 4, called on Detroiters at the rally to collect 100,000 petition signatures in the next two weeks. Michigan Forward, in coalition with unions and community groups, has collected 170,000 signatures state-wide since the petition drive was launched last June. At least 161,000 valid signatures are needed.
Al Garrett, president of Michigan AFSCME Council 25, said his union and Michigan Forward plan to take the petitions to the State Board of Canvassers Jan. 18. If the signatures are certified, the state constitution requires the act be frozen until a popular vote in November of this year.
Council 25 President Al Garrett
“We plan to hit the streets, and knock on doors,” Garrett said. The audience responded with a resounding “Yes” and a standing ovation when he asked if they were ready to lead the charge. Jessup said they are focusing on the next three Saturdays to “take it to the streets” with the petition drive, and gave detailed instructions to the audience on how to collect valid signatures. (See details at end of story.)
The state says it wants the Detroit takeover because the city is under “severe financial stress,” with an expected deficit of $155 million this year. In his recommendation for a formal review, Treasurer Dillon also cited the $579 million paid out on the city’s debt this year, and said the city’s total debt load is approaching $12 billion.
However, the state has announced it expects to end its fiscal year with a budget surplus of up to $1 billion, at least $242 million in the general fund, and $645 million in the state school aid fund. The surplus has resulted largely from slashing revenue-sharing funds to municipalities and aid to the schools, and cutting tens of thousands of Michigan residents off public assistance.
Maureen Taylor, president of Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, addresses rally against PA 4 Jan. 2
“This state government is aimed at destroying the lives of women and children,” said Maureen Taylor, President of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization.
Helen Moore of the Keep the Vote No Takeover coalition noted that two state takeovers of the city’s public schools have resulted in the fact that 66,000 Detroit students now attend charter schools. Close to ninety-percent of state per-pupil aid to Detroit goes to pay off the district’s debt to the banks, largely incurred during the takeovers.
State officials have said they want to use the state surplus to pay off the state’s own debt, estimated at $76.6 billion, according to the U.S. Debt Clock.
Attorney Jerome Goldberg, with attorney Vanessa Fluker to his right, both of Moratorium NOW! calls for a moratorium on debt to the banks. Photo by Dale Rich
But Councilwoman Watson and the entire City Council, the city’s Mayor Dave Bing, and the State Legislature’s Black Caucus have demanded that, at the very least, the state repay $220 million it owes to the city as a result of a revenue-sharing agreement with a previous governor.
Snyder has refused, saying it would be only a one-time solution. Continue reading →
I have what appears to be some good news from Libya. But first, some comments:
As you know, of course, it has been a while since I gave my “report” on Libya, and the reason should be obvious. It has been extremely difficult to get any truthful and accurate news out of Libya. During the eight months that I covered the Libyan struggle, the reports I was giving you were accurate, for the most part. One way that you can believe that is by the fact that NATO’s aggression took “infinitely” longer than NATO had thought and predicted. In fact, when every single residential dwelling in Sirte was being bombed by NATO, and the non-combatant citizens were being slaughtered, one NATO commander openly remarked, in the corporate news media, “I am astonished at their will to fight!”
And, as you can easily recall, NATO kept pushing its “victory date” back. At first they said it would be three days. Then they said three weeks. Then they said three months [I’m not sure what this “three” thing was all about]. They would take Brega, and the LDF would take it back. They would take Ras Lanuf, and the LDF would take it back. In time, NATO, at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, conducted a self-assessment of its Libya operations, and conclude that its prosecution of the war had been, “ineffective and pathetic.” You will recall the DEBKAfile report that I sent you on that.
Libyan green resistance
So, this should tell you that the “glowing” reports that I was sending you for most of those eight months was accurate: The LDF and the people of Libya, fighters by nature and history, had shocked NATO and the entire world by forcing the most powerful military alliance in human history to spend nine months in a tooth-and-nail fight. When NATO finally realized that it could not do it alone, it started recruiting Al-Qaeda fighters, European mercenaries, Afghani mercinaries, Qatar mercenaries, Paksitani mercenaries, and even mercenaries from Columbia, South America. Without all of that help, NATO would have failed.
Well, I cite the above as a prefix to the following short report. The only difference with this report is that I can’t be as certain as I was during those eight months, concerning the information that I’m receiving. Because as time progressed, NATO got total control of all communications, and that appears to be the case to this day. Nevertheless, I will give you a little summary of what I have received. And some of this might find support by one item that appeared in the New York Times today regarding Jalil, the so-call “head” of Libya. Well, he openly told reporters, from Benghazi, that he is NOT safe in Tripoli, the capital; that The Resistance has killed 4 key people. Well, the reports I’ve received show that there’s a lot going on that we aren’t hearing about in the corporate news media [as usual]. Libya lovers are hoping beyond hope that these reports are true.
I have to repeat: I cannot have the same confidence in these reports that I had during the eight months that I was receiving direct and indirect information from Libya, before NATO finally cut off all flow of information. But, since I’m not sure, I feel to present this information to you anyway. I’ll present it in bullet-point fashion, not in any chronological manner:
Green flag represents the Libyan socialist Jamahiriya
1. The Green Resistance has captured Ghaddams [a city ] near [the] Algerian border. And the Green Flag of the Libyan Jamahiriya is flying throughout the entire area. Continue reading →
Wall Street banks, responsible for the brutal housing crisis that has displaced an estimated 7 million American families from their homes, have still not been held accountable.1 After receiving a massive taxpayer bailout, these same banks continue to bend laws, influence politicians, and ignore regulations. Meanwhile, the public pays a heavy price for Wall Street’s corruption and greed — millions are out of work, face foreclosure, and feel the pain of ever-worsening economic conditions.
Now, the Obama Administration and Department of Justice have an opportunity to help make things right. Instead of pursuing a settlement deal that lets the banks off the hook2, they should commit to a full investigation into the actions of the big banks and the damage they’ve caused.
The housing crisis and the economic downturn it triggered has hit Black people and Latinos particularly hard. The mortgage industry targeted prospective home buyers with toxic loans and ballooning interest rates, and engaged in systemic predatory lending and mortgage fraud — including unlawful foreclosures, false documentation, and “robo-signing” of foreclosure documents.3 Wells Fargo was even sued for steering African Americans towards high-cost subprime loans when they qualified for better loans.4 Subprime and predatory lending, foreclosures, and plummeting home values have devastated Black wealth, which has fallen to its lowest level in 25 years.5 Continue reading →
SIX MORE CONNECTED TO SNYDER, ENGLER, BUSH, BUSINESSES
The 10 member PA 4 review team appointed by Snyder includes six African-Americans, likely an effort to counter allegations that the PA 4 move on Detroit is racially-motivated.
Critics including prominent Detroit, state and national elected officials contend a state takeover of Detroit would leave 50 percent of the state’s African-American population under the control of emergency managers, in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act.
The daily media has prominently displayed photos of the team’s Black members and downplayed the role of state staff. The Detroit Free Press ran a banner headline declaring, “State review team for Detroit is met with praise.” However, they have ignored the role many of its members have played in furthering the Snyder agenda.
Andy Dillon running unsuccessfully for governor in Democratic primary
ANDY DILLON, State treasurer.Dillon conducted emergency manager classes for more than 40 people after PA 4 was enacted. He has authorized the renewed takeovers of Benton Harbor, the Detroit Public Schools, Ecorse and Highland Park under PA4, as well as the new PA 4 takeovers of Flint, Inkster and Pontiac.
He is an attorney who was president of DSC (Detroit Steel Co.) Ltd. until 1999, according to state records. His company bought the closed McLouth Steel plant in Trenton in 1996 after an employee stock-ownership plan failed, leaving thousands jobless. DSC Ltd. never got the plant up and running. Current Wayne County Tax Records show the property owes $4, 219,201.19 in delinquent taxes. Although it has not paid for at least five years, it has never faced foreclosure.
McLouth Steel in ruins after Dillon company DSC, Ltd. failed to revive it
Dillon also worked as the managing director of Wynnchurch Capital, vice president of GE Capital and as a financial analyst at WR Grace.
Dillon, formerly Democratic Speaker of the House, went over to Snyder’s side after progressive candidate Virg Bernero, Mayor of Lansing, won the gubernatorial nomination. Bernero had advocated standing up to the state’s corporations and banks.
FREDERICK HEADEN has been director of the state Treasury’s local government services division since 1997. Headen has been appointed by Governors John Engler, Jennifer Granholm and now Rick Snyder to serve on at least 15 review teams. He has authorized the takeovers of Benton Harbor, Ecorse, Flint, Highland Park, Inkster, and Pontiac.He formerly was legal counsel to the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, which frequently advocates privatization of public services. Its board members represent AT&T, Blue Cross, BorgWarner, Citizens Bank, CMS Energy, Comerica Bank,Compuware, Deloitte LLP, Detroit Economic Club, Dickinson Wright PLLC, DTE Energy, Dykema Gossett PLLC, Ernst & Young LLP (being sued for helping Lehman Brothers cook its books before its collapse); Hennessey Capital LLC, Hudson-Webber Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Kelly Services, Inc., Manoogian Foundation, Meritor, Inc. Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, PLLC, PNC Financial Services, Rockbridge Growth Equity, LLC, W. E. Upjohn Institute and Wells Fargo Bank (recently implicated in laundering hundreds of millions in drug money.)
Brom Stibitz
BROM STIBITZ, senior policy adviser for the Treasury Department, was on the Flint review team with Headen and is on a current review team dealing with Highland Park Schools’ finances. He was formerly legislative director for Dillon.. He chairs the Finance and Claims Committee under Dillon, which on Dec. 13 recommended approval of the state’s Recovery Act Funds agenda. Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson has said the state has failed to transfer those federal funds to local municipalities, but used them to plug holes in its own budget. Continue reading →
While Michigan criticizes Detroit for its debt, it is racking up its own with Citigroup
December 28, 2011 Bloomberg News
By Chris Christoff
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) — Michigan, whose joblessness led the nation during 2006-09, will issue $3.3 billion of variable-rate bonds — its largest-ever sale, according to treasury officials — to repay federal unemployment-benefit loans.
The two-year bonds underwritten by a unit of Citigroup Inc. were selling at a yield of 0.24 percent, said Tom Saxton, deputy state treasurer. That compares with estimated 3 percent interest on federal loans next year, Saxton said. Repaying the U.S. government by Dec. 31 will save as much as $100 million in interest and avoid federal penalties, he said.
“This is a good deal for the employer community,” he said.
The sale through the Michigan Finance Authority closes today. The state joins Texas and Idaho in tapping debt markets to repay unemployment loans after the 18-month recession that ended in June 2009. Michigan’s 9.8 percent jobless rate in November marked the first time in two years it’s been below 10 percent. The national rate for November was 8.6 percent.
Twenty-seven states and the Virgin Islands owed the federal unemployment trust fund a combined $39.3 billion as of Dec. 22, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. California owes the most, $9.7 billion, followed by New York and Michigan.
Michigan chose variable-rate bonds to take advantage of historically low short-term interest rates, Saxton said. He said that will give the state flexibility to convert the borrowing to long-term financing in 2012.
Two-year debt with a AAA rating yields 0.41 percent, compared with the average 2.82 percent since 1992, according to Bloomberg Fair Market data. Continue reading →
Councilwoman JoAnn Watson at Council meeting Sept. 13, 2011
By Diane Bukowski
December 23, 2011
Detroit—“A consent agreement consents to the takeaway, the giveaway of Detroit,” City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said during a public hearing Dec. 1. “It has a trigger that says if you don’t pay your bills on time, or numerous other situations, you end up on a slippery slope to an emergency manager (EM) within seconds. There is nothing to be gained from giving away our city, we don’t have that right.”
Loud applause greeted her remarks, made in response to City Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown’s advocacy of such an agreement.
“A consent agreement gives you tools so you can address the problem without an emergency manager,” Brown said during the hearing. “It maintains the democratic process because City Council and the mayor would still be making the decisions.”
Gary Brown at Council meeting Sept. 13, 2011
He alleged that the Mayor and Council would have the powers of an EM, including breaking union contracts. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and the city’s dailies have taken the same position.
Brown was the sole Council member not to sign a Dec. 15 letter to Gov. Rick Snyder authored by U.S. Congressmen John Conyers, Hansen Clarke, and Gary Peters and signed by 63 local and state elected officials. The letter requested a meeting with Snyder before further action under PA 4 was taken.
Snyder cavalierly ignored the request. He has now moved to the second step of a PA 4 takeover, appointing a team to conduct a 60-day review of Detroit’s finances, which may take less time if Snyder so orders, under provisions of PA 4, He ordered the Flint review team to cut the time in half to 30 days.
Detroit APTE Vide-President Cecily McClellan leads chants at Benton Harbor rally against EM
Despite Brown’s allegations, Public Act 4 does not give local officials the right to break contracts under a consent agreement. The act specifically exempts their ability to “reject, modify, or terminate 1 or more terms and conditions of an existing collective bargaining agreement” under Sec. 19 1(k). It reserves that power for the state alone.
It also gives the State Treasurer sole discretion to help draft and approve a financial “recovery plan” as part of the consent agreement, and sole discretion to terminate the agreement and move to an EM at any time.
“A consent agreement shall provide that in the event of a material uncured breach of the consent agreement, the state treasurer is authorized to place the local government in receivership as provided under section 15,” PA 4 reads.
Former DPS Board of Education President Carla Scott
The Detroit Board of Education, under then President Carla Scott, approved such a consent agreement under PA 4’s predecessor Public Act 72 in September of 2008. Only four months later, on Dec. 8, State Schools Superintendent Mike Flanagan terminated the agreement, and recommended an emergency financial manager. Governor Granholm appointed Robert Bobb shortly thereafter.
This was despite the fact that on Dec. 1, 2008, as part of a “deficit elimination plan” required under the consent agreement, the Board agreed to close an additional 63 schools, eliminate 16,000 jobs, outsource numerous departments, regionalize other services, get $37 million in union concessions, and charge for textbooks.
State schools superintendent Mike Flanagan
“The District has been in deficit for multiple years over the course of several decades,” Flanagan told Scott in his Dec. 8 letter. “During that time, the Michigan Department of Education’s interactions with the District have exposed numerous systemic issues including the failure to meet deadlines and requirements, the misappropriation and lapsing of significant amounts of federal dollars, and an inability to remedy its financial problems by taking appropriate action.”
Flanagan completely ignored the fact that for five of the eight years the state cited in the schools’ budget history, from 2000 through 2005, the district was under state control, as a result of then Gov. John Engler’s hotly-contested 1999 takeover. The district had a $93 million surplus in 1999, and ended up with a deficit of over $300 million by the time that first takeover concluded.
Protest against Detroit and DPS debt loads
The deficit was caused by rampant borrowing encouraged by bank representatives who came to monthly meetings with the state trustee. These included a $220 million loan to be paid back over 15 years and taken out of the schools’ state per-pupil funding. Detroiters voted overwhelmingly to cancel that debt. Nearly 90 percent of state per-pupil funding now is reserved to pay off the district’s debt.
The district is a shell of its former self, and the state legislature is fast-tracking passage of bills that would eliminate any cap on charter schools, which will devastate public school systems state-wide because charters get funds originally allotted to public schools.
The state is currently lobbying Mayor Bing and the Detroit City Council hard for their approval of a consent agreement, which PA 4 requires.
Andy Dillon at re-election rally for Dave Bing
Treasurer Dillon told reporters in a conference call Dec. 2, “I talked to the mayor today, and I talked to three of the city council members and there was a very positive tone of cooperation. So I think – well several council members have said publicly they would like a consent agreement, so I expect that we will work in cooperation with them and I told the mayor that we will coordinate with you so that we don’t interfere with the work that you have on your plate already.”
Nikos Photopoulus, leader of Greek electrical workers union, and 14 others face up to 5 years in prison for occupying power plant to stop shut-offs
Appeal by the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC)
Stop the prosecution of Nikos Photopoulos and his comrades from the GENOP-DEH union immediately!
We have just been informed by representatives of the Greek public power union, GENOP-DEH, of the repression affecting 15 Greek members of the GENOP-DEH union.
Greek riot police storm plant
On 24 November 2011, squads of riot police (MAT) stormed the power company’s facilities in Mesogeion Avenue in Athens and violently cleared it of workers and trade unionists who had been staging a sit-in/occupation for a few days. The offices are responsible for cutting off the electricity supply to the thousands of working-class families who have refused to pay the new property tax imposed by the Greek government by order of the Troika (IMF-European Commission-European Central Bank), which is being levied through the electricity bills. The same offices are in charge of cutting off the supply to the thousands of families who, due to the crisis, can no longer pay their bills.
On 30 November 2011, 15 trade unionists, including GENOP-DEH General Secretary Nikos Photopoulos, appeared in court, charged with “obstructing the forces of order” and “obstructing the correct functioning of the public services”. They face prison sentences of 6 months to 5 years without parole. On the eve of the 1 December general strike called by the trade union confederations GSEE and ADEDY, the government decided it would be wiser to hold its fire; accordingly the court postponed its ruling until 10 January 2012.
GENOP-DEH demonstration against austerity measures in Greece
Throughout the world, the workers and peoples are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Greek workers and their trade union organisations as they engage in the battle against the Troika’s barbaric plans implemented by the Greek government. The workers’
actions are legitimate, just as the actions of the Greek power workers and their trade union to prevent the power disconnections and to demand the withdrawal of the new tax imposed by the government are legitimate.
No worker, no labour activist, no democratic labour organisation can accept this threat of repression, which would be a blow against all labour and democratic rights.
This is why the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC) has decided to inform all labour organisations around the world of these extremely serious facts, and to invite them to join in the effort, in whichever form they see fit, to demand that the Greek authorities immediately drop the legal proceedings against the GEOP-DEH union members, and to express their solidarity with them.
signed/ Louisa Hanoune, General Secretary of the Workers Party (Algeria)
Daniel Gluckstein, National Secretary of the Independent Workers Party (France )
Co-ordinators of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
