Detroit Mayor Bing defends layoffs, pay cuts

Posted on February 17, 2013 by willyloman

by Shannon Jones, WSWS

In his annual State of the City address Wednesday night, Detroit Mayor David Bing defended the policies of his administration, which have left a trail of wreckage across the city. Hardly bothering to conceal his indifference to the conditions facing working people in Detroit, the Democratic mayor boasted of having carried out savage budget cuts that have decimated fire protection, bus service and other vital city services.

His speech followed by two days an announcement by the unelected board overseeing Detroit?s finances that it would impose 26 unpaid furlough days on 600 unionized city employees, the equivalent of a 10 percent pay cut. The Detroit Financial Advisory Board?s action followed the imposition of a similar cut on nonunion employees and comes on top of a 10 percent across-the-board pay cut implemented last year. The cuts also include changes in work rules and a stipulation that new-hires be ineligible for defined-benefit pensions.

Bing spoke unabashedly as the chief bill collector for the banks and financial interests that control Detroit?s debt, which now stands at some $12 billion. He boasted of reducing overall city spending from $1.4 billion in 2009 to $1.1 billion today. He proudly noted that he had reduced city payrolls from 13,420 to 9,696 and outsourced the work of three city departments, including the city?s Department of Health and Human Services.

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Source: http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/detroit-mayor-bing-defends-layoffs-pay-cuts/

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