Workers hit

Ficano orders lowest-level employees to take 20% paycut

Michigan Citizen

DETROIT — Chants of “They say furlough, we say hell no,” and “Workers get laid off, banks get paid off,” rang through the streets of downtown Detroit Feb. 4.

Hundreds of Wayne County, City of Detroit, and Detroit Public Schools workers marched from the Coleman A. Young Center to the Guardian Building, Wayne County’s new headquarters...

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Sewage pours into river

Beckham blames equipment; Workers blame staff reductions; Feikens pays IMG

Michigan Citizen

DETROIT Detroit's Wastewater Treatment Plant is pouring sewage solids into the Detroit River in violation of Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) standards and a federal Consent Agreement, according to the MDEQ.

City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson brought the problem to light at the City Council's first meeting Jan. 4, requesting an urgent response to grave reports from four credible sources that raw sewage/sludge has contaminated Detroit's fresh water for the past two months...

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Judge says no to jailing Bing, labor director

AFSCME filed the contempt motion over union dues

Detroit Free Press

A Wayne County judge denied a motion Friday filed by Detroit's largest union to jail Mayor Dave Bing and the city's labor relations director on claims of contempt of court.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25 filed a lawsuit against Bing alleging that he had illegally terminated their contracts by refusing to collect union dues from workers' paychecks...

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Detroit city vehicle found outside crack house

Car assigned to water official was allegedly being driven by someone else

The Detroit News

Detroit -- City water officials are investigating why a city-owned Ford Focus assigned to an upper-level security officer was briefly seized by police last month outside a known crack house on the city's west side...

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Paper Chase: City workers' bonuses to be taxed first time

The Detroit News

A four-paragraph memo that delivers news about as welcome this time of year as week-old turkey giblets: Union-bargained bonuses to thousands of Detroit city workers will be taxed for the first time when checks arrive Friday...

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Synagro is back

Company in bribery scheme wants more biz with city

Michigan Citizen

Detroit -- Sludge deals can mean trouble in Detroit.

Mayor Dave Bing’s current chief administrative officer Charlie Beckham spent two years in prison on a felony conviction after he took a bribe on a sludge deal in the 80s. Former council person Monica Conyers will be sentenced in January for taking money from Synagro, a company seeking a billion plus dollar sludge contract from Detroit. Many are still under FBI investigation because of their involvement with Synagro.

Two of the company’s employees, including Synagro’s Vice President of Michigan James Rosendall, lobbied the city in 2007 and ended up conspiring and bribing at least one public official. Both are going to jail.

Yet, Synagro is set to win another contract...

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Detroit union wants mayor jailed

AFSCME Local 25 officials claim mayor is in contempt for refusing to collect union dues

The Detroit News

Detroit -- A city union has upped the ante in its months-long feud with Mayor Dave Bing, asking a judge this week to jail him on claims of contempt of court...

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Rayford Jackson gets max sentance in bribery scandal

Attorney: Judge was 'sending a clear and convincing message'

Detroit Free Press

Detroit businessman Rayford Jackson got the maximum 5-year sentence Friday for his role in the Synagro sludge-hauling bribery scandal that ensnared former Councilwoman Monica Conyers...

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AFSCME Sues Bing Over Termination

Bing Terminates 16 of 34 Contracts

ClickOnDetroit.com

DETROIT -- Detroit's largest union is suing Mayor Dave Bing and Director of Labor Relations, Barbara Wise Johnson, claiming they unlawfully terminated provisions of a collective bargaining agreement...

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Channel 7 News Story on AFSCME 207

This is an older WXYZ story from mid-August reporting on AFSCME 207. See the WXYZ-TV NEWS STORY (On the page, play the video in the upper-right corner.)

FOR INFO OR TO HELP: 313-965-1601 or afscme207@sbcglobal.net

Channel 4 News Story: City workers prepare for strike to save Detroit

ClickOnDetroit.com

AFSCME Local 207 President John Riehl: "It would be an organized strike where everybody would decide democratically in advance to do it, and in a way of forcing renegotiations to actually get something really resolved. Instead of him trying to pick at us and lay off our members and cut back the community one at a time, we all fight back together."

See the TV NEWS STORY

FOR INFO OR TO HELP: 313-965-1601 or afscme207@sbcglobal.net

Hundreds of City Workers Protest Wage Cuts

WXYZ.COM

The unions organized the protest to fight back against what they call "extreme contract concessions."

While some unions have settled, others are in very delicate negotiations and say they cannot afford a 10 percent salary reduction...

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Hundreds of Detroit workers protest Bing's proposed cuts

The Detroit News

DETROIT - In what is considered one of the biggest protests outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in recent history, hundreds of city workers picketed, showing their angst over the proposed cuts by Mayor Dave Bing...

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Detroit Union Workers Protest Pay Cut

Pay Cuts Already Scheduled For Non-Union Workers

ClickOnDetroit.com

DETROIT -- "Chop from the top!" That was the rallying cry of Detroit city worker unions Wednesday who protested in front of the Spirit of Detroit as they fought to stave off requested cuts...

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Detroit workers protest proposed cuts

Detroit Free Press

An estimated 500 city employees protested proposed wage cuts and furlough days outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center on Wednesday afternoon...

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City workers denounce Bing cuts

Michigan Citizen

DETROIT — “Detroit won’t go to the back of the bus,” chanted a hundred city workers outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center July 22. They were protesting Mayor Dave Bing’s budget-cutting lay-offs, ten percent wage cuts, and the elimination of many departments, in the face of a $300 million deficit this year...

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Detroit bankruptcy would require state-appointed financial manager

The Detroit News

Detroit -- Facing a budget deficit of $300 million, and with many of its costs contractually fixed, some in the city are willing to consider something that was previously unthinkable -- filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection.

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Monica Conyers Guilty in Synagro Scandal

PRESS RELEASE

Local 207 welcomes the indictment of Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers on the charge of accepting bribes. She sold her vote to privatize part of the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department’s core operations, and eliminate over a hundred city worker jobs...

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Detroit AFSCME workers told to prepare for strike

Crain's Detroit Business

Leaders of AFSCME Local 207 are advising workers to prepare to strike.

An e-mail sent Tuesday by Local 207 President John Riehl called Detroit Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr.'s request for city workers to agree to a 10 percent wage cut — part of a plan announced Friday to reduce the city's estimated $300 million budget deficit — "extortion tactics"...

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Synagro contract 'tainted'

Councilman Kenyatta says he will move to rescind the pact quickly.

The Detroit News

DETROIT -- City Councilman Kwame Kenyatta said Monday he plans to move to rescind the controversial Synagro Technologies Inc. contract as soon as today...

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City union wants to void Synagro contract

Darren A. Nichols / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- The union that represents workers in Detroit's Water and Sewerage Department is demanding the controversial Synagro contract be rescinded immediately...

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Carlyle-Synagro spreads money in pushing sludge deals with Black cities

Michigan Citizen

DETROIT — Dozens of city workers and their supporters picketed outside Detroit’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) July 8 to demand that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the city council rescind the city’s $1.4 billion 30-year sludge processing contract with Synagro Technologies...

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Synagro Suspends Rayford Jackson's Contract

WXYZ.com

Action News and WXYZ.com have learned that the FBI investigation into the Detroit City Council has led Synagro to suspend their consulting contract with Rayford Jackson's company.

The suspension does not apply to the contract between Synagro and the city of Detroit. It will remain in effect until the FBI investigation is completed...

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Workers Stage Small City Hall Protest

WXYZ.COM

See the KXYZ-TV NEWS STORY

Approximately two dozen city workers staged a rally outside City Hall Monday, protesting Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's budget and calling for him to leave office.

 

 

AFSCME Pickets with the Community

NO LAYOFFS! NO SERVICE CUTS! NO WATER SHUT OFFS! NO TAKE OVER!

Michigan Welfare Rights Organization

On Tuesday, March 21st, over a hundred AFSCME 207 & 2920 union and community residents picketed the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to protest the proposed layoffs and cuts by DWSD Director Victor Mercado and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick...

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Mayor-Speech Protests Underway

Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) - About 60 members of Detroit municipal unions have been picketing before Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's State of the City address, urging his resignation or ouster...

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City union disgust with mayor grows

Detroit Free Press

The largest union local representing city workers called Friday for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's resignation, and next Wednesday -- with or without the mayor's presence on the 11th floor of City Hall -- city employees are expected to protest outside the building to drive their point home.

John Riehl, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207, which has more than 900 members, said he hopes city officials are able to push Kilpatrick out of office...

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Detroit Union Calls for Kilpatrick Resignation

Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — A union on Friday called for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to resign amid reports that he exchanged steamy text messages referring to sexual trysts between him and a top aide.

John Riehl, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207, said the union wants the mayor to step down right away...

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Water department spends 12 times over budget

Michigan Citizen

DETROIT — Water Department unions are demanding an independent audit of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD). They claim that DWSD is spending up to 12 times more than what is budgeted every year, the bulk of the money going to private contractors while city workers lose jobs...

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