Detroit pensioners condemned by black fascist Kevyn Orr who is squandering millions in city tax dollars to destroy the lives of the people. The demonstration was held on August 5, 2013., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
August 5, 2013 at 11:05 pm
Detroit retirees protest emergency manager Orr's 'dumb, lazy' comment
Darren A. Nichols
The Detroit News
Detroit — A group of Detroit retirees gathered outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center on Monday to voice their opposition to comments by Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr that called city workers dumb and lazy.
About two dozen protesters held signs that read “I am not lazy,” “I earned my pension” and “I took concessions so I could keep my pension.” After about 40 minutes, they went up to the 11th floor office to confront Orr, but were turned away.
“I earned my pension. It was promised to us,” said Linda Lovelady, who retired in 2009 after 34 years in the city’s Finance Department. “We are not lazy, (and) we have more than an eighth-grade education. I expect them to uphold (their promises) and give it to me.”
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Orr said much of the city’s mounting debt that needs to be restructured is a result of complacency. Orr filed the country’s largest municipal bankruptcy July 18 to shed Detroit of nearly $20 billion in long-term debt and liabilities. He was appointed to take over city operations in finances in March, a year after a consent agreement with the state failed.
“For a long time the city was dumb, lazy, happy and rich,” Orr told told the Wall Street Journal. “Detroit has been the center of more change in the 20th century than I dare say virtually any other city, but that wealth allowed us to have a covenant (that held) if you had an eighth grade education, you’ll get 30 years of a good job and a pension and great health care, but you don’t have to worry about what’s going to come.”
Orr released a statement Monday that calls Detroiters hard working and resilient.
“Detroiters are and have been some of the hardest working, most resilient people in our state and across this country,” Orr’s statement said. “Focusing on solutions and not dwelling on blame or the past is what is needed and is going to move us forward, together.”
Detroit retiree pensions are at the center of the city’s municipal bankruptcy case. There are about 23,500 retirees with vested pensions who are being targeted for cuts during the bankruptcy case. Under Orr’s restructuring proposal, retirees are being offered a health care program that relies heavily on provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act, often referred to by opponents as Obamacare, and Medicare, the federal health care program for seniors.
Norman Siler Jr. called Orr’s comments “very degrading” considering the conditions he worked under in the Water and Sewerage Department for nearly 30 years. He points to working in 1993 in sub-zero weather for 60 days straight to repair major leaks and during a tornado in 1997.
“It’s dangerous work. We earned our money,” Siler said. “It was tough, but at least you knew when you’re done and retired, you’re going to get paid a certain amount of money and your pension would (sustain) you in your golden years. They want to renege on that promise and trust.”
Congressman John Conyers, D-Detroit, called Orr’s comments “unacceptable” and encouraged him to learn from Detroiters “who will live and die by the consequences of his decisions long after he has left.”
“He needs to realize that he is an unelected outsider, who when he departs from Detroit will leave to return to his business practice in Washtington, D.C.,” Conyers said in a statement. “ ... I would suggest that he spend his time and energy on protecting the interests of all Detroiters. If he wants to succeed, he will need to spend more time listening to the city’s residents, employees, and stakeholders, and less time pleasing the Wall Street Journal editorial board.”
On Friday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes adjourned Detroit’s second bankruptcy hearing after creating a committee to represent city retirees and hearing feedback from lawyers about the expedited deadlines he’s set for the case.
Rhodes said he would not decide who should serve on the retirees’ committee, leaving that the power in the hands of the U.S. Trustee, a branch of the Department of Justice that helps oversee administrative bankruptcy decisions.
Orr has also proposed a health care plan for current city employees that calls for about $12 million in savings annually while keeping premiums the same. Union leaders have said they don’t know how Orr came up with his figures. A health care plan proposed last year would save about $60 million, union leaders have said.
“Kevyn Orr is not Detroit. You did not put up with any of the things we put up with in Detroit,” said Michael Mulholland, president of AFSCME Local 207, which represents 950 workers in the city’s Water and Sewerage Department.
“For him to come in and say people are lazy and rich, come to my neighborhood. He flies back to Washington every weekend. We put him up in a fancy hotel, and he talks about being rich. Come to my neighborhood and let’s talk about richness.”
dnichols@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2072
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130805/METRO01/308050083#ixzz2bAF5daf0
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