Flint: A Tale of two Cities

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SOCIALIST ACTION FEBRUARY 2016 3 It [is] too much the way of [mainstream politi­ cians] to talk of this terrible [crisis] as if it were the only harvest ever known under the skies that had not been sown—as if nothing had ever been done, or omitted to be done, that had led to it— as if observers of the wretched millions … and of the misused and perverted resources that should have made them prosperous, had not seen it inev­ itably coming, years before and had not in plain words recorded what they saw.

— Charles Dickens, “A Tale of Two Cities”

Working people in Flint, Mich., are suffering mightily from the poisoning of the city’s wa­ ter supply that resulted from callous decisions by government officials—from the unelected emergency city manager, on up to the gover­ nor and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. All of these officials acted in the name of austerity and cutting costs. But as is so often the case, the tragedy in Flint is not merely the result of individual bad actors but flows from an economic system that pits the wealthy few at the top against the vast majority who work for a living.

Despite the fact that global wealth and U.S. labor productivity per capita have both been increasing exponentially for more than a generation, the small unelected handful of financiers and industrialists that own and control our economic and political sys­ tems—the so-called one percent—have been pro­ moting the narrative that times are hard and we must all tighten our belts. By “all” they mean everyone ex­ cept those “indispensible” titans of capital who are currently calling the shots.

But in reality, the wealth created for each man, woman and child in the U.S. (as measured by GDP per capita) increased from $13,933 in 1981 to $54,629 in 2014 (in constant 2015 dollars.) That’s an increase of 292 percent! For Tunisia, the increase in the same pe­ riod was 244 percent; for Greece it was 300 percent. Similar gains can be cited for other countries (source: World Bank). Collectively, the planet is awash in wealth.

Nevertheless, the false narrative of scarcity has been used to justify austerity in Greece, Spain, Portu­ gal, Ireland, France, elsewhere across Europe, and all throughout the U.S. And now we have Flint.

Between 2006 and 2013, overall revenue to the state of Michigan decreased by 25%. Since 2006, victory Democratic and Republican officials have appropri­ ated $6.2 billion in local sales tax and other revenue to cover state budget shortfalls. This has been done despite a law requiring those funds to be shared with municipalities. The result was predictable: city after city across the state—from Pontiac, to Lansing, to Detroit and Flint—has had to cope with calamitous budget deficits.

What caused the decline in revenue? In part, it was due to corporate tax giveaways approved by the previous Democratic governor. But the biggest fac­ tor in the budget squeeze has been the decline of the auto industry. From a peak of 1.5 million United Auto Workers union members in Detroit in 1978, the number crashed to 400,000 in 2013 as corporate ex­ ecs moved production south or overseas in search of cheaper, nonunion labor.

Then there was the auto industry bailout. In 2009, the federal government loaned $29.4 billion to GM and Chrysler on the condition that the UAW agreed to allow delays in payments to the union health fund for retirees, reduce payments to laid-off work­ ers and deepen the two-tier wage program enabling new hires to be paid less for the same work. Later, GM would receive another $36 billion as it entered bankruptcy. At its peak in 2003, the U.S. auto industry 55-day struggle to stop layoffs and win a pace-setting contract for restaurant workers, especially immigrant work­ ers. The workers were organized by the Laundry Workers Center (LWC), an in­ dependent, democratically run organi­ zation (www.lwcu.org).

Their inspiring fight was captured in the award-winning film, “The Hand that Feeds,” by Rachel Lears and Robin Blotnick (http://thehandthatfeedsfilm. com).

New York City’s Metropolitan Trans­ portation Authority, which operates the historic Grand Central Station, has approved a proposal for a high-end res­ Marty Goodman / Socialist Action (Above) Protesting Flint residents display a jar of brown-colored tap water.

employed 1.1 million workers. By 2006, 43% of those jobs had been eliminated.

Flint, with long ties to the auto industry, has felt the squeeze. Of the 80,000 Flint autoworkers in the 1970s, only 5000 remain.

A Michigan state law passed in 2011 allowed for the appointment of “emergency managers” to pre­ side over cities deemed insolvent. Once appointed, the emergency manager rules supreme. Elected of­ ficials—including the mayor, city council and school board—can do nothing without the manager’s ap­ proval. In April 2014, the bureaucrat that was im­ posed on the city of Flint switched the city’s water supply from the Detroit system to the Flint River, hoping to save a few bucks. What resulted was a mas­ sive epidemic of lead poisoning, due to the different chemistry in the Flint River and a long history of us­ ing the waterway as an indusstrial waste dump.

A September study by the Hurley Medical Center in Flint confirmed that the proportion of Flint children with elevated lead levels has nearly doubled since the water source was switched. The tap water drawn (continued on page 9, in “What will Sanders’ supporters do when he endorses Hillary Clinton?”)

taurant operated by restaurateur Claus Meyer. According to the MTA, Meyer is working with a group of investors rep­ resented by Brod Kitchen owner Hugo Uys, who orchestrated the deal. It is set to open in 2016. Is Brod Kitchen too broke to give workers a contract? Hard­ ly!

Recently, immigrant workers won another unionizing victory at B&H, a camera and electronics superstore on 34th St. in Manhattan. B&H warehouse workers, mostly immigrant Hispanics, faced racism, abusive conditions, and long workweeks. On Nov. 4, by a vote of 200 to 88, B&H warehouse workers won unionization with the United Steel Workers, in another hard-won organiz­ ing effort spearheaded by the LWC.

Like the Hot and Crusty struggle, B&H solidarity was built with rallies that in­ clude the mobilization of the workers themselves, a departure from union ral­ lies organized by bureaucrats.

The struggle against union busting at Brod Kitchen needs support from New York City unions, community, and stu­ dent groups. So far, transit workers, teachers, domestic workers and campus workers have joined the picket lines. But, unions need to mobilize the ranks. As a speaker from Domestic Workers United said at the end of the picket on Jan. 28, “My struggle is their struggle. Their struggle is my struggle.”

Keep the pressure on! Rehire the fired union workers! Contract now! Union-busting is disgusting! n