‘No to bankruptcy! Make the banks pay!’

More than 150 community residents packed a town hall meeting at People’s Community Services in Hamtramck, Mich., on Jan. 6 to tell the mayor, the city manager and the city council that bankruptcy is not an option for the city. Due to the banks robbing the city’s residents through extravagant interest rates on bonds and other financial instruments, devastating the city through foreclosures, and local corporations such as American Axle and General Motors either not paying taxes to the city at all or otherwise paying just a pittance, Hamtramck has a supposed $3 million deficit for this fiscal year.

Hamtramck, Mich., Jan. 6.

The city manager claims that the city will not be able to pay its bills by March and is thus requesting of the state to file for bankruptcy which, if granted, could possibly void the city’s labor contracts, which would, in turn, put current and retired union workers’ pensions (deferred wages) and other benefits at risk.

If Hamtramck was allowed to file for bankruptcy, this could most likely set in motion a slew of other cities attempting the same under pressure by the banks to seize workers’ pensions with the ultimate goal of busting public-sector unions. Articles in the capitalist media such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times in December and early January pointed this out. Another option by the city manager is that loans to the city from the same banks who’ve pillaged the city, could also come with high interest rates.

Hamtramck, a city of 22,000 in the middle of Detroit, is one of the most ethnically diverse U.S. cities with at least 22 languages being spoken and also one of the poorest cities in the U.S. Residents of the city also have a rich history of struggle against the banks and corporations. This was evident at the town hall meeting on Jan. 6 as residents, along with members of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition, held signs reading, “Bankruptcy was never an option,” and instead demanding, “Make The Banks Pay.”

The leaflets being distributed by organizers declaring “Make The Banks Pay” also invited the city’s residents to a Jan. 10 Moratorium NOW! organizing meeting, and this received a hearty response from poor and working people attending the city hall meeting, as did some of the solutions being offered by organizers. These include making residents of the city and public-sector workers primary creditors; researching the tax abatements and tax incremental financing monies received, and promises made by corporations based in Hamtramck, in particular American Axle and General Motors; and making the banks pay.

— Report and photo Bryan G. Pfeifer