AFSCME Council 25 to Hold City Worker Rally

DEMAND A FAIR CONTRACT NOW!

Support AFSCME's Demand for 6-6-6%!

September 14 -- 4 PM-6PM -- Larned Entrance,

Coleman A. Young Municipal Center (City-County Building)

 

 

 

All city workers and supporters should attend this rally and make it a turning point in the struggle for respect and decent contracts. AFSCME contracts set the pattern for other city union contracts. We took concession contracts through the good times, and were told to wait till the casinos were running to get a decent contract. Now the wait is over and payment is due.

 

Contract negotiations began in late April. AFSCME's contract expired at the end of June, and it's been extended day-by-day since then. Management has been insulting us with an offer of a 1.5% raise the first year, and a couple 2% bonuses to follow (but only if management says they have the money!). Last week Archer told City Council that there's going to be a big budget deficit next year, so we can kiss those contingent bonuses goodbye. Bonuses are BS anyways! We need base-rate raises that show up on every paycheck, and a lot more than 2% per year!

 

We Must Force Management to Bargain

 

Management has offered nothing to offset our rapidly increasing medical insurance deductions. They've offered no increases on our shift premiums which haven't changed in 15 years. There's no talk of reinstating our Cost-of-Living-Allowance which was eliminated in 1979. There is no movement to strengthen protection against privatization and contracting out while new contractors are popping up all the time to take our jobs.

At the Sewage Plant, contractor unions are even picketing in a dispute over which of their unions is entitled to maintenance jobs, some of which belong to AFSCME and other city unions!

 

Rather than hiring more city workers to improve services, Archer has announced a hiring freeze. Even in Local 207's Supplemental Contract negotiations management has refused to budge on the union’s demands for fixed shifts for Sewage Plant operations, or uniform service for all members. Instead they are denying Sewage Plant workers shift exchange rights which have been honored for 20 years!

 

We Will Win a Good Contract by Fighting, Not by Relying on Hill, Kilpatrick, or Binding Arbitration

 

Management is stalling negotiations so they can more effectively use the worsening economy as the latest excuse why we must settle for a lousy contract. Clearly the current "wait and see" strategy is not working---the members must exert more influence on the negotiations, and back up our union's demands. Unfortunately most AFSCME officials have drawn the opposite conclusion. They are seeking to take more control of negotiations away from the members, and put our fate into the hands of politicians or arbitrators who are more sympathetic to the concerns of big business than those of workers.

 

The last contract dragged on for 14 months past expiration before it was ratified. This rally should make it clear that we won't wait that long this time. But the way Council 25 officials are being played, we won't see a contract till next spring at the earliest. They are trying to convince us that Gil Hill will save our jobs and give us a good contract. But Hill has voted for every major privatization scheme proposed by Archer. That is why Council 25 officials are so specific about the sins of Kwame Kilpatrick, yet silent on Hill's City Council voting record. Our fate will not be determined by which of the leading political opportunists gets elected, but rather by the level of struggle we present before and after the election. The election is a diversion from this historical fact.

 

AFSCME Council 25 official backed Hill for the same reason they backed Archer---they thought he was the sure winner. In fact AFSCME officials have backed Kwame Kilpatrick, his mother Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick and their pal Ed McNamara many times. They're only demonizing Kilpatrick now because they're afraid that they bet on the wrong horse. Privately AFSCME officials admit there's hardly a dime's worth of difference between Hill and Kilpatrick.

 

We Won’t Endorse Anyone Who Will Try to Screw the Members

 

In 1992 AFSCME said they endorsed Archer based on his promise not to privatize. They endorsed him again in 1996. Then they covered for him when he began privatizing our jobs. In a recent meeting Council 25 President Al Garrett insulted the intelligence of the membership by saying that Archer hasn't privatized anything!

 

Local 207 understands the members' frustration trying to figure out which candidate to vote for. But the truth is the truth. They both suck! If Local 207 were to hold our nose and endorse a candidate out of desperation, we'd either have to start lying to cover for the candidate and our endorsement of him---or we'd have to immediately start telling the truth about him, which would make us look like clowns for endorsing him the day before. Local 207 members did not elect either liars or clowns for Local leadership.

Binding Arbitration: Useless Attempt to Avoid Fighting

 

It is better to face the truth squarely and draw the necessary conclusions. Whoever gets elected will have to be fought against. The new mayor will be under pressure from big business interests to privatize and push lousy contracts on us. It's up to us to raise enough hell to stop him. That should be what this rally is about, not trying to figure out which candidate is the lesser of two evils, and not pretending that some arbitrator will give us that which we can only win for ourselves.

 

AFSCME Council 25 is urging City Council to give AFSCME the option to choose binding arbitration of our contracts. Once we choose binding arbitration to determine a contract, members lose the right to vote NO on the final agreement. Without the pressure of a potential NO vote our contracts will get worse. Then Council 25 officials will blame the defeats on the arbitrators, not on their own unwillingness to lead a fight. Council officials admit that even winning a fair decision from arbitrators on grievances is getting harder. So why would we put our whole contract into an arbitrator's hands?

 

Council officials have made unwritten promises that the members will get to vote on whether or not a contract goes to arbitration. But even if  we do get to vote, Council officials will first make it clear that they'd rather commit suicide than lead a real fight, thus making binding arbitration look like an offer the members can't refuse. They say that the police and firefighters do great under binding arbitration. Many rank & file cops and firefighters do not agree. Their union leaders are often in the news complaining about how the city uses arbitration to stall contracts forever. A national study found that the effect of arbitration on cop contracts was essentially zero. And most important, arbitrators are almost always older white upper middle-class suburban lawyers. They will not give thousands of non-uniformed city workers the same contracts they grant to cops.

 

Build Members’ Confidence

 

Council 25 officials say we need binding arbitration because it's illegal for public workers to strike. During our strikes in 1980 and '86 many members were arrested for trumped-up charges related to picket line defense, but no one was charged with "striking", and no one was permanently fired. Engler’s vicious anti-teacher strike law was never applied against Detroit teachers when they walked out in 1999, and all the fines they were threatened with were forgotten.

 

Union officials talking a lot about the "illegality" of public worker strikes during contract negotiations strengthens management, spreads baseless fears among the members and undermines negotiations.

 

There is only one road to victory. It depends on the strength of the membership and on our support in the community if we push for demands that will improve city services, such as filling the job vacancies. In 1857 the great orator and ex-slave Fredrick Douglass said that those who want progress without struggle are like farmers who want crops, but fear thunder and lightning. The long dry season of inaction must end if we are to make progress on our contract! Let management, the politicians and their rich backers fear this rally like the thunder of an approaching storm!

 

City workers must use this rally to kick off a series of job actions to demand a good contract now.

 

 

 

Local 207 Members: Attend This

IMPORTANT MEMBERSHIP MEETING!

 

All Local members are welcome! We will discuss and vote on what actions to take to force management to bargain. If you have opinions or concerns, you must be there or decisions may have to be made without your valuable participation.

 

Thursday, Sept. 13, 5 PM, 600 W. Lafayette (Park Behind Building)

In the Basement, Conference Room C.