Workers at Fiat Chrysler Warren Truck plant leave jobs.

By Dan DiMaggio

October 16, 2015

Auto workers at Chrysler will vote next week on a second contract proposal, after voting down the first agreement in a landslide in late September.

Auto workers at Chrysler will vote next week on a second contract proposal, after voting down the first agreement in a landslide in late September.

65 percent of UAW members at Chrysler voted no on the first deal, which they felt did not do enough to eliminate the two-tier system or protect jobs. This time around, the UAW International has hired PR firm BerlinRosen to sell the tentative agreement to members via social media. The UAW represents 40,000 workers at Chrysler.

Fiat Chrysler Toledo Jeep plant.

Members, meanwhile, are engaged in a vigorous debate in the plants and on social media over whether the new contract is enough. A group of workers in the Jeep plant in Toledo are circulating a Vote No leaflet, and the Autoworker Caravan has a leaflet pointing out the contract’s lowlights, in contrast to the UAW leadership’s highlights document.

Labor Notes spoke to Alex Wassell, a member of UAW Local 869 and a longtime labor activist, about the new proposed deal. Wassell is a skilled tradesman who has worked at Chrysler’s Warren Stamping Plant for 22 years. Here’s what he had to say about why many workers remain opposed:

A lot of people are skeptical that it takes eight years or two contract cycles to get up to top-tier wages, although the pension and healthcare are still second-tier. People are disappointed that COLA [the cost-of-living adjustment, historically a part of UAW contracts but suspended in 2007] wasn’t part of the deal.

Alex Wassell

Alternative work schedules are still part of the contract. Even though they said in 60 days they’ll talk about it, I don’t believe anything substantive will come of it. The unlimited use of temporaries is another downside. For Mopar workers and Axle workers the deal’s probably worse than before.

So the new deal hasn’t changed my opinion, and there’s a lot of negative sentiment in the plant. I don’t think you need to hire a PR firm if you negotiate a good contract.

I just can’t trust them around the eight-year period to get to top-tier wages. That’s two contract cycles. They couldn’t even enforce the 25 percent limit on two-tier workers that they supposedly negotiated in 2011.

Under the 2011 contract, there was no cap. But there was language put in that at the end of the 2011 agreement, the 25 percent cap would be imposed and people would roll over and become first-tier. That didn’t happen because, guess what? At the end of the agreement everything’s up for discussion. People really think that cap should be honored.

End Two-Tier? An Interview

Chrysler worker Alex Wassell was interviewed on the Belabored podcast on October 15 about why auto workers are opposing the second tentative agreement. Listen to the interview here, between the 12- and 26-minute marks.

Wassell said that unlike the first round, workers at his plant will have to vote on this second proposal at the union hall, which is off-site. “I think that’s going to cut down the participation,” he said. “You can’t vote on your break time here, so you have to do it before, or after, or during your lunchtime—and lunchtime is iffy. So I see a diminished participation this time, although I think the sentiment is still running more against than for.”

Protesters significantly chose to picket UAW Solidarity House in Detroit over the first contract which they voted down.

Chrysler workers will vote on the new agreement next Tuesday and Wednesday, October 20-21. Wassell predicts it will be close, but that a no vote will again prevail.

As far as what would convince him and other workers to vote yes, Wassell says: “I’d like to see the elimination of the tiered workforce within the four-year contract cycle. I’d like to see the restoration of the cost-of-living-allowance for all employees. I’d like to see second-tier (“in-progression”) employees get full medical and benefits to match the traditional workers. And I just need to feel that the International union and the secondary leadership is in tune with the rank-and-file and these demands.”

Auto workers: Let Labor Notes know what’s happening in your plant – contact dan@labornotes.org with any tips. And check out the rest of our site for more about our trainings and books.

Highlights of Past Labor Notes Auto Coverage

• Auto Workers Wonder, Why Chrysler?
• Can Auto Shed Its Tiers?
• New Eight-Hour Day Fight Erupts in Auto
• Canadian Auto Workers Ratify 10-Year Two-Tier
• Volkswagen in Tennessee: Productivity’s Price
• Generation Temp: Auto Workers March for Civil Rights Again
• UAW Says It Will Go ‘All In’ to Organize Foreign-Owned Auto Plants

CHRYSLER WORKERS VOTE DOWN 2-TIER PACT

By  Alexandra Bradbury

October 01, 2015  

Auto workers have overwhelmingly voted down their union’s national deal with Chrysler, aiming to force their bargainers back to the table to do better.

The United Auto Workers announced today that 65 percent voted no on the tentative agreement. The union represents 40,000 workers at Chrysler.

Union officers had recommended a yes vote on the four-year pact, announced September 15. It included raises and bonuses but would maintain the two-tier system, trap people in Tier 2 who had expected to move up, and create even more tiers. Voting ended September 30.

Detroit, Michigan – Members of the United Auto Workers participate in the Labor Day parade days before their union contracts with GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler expire. Retired Ford worker Ron Lare wants to end the two-tier pay system the union accepted in 2007.

Probably the top reason workers voted no was indignation that the agreement broke the union’s longstanding promise to cap the lower-paid tier at 25 percent of the workforce this fall. Since 45 percent of Chrysler workers are in Tier 2, many expected a raise to $28 an hour. With no cap, it’s only a matter of time before there’s no first tier left.

Amplifying the anger were Chrysler’s high profits and the revelation that the company plans to move car production to Mexico.

Facebook gave a big boost to the quickly-building momentum of the vote-no wave. In a variety of public and private Facebook groups, workers swapped contract information, local vote tallies, and photos showing ballots marked “no” and protest T-shirts.

The biggest, Local 12 (Toledo Assembly Complex, Ohio) with 5,000 members, was among the last to vote—and scored the most dramatic margin, with 87 percent of production workers and 80 percent of skilled trades workers rejecting the pact. Members there had rallied against the deal outside their informational meeting September 27. Continue reading →

Posted by Curt Guyette in Democracy Watch

Thursday, 15 October 2015

Flint Mayor Dayne Walling, with anguish in his face, speaks at press conference on Flint water reconnection to DWSD as Gov. Rick Snyder looks on warily. (Christian Randolph/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

In last week’s press conference announcing that the city of Flint would finally be allowed to return to Detroit’s water system, Gov. Rick Snyder made it a point to note that placing blame for the lead poisoning of children is not something he intends to do.

He wants to address the current problem, learn what can be done better in the future, and move forward.

Call it the “no-blame” game.

The governor’s spokesperson, Sara Wurfel, is playing it as hard as anyone right now.

In an interview with the ACLU of Michigan following the governor’s tightly-managed press conference, Wurfel did the best she could to absolve her boss of any responsibility for the disastrous decision to begin using the Flint River as the city’s source of drinking water in April 2014.

Asked about the governor’s role in that decision, Wurfel claimed that there was really no choice to be made, that the city of Detroit kicked Flint off of its system, thus forcing the switch to river water.

We’re not the only one she’s trying to spin. Wurfel made a similar claim in a statement to the Flint Journal this week.

DWSD workers picket Detroit Water Board Building Oct. 13, 2015 to denounce unsafe practices for entire 6-county system due to drastic staff reductions, among other issues.

According to the paper, Wurfel asserted that the city was forced to find another source of water after the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department terminated Flint’s contract to continue purchasing water under the terms of its expired contract.

Maybe the Snyder administration is operating under the theory that a lie repeated often enough is eventually accepted as fact.

But here’s the truth:

Flint did have a choice. It absolutely could have kept using Detroit water until construction of the Karegondi pipeline, which will bring water from Lake Huron to Genesee County, is completed next year.

Instead, in a decision based purely on cost, the Flint emergency manager appointed by Snyder chose to leave the Detroit system early and begin relying on the Flint River in April 2014.

How do we know that?

Because of a letter the ACLU of Michigan obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Darnell Earley, then Flint EM, with Detroit “Mayor” Mike Duggan during Michigan Municipal League convention, 2014.

On March 7, 2014, then-Emergency Darnell Earley  wrote to the DWSD, saying:

“Thank you for the correspondence … which provides Flint with the option of continuing to purchase water from DWSD following the termination of the current contract …”Thanks, but no thanks.

“… the City of Flint has actively pursued using the Flint River as a temporary water source while the KWA pipeline is being constructed,” wrote Earley. “We expect the Flint Water Treatment Plant will be fully operational and capable of treating Flint River water…”

As it turns out, the city, under the control of an emergency manager appointed by the governor, proved to be entirely incapable of properly treating water from the highly corrosive Flint River.

As a result of that failure, children were poisoned by lead in the water coming out of the taps in their homes and, quite possibly, the fountains in their schools.

Lead that was present because the river water is many times more corrosive than Detroit’s. Lead that was present because Flint officials  and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality inexplicably stopped adding the same types of corrosion inhibitors Detroit routinely puts in its water just so a public-health disaster such as this does not occur.

As calls for a thorough, independent investigation of this debacle increase, the denials of responsibility by the key players are becoming farcical as they stumble over themselves in an attempt to avoid blame.

Karegnondi Water Authority’s pipeline to Lake Huron under construction.

Particularly absurd are Earley’s claims that he bears no responsibility for the catastrophe that began while he wielded complete control over every aspect of the city’s government. As the Flint Journal’s Ron Fonger reports, Earley recently sent the paper an email claiming:

“The decision to separate from (the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department) and go with the Karegnondi Water Authority, including the decision to pump Flint River water in the interim, were both a part of a long-term plan that was approved by Flint’s mayor, and confirmed by a City Council vote of 7-1 in March of 2013 — a full seven months before I began my term as emergency manager.”

Under the state’s far-reaching emergency manager law, Earley clearly had the authority to do whatever he wanted at that point. So his attempts to shield himself from responsibility are beyond bogus.

But it is even worse than that.

Flint resident Barbara Griffith-Wilson screams out an amen as she stands up out of her seat to show solidarity with a six Flint City Council members calling for the removal of Emergency Manager Darnell Earley on Monday, Oct. 6, 2014 at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Flint. /Jake May | MLive.com

As the Flint Journal’s Fonger points out:, “Although the Flint City Council voted in March 2013 in support of moving to the KWA pipeline … there is no record that the council voted to use the Flint River as a short-term drinking water source.”

Being the current emergency manager in charge of  Detroit Public Schools and its 47,000 students, it is easy to see why all this might be a particularly touchy subject for Earley – and the governor who appointed him to both positions.

Fingers are being pointed in all directions, and lies are being told in an attempt to avoid responsibility.

In a recent interview with the ACLU of Michigan, Flint Public Works Director Howard Croft initially tried making the same false claim as Wurfel, saying that Flint was forced to leave the Detroit system and begin using the river as its water source.

Flint Public Works Director Howard Croft.

When confronted with Earley’s letter, he relented, and pointed the finger of blame at the state, saying the decision to switch came from the governor’s office.

Asked to respond to that accusation, Wurfel tried her best to sidestep the issue. She could have put the matter to rest immediately by simply declaring: “That is absolutely untrue.”

But she didn’t say that.  Instead, she trotted out the false claim that the city was forced to make the switch. When pressed on that point, and then asked again about the governor’s role in making the tragically bad decision to force the people of Flint to drink from a dangerous river, she again tried to slip out of giving a direct answer.

“You’re saying that the governor’s office was directly involved? I can’t address that at all because that’s not accurate.”

So she is not addressing a direct question because it is not accurate?

Questions are neither accurate nor inaccurate, but answers should be.

Curt Guyette

There is usually a compelling reason why evasion and obfuscation are the responses to a yes or no question. And the reason is this: The people doing the evading are afraid to tell the truth, and even more afraid to face the consequences that come with it.

Curt Guyette is an investigative reporter for the ACLU of Michigan. His work focuses on emergency management and open government. He can be reached at 313-578-6834 or cguyette@aclumich.org.

Related:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/10/13/will-regional-takeover-of-detroit-water-make-residents-of-6-counties-drink-flint-water/

THE TITLE VI COMPLAINT OF TRUE RE: FLINT WATER

DATE: 10/15/15

TO: Attorney Jim Eichner

FROM: Taxpaying Residents United for Education (TRUE)

PERSPECTIVE: Thomas Jefferson said the mother principle of a republic is that the will of the people is represented, “governments are republican only in proportion as they embody the will of their people, and execute it.”

Taxpaying Residents United for 21st century Education, is a coalition of 26 Michigan groups, 2 national organizations, concerned teachers, a variety of leaders with a 10 point mission statement. We feel poorly represented in safety checks and balances, and wish to assert a complaint on the issues of state knowledge of lead in our water and a breakdown of public safety principals, protocols, best practices and communication under PA 436, as practiced by the State of Michigan.

ISSUE: Negotiations between two Emergency Managers, Orr and Hurtz/Earley did not put safety first. Flint released contaminated or toxic water into drinking fountains of Flint Public Schools and Flint Residents. Flint did not use chemicals which would minimize corrosion. In October 2014, General Motors received a waiver and stopped using Flint River water due to corrosion issues on metal parts. There was a failure by responsible officials to notify residents of public health emergency after internal EPA memo went to press July 15, 2015. Instead city officials sent a notice to each address that “This is not an emergency.” The MDEQ and MDHS criticized the Virginia Tech study which cited corrosion issues and Dr. Hana-Attisha’s study. Former EM Earley has denied responsibility. Shuette says state liability for EM decision is “hypothetical.”

Baxter Jones, founder TRUE

Bill Davis, Pres. of TRUE.

PATTERN OF BREAK DOWN OF PUBLIC SAFETY: As Emergency Manager of Detroit, Kevyn Orr did not apply for Federal grants or use Federal grants available through FEMA, while fire fighters needed more personnel and equipment. He also shut the electricity off on all residents in the City on September 11, 2013 so that traffic lights stopped, the court house went black, fire house doors would not open, and people were stuck on elevators. People were evacuated from buildings and productivity of businesses was lost. He caused unnecessary harm and chaos, yet Gary Brown stated this was done to send a message.

The United Nations also cited Detroit for human rights violations due to mass water shut offs which increased asthma and sepsis and resulted in among the greatest number of e.coli and other bacterial outbreaks in the nation that year. Under PA 436, state departments like MDEQ and MDHS are one entity with the Emergency Manager, as the EM making decisions is an employee of the state. Under normal democracy, the State would represent the best interests of citizens to come to tell a town or council that actions were a threat to public health providing checks and balances.

Flint school children.

JURISDICTION: The State is a recipient of Federal funds. Educational environments should be safe. There is a disparate impact on women and the minority community and a disparate environmental impact on the poor.

RMO: Governor Rick Snyder, Ed Kurtz, Darnell Earley, Dan Wyatt, Nick Lyon, Brad Wurfel

SUMMARY:

Risk Assessment

Emergency Managers, Ed Kurtz and Darnell Earley, knew or should have known, that stopping flow of water from the Huron River and releasing Flint River Water to the treatment plant and into the tap of Flint Schools was dangerous. Ed Kurtz, the Mayor of Flint and the appointed rather than elected City Council, under PA 436 chose to focus on money savings in an area where such a mistake could risk public health and result in death, long term disability, and illness.

Continue reading →

Pugh on trial in civil lawsuit by “K.S.,” young man who alleges Pugh sexually abused him

Pugh needs to be CRIMINALLY tried along with Fatal Five who approved 2012 Consent Agreement leading to Detroit bankruptcy, Gov. Rick Snyder, Kevyn Orr, collaborators, for genocidal crimes against people of Detroit

By Diane Bukowski

 Editorial

 Oct. 8, 2015

Pugh berates a member of the public commenting vs. proposed Consent Agreement with State, Snyder

DETROIT – The daily media is currently keeping pretty mum about the ongoing civil trial of former Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh, alleging sexual abuse of a student at the Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men in 2013. A jury trial in front of U.S. District Court Judge David Lawson is set for Nov. 3.

Also named in the lawsuit, filed on behalf of “K.S.,” are former Detroit Public Schools emergency managers Roy Roberts and Robert Bobb, and DPS officials Berry Greer and Monique McMurtry.

Among the shocking allegations in the suit, which is linked at the conclusion of this article:

“34. On or about May 31, 2013, defendant PUGH began bribing plaintiff, promising him gifts, such as video games and money for performing sexual acts and/or making videos of plaintiff performing sexual acts. Defendant PUGH made it clear to plaintiff that his career would be ruined if anyone found out about these bribes, and continuously told plaintiff to keep their conversations private.

35. On or about June 1, 2013, plaintiff told defendant PUGH he needed One Hundred Sixty ($160.00) Dollars, and defendant PUGH agreed to give plaintiff the money, in exchange for plaintiff making a video of himself masturbating.”

Charles Pugh in selfie showing off his body.

The suit also alleges that Pugh deliberately disobeyed orders from the student’s mother to cease contact with her son. It says Pugh provided him with a cell phone so that they could communicate without her knowledge.

Detroit school board members also filed a 450-page Title VI complaint with the U.S. Justice Department in August, alleging that emergency managers appointed by the state have stripped the school district of its civil rights, by creating “separate and unequal treatment for African-American students”, the majority of the district.

The complaint cites the teen’s case as a glaring example of such treatment, and says board members had repeatedly warned the EM’s against allowing Pugh to mentor young Black men.

VOD is not writing about this matter out of interest in its salacious content, or out of anti-gay bias. VOD is strongly in favor of rights for gay, lesbian, bi, and transgendered people, including the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of gay marriage.

This editorial is inspired by outrage that Pugh may have been carrying out activities such as sexual abuse of students and minors as he led efforts to dismantle the City of Detroit, in effect raping its people’s assets, in his role as Council President. At the same time, he abused and disrespected hundreds of Detroiters who came before Council.

VOD believes it likely that the daily media is keeping quiet about this trial because it supported Pugh’s assault on Detroit.

PARTICIPANTS IN RAPE OF DETROIT (from top clockwise): WALL STREET, MICH. GOV. RICK SNYDER, DETROIT PMD KRISS ANDREWS, MILLER CANFIELD ATTY. MICHAEL MCGEE, COUNCILMAN KEN COCKREL, JR, COUNCILWOMAN SAUNTEEL JENKINS, FISCAL ANALYST IRVIN CORLEY, COUNCILMEN JAMES TATE, ANDRE SPIVEY, MILLIMAN CEO STEVEN WHITE, STIFEL CEO RON KRUSJEWSKI, FAB LEADERS KEN WHIPPLE, SANDRA PIERCE, COUNCIL LEADERS GARY BROWN, CHARLES PUGH, MAYOR DAVE BING, STATE TREASURER ANDY DILLON.

Pugh cast the deciding Council vote the a hotly-contested Consent Agreement with the State of Michigan June 4, 2012. It opened the way for Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s appointment of Kevyn Orr as Emergency Manager, and later for Orr’s declaration July 17, 2013 that the city was bankrupt.

The bankruptcy trial in front of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, also involving U.S. District Court Judges Gerald Rosen and Sean Cox, was essentially a dog-and-pony show whose racist, genocidal outcome had been determined long before it began by Wall Street. It ended with Detroit being ordered to hand over its Water & Sewerage Department to the Great Lakes Water Authority and billions of dollars worth of publicly-owned art at the Detroit Institute of Arts to the Founders’ Society.

Below: Rhodes says bankruptcy largely due to Detroit’s racial composition

The bankruptcy Plan of Adjustment stole $7 billion from Detroit retirees, condemning many to official poverty status, and was responsible for the ongoing lay-offs of thousands of active workers, contracting out of their jobs, and deprivation of union rights for those who remained.

It rewarded Detroit’s wealthy creditors including global banks and insurance companies with 95.9 percent of their claims; Detroit retirees and poor folks got 13.5 percent.

During days of Council debate on the Consent Agreement, hundreds of Detroiters showed up to decry the giveaway of their city in public comment sessions. Pugh was abusive and disrespectful to most of them.

Sandra Hines, Lila Cabill, dozens line up in hallway outside Council chambers  after Pugh refused to move meeting to auditorium.

He refused to move the hearings to the auditorium, forcing long lines of Detroiters to stand waiting in the hall in order to make their one-and-a-half minute comments, then forcing them to leave the Council chambers once they were done. He clearly violated the Open Meetings Act in doing so, because he should have provided full access to Detroit citizens to the entire Council sessions.

Pugh showed utter disrespect for well-known community leaders who gave comments, including Cardinal Baye Landy of Detroit’s historic Shrine of the Black Madonna, a Black Christian nationalist church with broad political influence in Detroit since the militant days of the 1960’s.

When Cardinal Landy took his place for comment, dressed as usual in casual clothing, Pugh asked, “You’re a Cardinal?” apparently ignorant of the Shrine’s history in Detroit.

The Shrine of the Black Madonna was founded and led by for three decades by Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman, formerly Dr. Albert Cleage, seen in Paul Lee’s interview above.

Pugh had several people, including Lee, arrested and removed by police for allegedly exceeding the ridiculously picayune time limits on their comments. He threatened this reporter with arrest when she asked for 15 seconds more to speak. He noted on camera that she had been arrested before. He referred to her arrest and two felony convictions stemming from her legitimate duties as a reporter for the Michigan Citizen in covering a fatal state trooper police chase on Nov. 4, 2008, the day U.S. President Barack Obama was first elected.

Detroit retiree Walter Knall, historian Paul Lee hold up photo depicting historic rally in Detroit during consent agreement hearings. Pugh ordered police to remove Lee from chambers.

Ironically, Pugh as a former journalist himself signed an affidavit in her support during trial proceedings.

Pugh played a prominent role in the City’s giveaway, traveling to Lansing with Co-Chair Gary Brown to meet with Snyder officials to set up the Consent Agreement, which became the blueprint for the bankruptcy plan of adjustment.

He also sat on a secret “Roots Cause Committee” with Brown that planned the dismantling of the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department under Judge Sean Cox.

VOD clearly condemns Pugh’s alleged sexual violation of the youthful K.S. and others it is rumored were subjected to such treatment as well. It is horrifying that a man in such a position could act in such a manner after centuries of the oppression of African people which included rape and sexual abuse, not to mention the African Holocaust, slavery, lynchings, torture, murder, and disrespect of Black women as Pugh allegedly disrespected the mother of “K.S.”

It is even more horrifying that Detroit’s leaders including Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy allowed such a man to ride off into the sunset of New York City to work as a waiter and carry on with his life and likely further abuses, without prosecution.

JAIL PUGH NOW!

Related documents and some of many VOD articles:

Pugh lawsuit and Pugh jury trial set for 11 3 15

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/04/09/banks-state-take-control-of-detroit-council-assassinates-city-in-5-4-consent-vote/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/10/09/rally-v-bankruptcy-imposed-layoffs-union-busting-in-detroit-water-all-city-depts-tues-oct-13/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/11/15/detroit-bankruptcy-plan-genocide-in-usas-largest-black-majority-city-rich-get-95-9-poor-get-13-5/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/02/21/rhodes-says-detroits-unique-racial-composition-led-to-bankruptcy-ignores-cops-fraud/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/10/06/detroit-retirees-vow-to-continue-fight-after-u-s-district-judge-dismisses-bankruptcy-appeal/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/06/16/authority-approves-bankruptcy-theft-of-detroits-water-system-retirees-begin-referendum-campaign/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/03/17/should-rhodesrosenorr-be-jailed-for-failure-to-report-bankruptcy-fraud-to-proper-authorities/

Heroic WWTP workers walked out in wildcat strike Sept. 30, 2012 to stop what is happening now. Leaders of AFSCME Council 25 sabotaged the strike and now Detroit may lose the Water & Sewerage Department.

Current Local 207 President Mike Mulholland, former Local VP Lekita Thomas (now transferred ), part of Local 207’s fighting leadership.

Long live the heroic spirit of AFSCME Local 207 President John Riehl! Local Pres. 2000-2012, WWTP worker 37 years, died too early at age 62.

DETROIT CITY WORKERS BEING RUN OUT OF JOBS IN EVERY DEPT. DUE TO BANKRUPTCY

By Diane Bukowski

Oct. 9, 2015

(Editor: photos taken of this event by VOD did not turn out, others are used.)

AFSCME Local 2799 Pres. Cherlyn Rupert (Facebook)

Active city workers told State Sen. Coleman A. Young (D-Detroit), City Council President Brenda Jones, and Livingston County Circuit Court Judge Michael Hatty about the devastating effects the bankruptcy continues to have on them, during a meeting called by AFSCME Local 2799 Pres. Cheryln Rupert Oct. 5 at the AFSCME Council 25 hall downtown.

Under terms of the bankruptcy, the state continues its oversight of City of Detroit finances for 20 years, through a “Financial Review Commission.”

Romona Jones, a 27-year city employee currently with the Finance Dept. Purchasing Division, said all workers there are being forced to reapply for their jobs after completing online applications and testing.

“A lot of employees find the applications very difficult to complete, and they are afraid that if they don’t pass, they will be set on the street,” Jones said.

Vance Russell, a principal accountant who has worked for the city for 30 years, said workers in his division are also being forced to reapply for their jobs, under terms of Orr’s Executive Order 41, “Establishing Centralized Financial Management Organizational Structure.” See EM Order 41 Establishing Centralized Financial Management Organizational Structure.

Vance Russell/Facebook

“This is a bomb over our heads,” Russell said. “We have an existing union agreement, from 2014-2018, that delineates our positions and nowhere does it state we have to re-apply for our jobs. The city met with all city employees Jan. 8, going around the unions, and held a sledge hammer over them saying the same thing.”

Council President Brenda Jones said it was her understanding that all EM orders should have expired in Dec. 2014, upon Orr’s exit as emergency manager, and that she is researching the matter.

Mike Mulholland, Pres. of AFSCME Local 207, representing Detroit Water and Sewerage (DWSD) workers, told VOD last week that he expects 67 of his members to be laid off this week because the department changed their job titles and made them apply for the new jobs, which comprised the same work, then denied their applications.

DWSD director Sue McCormick recently said that the department has eliminated 41 percent of its workers. A large number of contractors are being hired. Jones said the DWSD contracts are not being brought before the City Council.

Contractors digging up water mains on East Jefferson for at least the last month.

For the past month, VOD has observed contractors on East Jefferson from Belle Isle to Erma Henderson Park digging up huge tracts of sidewalks and street-side land. A project worker said they are replacing water mains, work normally done by qualified DWSD employees. Contractor trucks included some from Springline Excavating, LLC, which has offices in Detroit, Livonia, and Smyrna, GA.

Former Local 207 Vice-President Lekita Thomas earlier told VOD that DWSD workers must frequently go behind the work of inexperienced contractors to re-do it. There definitely appeared to be shoddy workmanship on the current project, as seen by one hydrant among many that have spouted water for weeks after the work.

This hydrant, connected by tubing to an unknown underground line, has been spraying large amounts of water for weeks. Other hydrants on E. Jefferson have been observed doing the same.

Association of Detroit Engineers Pres. Shakil Ahmed recently emailed GLWA chair Robert Daddow as follows: “DWSD is laying off 11 experienced engineers even with professional licenses and in their place are bringing engineers with no experience and without professional licenses. We are very short in engineering staff and this action will upset the operation of DWSD.”

Daddow replied that he could do nothing about it because the GLWA has not yet taken control. DWSD director Sue McCormick recently said that the department has eliminated 41 percent of its workers.

Audrey Bellamy, President of the Senior Accountants, Analysts and Appraisers Association(SAAA), said the city has also told all DWSD workers that they are no longer Civil Service employees.

“I don’t believe that’s legal or that they have the capacity to tell our people that,” Bellamy said.

JOIN THE PETITION CAMPAIGN FOR A REFERENDUM VOTE ON THE CITY OF DETROIT CONTRACT WITH THE GREAT LAKES WATER AUTHORITY.

DWSD faces a takeover mandated under terms of the bankruptcy plan by the regional Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA), with a current deadline of Jan. 1, 2016. DAREA and other groups are circulating petitions under Public Act 233 of 1955 calling for Detroiters to hold a referendum vote on the contract, mandated by that Act. If successful, the contract would be revoked, according to language in the Act.

Flint residents earlier protested Flint’s cut-off from DWSD, which has resulted in high levels of lead and other contaminants in their water.

The GLWA met July 8 and approved a plan to severely downsize the current DWSD system, workforce, facilities, and spending as it takes over.

One of the provisions was to eliminate the whole of Genesee County, not just Flint, from the system. Recent announcements that Flint will be hooking back up to DWSD since large levels of lead poisoning have resulted from Flint’s jerry-rigged set-up apparently are going to throw a wrench into those plans.

Click on:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/07/10/regional-water-czars-plan-permanent-shut-offs-to-large-parts-of-detroit-while-increasing-rates/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/09/19/alert-still14-weeks-to-stop-detroit-water-take-over-more-shut-offs-rate-hikes-lay-offs-pollution/

AFSCME Local 2799 Pres. Delia Enright

Delia Enright, President of AFSCME Local 1023 representing 911 workers, said the City Clerk’s office no longer has minutes for the Civil Service Commission, which they had kept on file for decades until 2011. She said she finally tracked down copies of the minutes and made a startling discovery.

“Denise Starr, the new head of Human Resources, went to the Civil Service Commission in June and gave them a brief outline of some of the Civil Service rules she is going to change.”

According to the City Charter, the Human Resources Department operates under the direction of the Civil Service Commission, not vice versa. Civil Service actually predates union representation for public workers, having been established in most municipalities decades ago to stop corrupt hiring practices.

Phyllis McMillion, president of AFSCME Local 542, representing General Service and Recreation Department workers, said the city is refusing to notify the union as required of the contracting out of numerous union-represented positions, meaning the lay-offs of more city workers.

Catherine Phillips, staff representative for Michigan AFSCME Council 25, said the union has filed unfair labor practice charges on the matter. During bankruptcy proceedings, Council 25 withdrew its appeal to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Rhodes’ eligibility ruling, and later agreed to terms of the bankruptcy plan of adjustment.

AFSCME Local 542 Pres. Phyllis McMillion speaks at rally to save Belle Isle from state takeover Sept. 22, 2012. Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr ordered takeover later.