(WSJ) Detroit was once Americas fourth largest city, though today large sections of its inner core are abandoned to the elements, and monuments like Michigan Central Station are returning to dust. Another emblem of civic decline is a plan to desert nearly half of Detroits public schools so that it can afford to fulfill its teachers union contract.
The school district is facing a $327 million deficit and has already closed 59 schools over the last two years to avoid paying maintenance, utility and operating costs. Under a worst-case scenario released this week by Robert Bobb, an emergency financial manager appointed by the state to resolve the Detroit education fisc, the district will close another 70 of its remaining 142 schools to save $31.3 million through 2013.
Additional savings of approximately $12.4 million can be achieved from school closures if the District simply abandons the closed buildings, the proposal explains, purging costs like boarding up buildings, storage and security patrols.
Steven Wasko, a spokesman for Mr. Bobb, said that urban property sales have been difficult, in part because until recently the state board of education banned transactions with competing educational institutions like charter schools. Once buildings are deserted, even if the doors and windows are welded shut with protective metal covers, scavengers break in and dismantle them for copper wire, pipes and so on.
Under the emergency plan, consolidated high-school class sizes would increase to 62 by 2014, consistent with what students would expect in large university settings. Yet under the terms of the Detroit Federation of Teachers contract, the district must pay bonuses for class enrollment over 35, thus imposing some $11.1 million in new costs through 2014.
Note that this dispensation carries about the same price tag as the school abandonment windfall: In other words, Detroit may end up destroying serviceable capital assets so it can pay its public workers more over the short term.
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OMG, I was telling someone the other day people who work for Grocery Stores and Fast Food need to organize. Auto workers did it and those auto companies had to pay profit sharing, fair wages, healthcare and even pensions. Now I'm not asking McD to give pensions or even 401K matching but they could pay better or give profit sharing when they make a profit. Sick days, vacation days, maternaty leave. It would be great if MCD and Walmart jobs turned out to be good paying jobs for blue collar workers. That would be a dream.
But, this is another example of why us voters are fucking idiots for voting Republican. We allowed Bush and Trump to pack the courts with right wing nut jobs.
The Trump Labor Board Is Making It Harder For Fast-Food Workers To Unionize | HuffPost
And what have we seen over the past few decades? We've seen a court that favors corporations over We the People every time.
The National Labor Relations Board is releasing a long-awaited rule that will make it harder for workers in fast food and other industries to bargain collectively, delivering another win for employers and a setback to worker groups.
The regulation will limit the scenarios under which corporations are considered “joint employers” alongside other companies they have a relationship with. For example, McDonald’s would likely not qualify as a joint employer with its franchisees, making it tougher for workers at different franchised restaurants to join together as employees of McDonald’s.
The new rule reverses a determination made five years ago, when the board had a majority of Democrats and tended to rule in favor of workers.
The previous, looser definition of joint employment had infuriated the fast-food industry because it put companies like McDonald’s and Burger King potentially on the hook for labor violations in franchised restaurants. It also opened the door to workers across entire brands coming together to improve their working conditions and possibly unionize.
See folks, Republicans are anti worker. This is just one way they've held wages down. And they've been attacking unions hard since 2000. Just watch all the anti union Republicans that will chime in next.
For example, McDonald’s would likely not qualify as a joint employer with its franchisees, making it tougher for workers at different franchised restaurants to join together as employees of McDonald’s.
Wow!
A common sense rule.
It's not common sense. It's bullshit. McD workers should be able to organize collectively against McD. HQ and Franchise owners. This just hurt workers. But of course you love that. You don't really want workers making more. We remember you hated Big 3 auto workers for how much they were being paid.
You, and the Supreme Court, will always side with corporations over workers. You love it that the corporations own the Supremes and that means labor is fucked.
No coincidence as union numbers went from 35% of the American workforce down to 10%,
In 2013 there were 14.5 million members in the U.S., compared with 17.7 million in 1983. In 2013, the percentage of workers belonging to a union was 11.3%, compared to 20.1% in 1983. The rate for the private sector was 6.4%
Today only 10% of American workers are in unions. And ever since this attack on unions, wag es have gone down. The middle class is not as well off today as they were when unions were strong. So don't blame Democrats for the struggling middle class when Republicans are anti labor and when corporations own Republicans.
I know nothing about McDonalds. But, I owned a Midas franchise for 13 years. I ran my business 100%. Midas had nothing to do with it.
Mark
Well if Midas wasn't paying it's employees well and they were making a huge profit I would like to see the workers organize and force you to pay them better. But I get the feeling people who work at Midas don't require much pay and those franchises probably don't make very much.
According to Business Insider, the average McDonald's restaurant takes in around $2.7 million a year in sales. ... Some McDonald's franchise owners are naturally going to make more than others, but most franchise owners still pull in an estimated yearly profit of roughly $150,000
mcd franchises make yearly - Google Search
Ok, so after seeing this, I don't think McD workers should organize. If the owner is only making $150,000 a year they shouldn't be making more than $10 hr.
What about Walmart?
With fiscal year 2019 revenue of $514.4 billion, Walmart employs over 2.2 million associates worldwide.
Walmart had a total of 11,766 stores throughout the world as of 2019.
What I like about Walmart and McD employees organizing is that these companies can't send the jobs overseas like car companies did. That's how they broke the UAW. If they were allowed to ship jobs overseas without being tariffed. If only Trump was president back in the 2000's when Bush was letting 750,000 jobs a month go overseas and not a peep out of him. They loved it because those were high paying union jobs.
What about Walmart?
With fiscal year 2019 revenue of $514.4 billion, Walmart employs over 2.2 million associates worldwide.
Why does their revenue matter?
What I like about Walmart and McD employees organizing is that these companies can't send the jobs overseas like car companies did.
Right. If you raise their costs too much, they'll just go out of business.