Detroit public school workers face new concessions threat

Talks between the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), representing some 6,500 Detroit educators, and the school district are at a virtual standstill with less than two weeks remaining before teachers must report to work. With a mass membership meeting scheduled for Sunday, August 27, in which teachers will vote to either strike or begin the school year, it is unlikely that a tentative agreement will be reached.

A reactionary anti-strike law prohibits work stoppages by teachers and other state employees in Michigan. However, in 1999 Detroit teachers engaged in a nine-day strike against an attempt to impose concessions and work rules changes. No penalties were imposed by the state at that time.

So draconian are the district’s current concessions demands, that if teachers were to accept the cuts only from their pay to match the $89 million claimed by schools CEO William Coleman, the result would be a 15 percent pay reduction. For many teachers this would result in a potentially catastrophic decline in living conditions.

However, a large segment of the concessions could come in the form of increased premiums for medical, dental and optical care. Up until now, Detroit teachers have enjoyed medical care comparable only to that found in the auto industry. But the collaboration between the UAW and General Motors that resulted in a sharp jump in premiums paid by both working and retired auto workers in 2005 has established a framework for the rolling back of past gains in medical coverage that the Detroit school district is undoubtedly examining very carefully.

While DFT President Jana Garrison claims that the union is negotiating for a multiyear agreement, with no additional concessions, she has already made clear the intention of doing away with traditional Blue Cross/Blue Shield medical care in favor of the cheaper, and certainly less comprehensive, medical services offered by HMOs (health maintenance organizations). While it is likely that the large number of older teachers in the DPS will see their medical programs altered substantially with higher premiums and co-pays, it is the younger, newer and probationary teachers who will be saddled with the substandard medical care that many HMOs are notorious in providing.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/aug2006/detr-a16.shtml