Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Roy Roberts is driving a $40,000 Chevy Tahoe,
paid for by the school district. Meanwhile, AFSCME Local 345, which represents workers making less than $20,000 per year as bus attendants, teachers' aides, and in food service, is
filing suit to prevent a
10 percent pay cut from going into effect later this month.
Three other unions representing school employees had filed suit earlier.
None of these people are getting rich right now, and a 10 percent pay cut combined with beginning to pay 20 percent of their health care costs is a big hit to take. Especially for the AFSCME workers:
Michele Lively, a lunchroom cashier at Northwestern High School in Detroit, said that with the cuts, she won't be able to afford her asthma medicine or health care for her daughter.
"We don't need a cut," she said. "We need a raise."
In addition to the lawsuits, there is a petition drive underway trying to repeal Public Act 4, the legislation that gives emergency managers enormous power over towns and school districts, including the power to change collective bargaining agreements.