Detroit MI - In response to Detroit City Council's foot dragging on the issue of placing sheriff deputies on the buses, Detroit's bus drivers walked out Wednesday. This move has been long in coming as the violence issue on Detroit's buses has been increasing for years yet the city has been reluctant to address the situation.
I have seen walk outs for ridiculous issues over the years at various transit systems but this is a serious issue and one that I do support the transit union on. City Council's lack of action for well over a year (a story I located in an archive search indicated the problem went back much further than that) spurred this move and perhaps it will motivate them to address the issue.
Then again, perhaps not. The procrastinating City Council immediately got on it's high horse and talked of intimidation by the union. "There is a way to lobby" stated Detroit Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins. Well Ms. Collins, they did lobby for well over a year and the City Council wouldn't listen.
A temporary fix went in to get the drivers back starting on Thursday. The fix is a one time deployment of the sheriff's deputies for 24 hours to "give Council the time to discuss the matter". There is no guarantee that the City Council will vote in favor of permanently placing deputies on the buses and I feel safe in saying that if there is actually a vote tomorrow on the issue, there will be plenty of council members that will want more time to drag their heels so they don't have to address the problem.
The drivers did what they had to do in this situation. The number of driver and passenger assaults is continuing to rise yet the politicians want to stall. Why? Most likely because the money used to pay for security will have to come from their pet projects and bus security won't generate the face time that pet community projects will.
I have seen walk outs for ridiculous issues over the years at various transit systems but this is a serious issue and one that I do support the transit union on. City Council's lack of action for well over a year (a story I located in an archive search indicated the problem went back much further than that) spurred this move and perhaps it will motivate them to address the issue.
Then again, perhaps not. The procrastinating City Council immediately got on it's high horse and talked of intimidation by the union. "There is a way to lobby" stated Detroit Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins. Well Ms. Collins, they did lobby for well over a year and the City Council wouldn't listen.
A temporary fix went in to get the drivers back starting on Thursday. The fix is a one time deployment of the sheriff's deputies for 24 hours to "give Council the time to discuss the matter". There is no guarantee that the City Council will vote in favor of permanently placing deputies on the buses and I feel safe in saying that if there is actually a vote tomorrow on the issue, there will be plenty of council members that will want more time to drag their heels so they don't have to address the problem.
The drivers did what they had to do in this situation. The number of driver and passenger assaults is continuing to rise yet the politicians want to stall. Why? Most likely because the money used to pay for security will have to come from their pet projects and bus security won't generate the face time that pet community projects will.
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