Workers threaten to shut Detroit at hearing
Council panel told cuts unacceptable
By Naomi R. Patton
Free Press Staff Writer
See this story at its original location at the FREEP.COM
Chants of "Strike! Strike! Strike!" rose from the crowd of City of Detroit workers Wednesday as members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filled the 13th floor auditorium in the Coleman A. Young Municipal Building to address the City Council.
"We have no choice but to shut the city down this time because we are not going to take these concessions," said Michael Mulholland, AFSCME Local 207 secretary-treasurer, halfway through a public hearing hosted by the City Council's Internal Operations Committee.
Hundreds of the roughly 3,500 AFSCME workers attended the hearing, speaking out against Mayor Dave Bing's proposed 10% salary cut -- which comes in the form of 26 furlough days -- and additional benefit cuts.
Richard Mack, an attorney representing Michigan AFSCME Council 25, presented an alternative deficit elimination plan that included 5% salary cuts for civilian workers and 5% cuts for the police and fire department workers.
Mack said the Bing administration's deficit-elimination plan "is not an effort to save money, but an effort to break the union, to break all these unions."
Bing insists the cuts are necessary to reduce the city's more than $300-million deficit. His office released a statement saying, "The administration believes the public hearing is another delay tactic and not the proper forum to address the issues at hand."
Catherine Phillips, AFSCME's lead negotiator, said the workers attended the hearing "to put a face to the concession that the mayor has on the table."
Until now, Phillips said, the administration has only heard from union leadership, not the workers earning between $25,000 and $30,000 a year.
Among the proposed benefit cuts:
- Employees must purchase generic drugs when available.
- Workers must log 40 hours of work to receive 40 hours of pay instead of working a 35-hour week with five paid hours for lunch.
- The age range of adult dependents eligible for health coverage would be 19 to 22 instead of 19 to 25.
"I don't know if the mayor can be impeached," Patricia Williamson told the crowd. "Recall him. Whatever it takes. He needs to go."