Detroit budget crisis Feed the cities, not the Pentagon
WW photo: Cheryl LaBash http://www.workers.org <http://www.workers.org/> <http://www.workers.org/> Special to Workers World Detroit Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick launched a major attack on the people of Detroit in his State of the City address on Jan. 12. Citing a looming budget deficit estimated at $214 to $400 million, Kilpatrick announ ced the layoff of 686 city workers effective March 1. He also ordered a 10-percent pay cut for all non-union city workers, along with the elimination of 24- hour bus service and 237 unfilled city positions. Detroit City Council fiscal analyst Irvin Corley Jr. forecast further layoffs of up to 2,300 city workers. The city also plans an attempt to force union workers to accept a 10-percent pay cut and greater co-payments for medical coverage. The effects on the city would be devastating. Earlier budget crises have already resulted in cuts in services. In summer 2004 the School Board laid off over 2,000 employees. Now, another 2,000 school employees may be cut, along with the closing of up to 40 schools. City Council member Joanne Watson denounced the plans to curtail bus service. "One third of the workers in this city take the bus to work," she said. "Cutting 24-hour service will only cause people to lose their jobs or move out of the city." The Detroit Million Worker March Committee issued a petition to the mayor and City Council to keep 24-hour bus service. The demand ends: "Don't put the budget crisis on the backs of those who can least afford it." Big business blames workers For months the mayor and big business have tried to make these cutbacks seem inevitable. At a special symposium at Wayne State University on Jan. 4-5, corporate and banking consultants, along with the mayor and other city officials, blamed the fiscal crisis on the loss of population. Detroit went from a high of over 1.5 million people in 1951 to 900,000 today, with a corresponding 12-percent drop in property tax revenue. Their consensus? Mass layoffs of city workers and cutbacks in services, as well as privatization of some departments. What these spokespeople for big business failed to point out is that their policies accelerated Detroit's population decline. Massive job losses came from outsourcing to non- union areas and other countries, followed by plant closings in Detroit. Large corporations received huge tax abatements from the city over the years. Banks were guilty of red-lining- -refusing to give loans to many African Americans seeking to buy homes--while racist whites fled the city. Giant malls opening in the suburbs led to loss of inner city commercial businesses. Detroit City Council members have demanded the mayor discuss ideas for budget reduction for the past three years with no response. Detroit City Council President Maryann Mahaffey sought information from the Council's analyst about eliminating high-level management and supervisory positions, rather than laying off those who really do the work. Council member Sharon McPhail publicly asked why the mayor had appointed a deputy mayor at $140,000 a year when the city is in such bad financial shape. At a news conference the day after the State of the City address, reporters who tried to question the mayor about excess spending were dragged out of the room by the mayor's security team. Workers protest cuts Less than 24 hours after the mayor announced the cuts, several dozen unionized city workers picketed City Hall. The protest, called by Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207, got wide media coverage as workers chanted, "Stop the layoffs, stop the cutbacks" and "Lay off the mayor!" Speaking to the demonstrators, Auto Workers Local 2334 President David Sole pointed out that there was money to eliminate the deficit and even expand city services. Sole noted that Detroit has accumulated billions in debt to corporate banks. "In Iraq, Indonesia, Latin America and Russia, when these countries couldn't repay their debts, the banks negotiated to forgive a portion of that debt. Why can't they do that for Detroit and other cities?" Sole asked. He said in the 1930s Detroit's mayor called for a moratorium on payment of interest on the debt. The cost of the Iraq war and the overall Pentagon budget has been heavy on Michigan, and on Detroit in particular. The city paid $1.18 billion in 2004 toward the massive Pentagon $550 billion war machine. According to Employment Research Associates, a worker-oriented think tank, in 2004 Detroit sent $429 million to Washington, its share of the Iraq war's $200 billion appropriation. This is twice as much as the city's projected budget deficit. Cities and states around the U.S. are facing similar budget crises. Service cuts and mass layoffs threaten the livelihood and well-being of tens of million of workers and unemployed. This opens up the possibility that people will confront the fact that only a struggle against the war can solve the crisis. Union and community activists in Detroit are currently discussing a proposal for a national conference of the cities to fight the Bush budget that "feeds the Pentagon and starves the cities." Reprinted from the Jan. 27, 2005, issue of Workers World newspaper This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License. Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011