Michigan workers, students protest economic injustices

Students say NO to education cuts

Hundreds of students rallied at Wayne State University in Detroit Nov. 23 to protest the elimination of the Michigan Promise Scholarship and other education cuts by the state legislature.

Students demanded an immediate reinstatement of the Promise Scholarships, which provide between $1,000 and $4,000 in assistance for 100,000 college students from low-income households. Students at the rally testified that they had received letters from the state ordering them to return funds they had already received! This outrageous act by the state was denounced at the rally and met by chants of “No cuts, no fees—education should be free!”

After the rally a delegation of students marched through campus and briefly took over various streets, where they were threatened with arrests by campus and Detroit police. The students faced down the cops, chanting, “This is the hour for student power!”

International workers’ solidarity

Canadian Auto Workers Local 195 and their supporters from Canada and the U.S. held a press conference and rally at Comerica Bank in downtown Detroit Nov. 24. Canadian workers at Aradco and Aramco, a division of Catalina Precision, have been denied their severance, termination and vacation pay by Comerica Bank, a Catalina creditor. Workers are owed $2.4 million Canadian.

“We are targeting Comerica because they are the ones holding the purse strings for Catalina. Comerica is the major creditor, looking to sell off or auction off the assets in both of these facilities in order to attempt to recoup any debt Catalina owes them. Yet the workers have not received a penny from this employer or Comerica,” said CAW Local 195 president Gerry Farnham at the rally. Comerica received $2.3 billion in bailout funds from the federal government in 2008 through the Troubled Assets Relief Program.

Two plants based in Windsor, Ontario, employed 80 members of CAW Local 195. Catalina, which made parts for Chrysler, shut down the two plants in March. At that time the workers occupied the plant to prevent the machines from being moved.

On Nov. 16 the workers and their supporters formed a human chain around the plants to prevent potential buyers of the machines from viewing the equipment. The next day the workers shut down an auction at a local hotel by taking over the room where the auction was to be held.

Farnham told the media, “It’s not often in recent years that we have been able to pull together a demonstration involving supporters of workers’ rights on both sides of the border.”

Other speakers included Jerry Diaz, assistant to the national CAW president; Mike Melo, CAW chairperson at Aramco; Dave Ivers of Metro Detroit AFL-CIO; John Riehl of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207; David Sole of United Auto Workers Local 2334; Abayomi Azikiwe of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs and the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice; Wendy Thompson of the Auto Workers Caravan and former president of UAW Local 235 at American Axle; and Michael Wells, a whistleblower fired from Comerica.

In a historic and momentous act of international workers’ solidarity, the United Electrical workers Local 1110 from Chicago sent a $300 donation to CAW 195. “We are proud that you have decided to fight for what you are owed,” UE 1110 said in a statement read at the rally. “We also faced a similar problem when our company, Republic Windows and Doors, closed without paying us our vacations, severance and insurance. Bank of America, who foreclosed the company, refused to pay what we were owed. We occupied that factory and won. With unity and aggressive struggle you will win too.”

Restaurant workers protest

The Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan formed in June 2008 and is waging a campaign against the Andiamo restaurant chain. ROC-MI charges that Andiamo has robbed tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid wages from workers; is guilty of discriminatory employment practices at the restaurants; forced workers to work unpaid overtime; and has illegally fired workers, among other violations.

On Nov. 5 about 100 workers and community supporters delivered a letter to Andiamo management demanding a meeting to discuss the grievances of workers from the “front and back of the house,” meaning cooks, servers, bussers and hosts. Andiamo refused to respond, so a protest was held Nov. 19 in front of one of the restaurants. After these actions, Bertha Piña, a mother of five children and a six-year employee at Andiamo, was summarily fired for what ROC-MI says is her participation in fighting against Andiamo’s workplace practices.

A mass protest took place in front of Andiamo in Dearborn, Mich., Nov. 24 in response to the firing of Piña and Andiamo’s refusal to respond to ROC-MI. A loud, multinational crowd of more than 150 participated in moving picket lines for more than two hours. ROC has filed an Unfair Labor Practice and other legal charges against the restaurant and is discussing its next actions in an effort to achieve justice for all of the Andiamo workers.