No Detroit layoffs planned, despite wage-cut deadline

David Josar / The Detroit News

Detroit -- Mayor Dave Bing may have backed down from his latest threat to terminate union contracts, impose concessions and lay off workers in his battle with organized labor over city finances.

At an Oct. 6 press conference, the mayor gave the unions a 30-day deadline to accept a 10-percent pay cut in exchange for 26 furlough days. If not, he said, he would void their contracts and terminate more employees.

Today, the mayor's press secretary, Ed Cardenas, said there are no planned layoffs in the immediate future.

"Negotiations are ongoing," he said.

Catherine Phillips, the lead negotiator for AFSCME, the largest of the city's 50 unions with about 3,500 members, said she plans to keep working with the city to reach some sort of consensus.

"This is more of the same bully tactics," she said, adding that Bing has repeatedly promised one thing and then backed away at the last minute. "We are willing to negotiate. They refuse to budge."

Bing tried to start the process of terminating the contracts last month when the city stopped withholding union dues from employee paychecks. However, the union sued saying that was illegal, and on Wednesday, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Amy Hathaway ordered the city to again withhold the dues and to make no other changes pending an expedited arbitration hearing.

Cardenas has declined to comment on the impact of that court decision because it is part of an active legal case.

This is the third time Bing has vowed workers would lose their jobs unless he received concessions.

The first occurred in early September, when he said Department of Transportation workers would lose their jobs. He briefly backed off.

The second time occurred in late September, when he withdrew 381 layoff notices.

Bing has said the city has to cut costs to prevent the city from going into receivership. His team of advisers says Detroit could face a $750 million deficit in two years if drastic changes aren't made.

djosar@detnews.com