Abayomi Azikiwe, right, of the Moritorium Now Coalition talks with protestors gathered outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in downtown Detroit on Friday July 26, 2013 while opposing to pension cuts., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
August 22, 2013 at 5:50 pm
Nine people named to Detroit bankruptcy committee
Robert Snell and Christine Ferretti
The Detroit News
Detroit— Nine people, including several union leaders, were appointed Thursday to a committee that will represent more than 23,500 former municipal workers during Detroit’s historic bankruptcy case.
The appointments, revealed in a court filing, come two days after U.S. Trustee Daniel McDermott interviewed retiree applicants at U.S. District Court. About 90 people applied to serve on the retiree committee, which is expected to fight to preserve vested pension benefits targeted for cuts during the city's Chapter 9 bankruptcy case.
The members are (hometowns and backgrounds for all appointees were not immediately available):
■Edward L. McNeil, Detroit, Michigan, Retiree Sub-Chapter 98 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO
■Michael J. Karwoski, an attorney from Harrison Township who retired from the city law department last year.
During an earlier bankruptcy hearing, he pushed for diversity on the retiree committee.
“There should be a distinction between retirees who are drawing a pension and former employees and current employees who have vested interest in future benefits,” Karwoski said.
■Shirley V. Lightsey, a Southfield resident and president of the Detroit Retired City Employees Association.
Lightsey said she’s ready to speak for retirees.
“They have to have a voice at the table,” said Lightsey, a retired personnel manager from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.
Lightsey on Wednesday said the volunteer group was formed in 1960 to advocate for retirees and resolve their problems and concerns.
“We like to think of ourselves as the arm that helps our retirees,” said Lightsey, whose late father was a retired city bus driver in Detroit. “We are upset because of the pensions we feel that we earned and because of the medical they just seem to want to take away.”
The retiree associations contend that the pension benefits should not be impaired in the bankruptcy.
“Yes, the city is in trouble, but there are other things that have not been discussed or mentioned,” Lightsey said. “Why are you just sticking to pensions?”
Lightsey contends Orr and his team are here “to make a statement and bring Detroit into bankruptcy.”
“As far as I'm concerned, the American dream is gone. You’ve got states, you’ve got mayors and governors waiting to see what happens to Detroit,” she said. “In the meantime, the working people who think they have pensions throughout the country will no longer have that guarantee. In Detroit, you are going to see us either go down or stop it.”
■Terri Renshaw, an Onsted resident and former deputy corporation counsel for the Detroit law department.
■Robert A. Shinske, a Dearborn resident and treasurer of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 344. He is a 27-year veteran of the fire department.
The union said Shinske is well-suited to the committee and crediting him with helping negotiate a tentative agreement last year that was never implemented but would have saved the city about $30 million.
“He has an in-depth understanding of the issues at work in regards to the city’s finances,” the union said in a post on its Facebook page.
Shinske remains on active duty while no longer accruing pension benefits, the union said.
“This makes him an ideal representative on the committee, since he has first-hand knowledge of the complex set of issues impacting both active and retired members,” the union said.
■Donald Taylor,president of the Retired Detroit Police & Fire Fighters Association
■Gail Wilson Turner
■Gail M.Wilson
■Wendy Fields-Jacobs, International Union, UAW
The committee can hire lawyers and accountants to work on retirees’ behalf, McDermott said. The bills will be paid by the city.
Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes want to create the committee so retired workers who are not represented by unions can have a voice during the bankruptcy.
Orr has said he wants to pare an estimated $3.5 billion in pension debt — a figure the city’s pension funds dispute as overinflated by at least $2 billion.
The emergency manager contends federal bankruptcy laws empowering insolvent municipalities to cut debts override the constitutional protection of contractual pension obligations.
Orr has not proposed specific cuts for pensions, but he wants to lump the unfunded liability in with $11.5 billion in unsecured debts and pay those creditors a $2 billion settlement — about 17 cents for each dollar owed.
rsnell@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2028
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130822/METRO01/308220095#ixzz2ckSAsNpl
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