Detroit’s public sector workers have won a battle in a months-long war with Mayor Dave Bing. The recently re-elected mayor had threatened for a month to terminate contracts if city unions didn’t accept his proposed 26 furlough days—amounting to a 10 percent wage cut. He tried to make good on that threat in late October, moving to impose terms on AFSCME District Council 25, which represents 3,500 Detroit workers.
Before the trick or treating began last Saturday in Chicago, 65 labor activists met at the United Electrical Workers hall to tackle the “zombie economics” of the free market, which has put the Illinois budget on its back.
