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Detroit Workers Wait for The Ax to Fall

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Things in the city of Detroit are getting tense as many of the cities workers begin to wonder when it is that they will be out of a job. The city is bracing for major layoffs and since at the moment the city is not giving out a lot of information about the nature of what is to come. With their finical situations in limbo and job prospects slim in the general job market, the workers are understandably on edge.

The city is looking to get rid of a minimum of 1,000 workers in order to save itself from finical ruin and at the current moment no one feels safe in their job. The cuts will have to be made sometime around the New Year, otherwise the city will not be able to meet its budgetary needs. That means that the axe will be coming in the near future.

Even the many people who would usually be exempt from such layoff fears, such as police officers and fire fighters, have cause to worry as many other cities have been laying off law enforcement and fire professionals left and right in order to  keep their budgets balanced.  Since no word has been given on who will lose his or her work everyone is worried.

A local reporter, for detnews.com hooked up with local workers to get an idea of how they are feeling. One such worker, Penny Allen told that reporter the following, “This is mental stress with the fact that we’re trying to cope with the people, but at the same time it’s more stress not knowing if we’re going to have a job. We don’t make enough money to go through the stuff that we go through. I’ve talked to some of my co-workers, and some of them are so worried that they are just panicking.”

Some of you may recall our earlier coverage of the layoffs in the city of Detroit, “While many cities are looking at layoffs as their first, last and only choice the City Council for Detroit is considering a second option, one that is much more ambitious, but could leave the city without several public services. The plan includes the following measures:

– Closing all of the city’s recreation centers.
– Making cuts to the police and firefighter’s budgets. (Specifics were not discussed, but staff reduction could also be included in this part of the plan.)
– Selling off parking lots owned by the city to private companies that can make a profit off of the parking fees.
– Eliminating all of the subsidies to local museums as well as to the Detroit Zoo.

The members of the city council were well aware of the fact that the cuts could have a real impact on the quality of life for their residents, but stressed that these changes were truly needed in order to keep the city from running out of money by April.”

While many people are  waiting, only one group of people really knows who will be out on the street, Mayor Dave Bing and the City Council.

Detroit Workers Wait for The Ax to Fall by
Authored by: Harrison Barnes