Monroe Dispatch - No Struggle, No Progress

City employees of Union no. 2388 affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees won a victory Tuesday night(April 12), when the members of the Monroe city council approved a contract passed by union membership. On a vote of 4-1( Dist. 3 Juanita Woods-no), there were applause from union members and representative present in council chambers, because the new contract had been a long time in coming. Those representative of AFSCME told council members that the votes showed that union members believed that the contract “was a good one), as the majority was in favor of council passage. But the issue of a pay increase that employees will enjoy was welcome news, as the current full time minimum wage will be $11.00 per hour. Council members were told that the contract “will benefit” the union members which were reflected in the votes. Also stipulated in the negotiations over the new contract, provision were inserted to meet between the city and the union to clear up any more issues should they arrive. But the past president of the union asked that members of the council table the contract passage until the next council meeting, because there were issues having to do with workplace discipline that could led to employee terminations. Robert Johnson said that he was not against the contract, saying that there were “flaws” that were comparable to other cities the size of Monroe. He said that the council shouldn’t let the union members be “blindsided” by money. After a lengthy discussion from questions by council members to those for/against the contract, it was approved.While council members may have settled one city dispute with the union involving its employees, there is still the matter of resolving union matters with the employees of Monroe Transit, who are not a part of AFSCME. Stanly Smalls, representing Monroe Transit, Amalgamated, told the council that his members are “at wit’s end” over what is continuing to occur at Monroe Transit. Smalls said that transit employees are “being abused” by an “overpaid contractor”(Marc Keenan), who do nothing but stalk the bus operators. He also said that an investigation was promised, but as of now, no union member has been contacted. Smalls was clearly stating that the city should seriously consider firing Keenan, as passengers “are tired” of the transit service under Keenan. He asked the council to imagine having buses, but no one to operate them, saying that the city does not appreciate the transit employees’ value to the city. Mayor Friday Ellis continues to receive heat from voices within the community, as the council representatives of Districts 3.4 and 5, made subtle comments towards the mayor without mentioning his name. Councilpersons Juanita Woods(3), Carday Marshall(4) and Kema Dawson(5), all expressed their disappointment by what Mayor Ellis had previous said regarding judges being soft on crime. They seemed to not have been pleased that Judge Larry Jefferson was seen as the scapegoat for judges being soft on crime when Ellis made his comments. The three councilpersons said that “blame is not the answer”, that we “must work together” as a community and support those who are working in the community to help bring about change. But community activist Verbon Muhammad was more direct in his comments at the speaker’s podium. Muhammad said the mayor “cannot categorize the situation as he has”, since judges can’t because of their positions, speak for themselves. He suggested that the city council and the mayor “have a talk together” on the matter. Leave Judge Jefferson out of it, was Muhammad’s message. He also said that the 20% reduction in crime in the city that Ellis mentioned, must have been “north of Forsythe”, meaning the city more affluent northside and not the southside where there is more crime. Muhammad then asked the mayor, as he has publicly stated for the need of innovative task forces to handle the city problems with crime especially on the southside, He called on “task forces” to tackle the flow of guns/drugs into the southside, as both of those must have a source. He also called for task forces to “better utilize” the community centers to help improve the quality of life on the southside. A task force to fight mental illness by building facilities, as the Ellis administration has been a “do next to nothing” one and that the community only heard about gun violence from him, was when police officers were shot at. Muhammad “invited” the mayor to come to the southside more often and work with his group. “We have techniques that can work”, said Muhammad. “We are tearing down our city”, Muhammad continued, “We are all divided”,