Protest erupts at Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's community meeting

Detroit union workers, police officers, firefighters protest mayor's cuts to pay, benefits

DETROIT – Detroit Mayor Dave Bing was met by angry protesters Thursday night at a public community meeting in the city's Midtown neighborhood.

Detroit police officers, firefighters and other union workers are enraged over being forced to pay 20 percent of their health care costs on top of a 10 percent pay cut. They let the mayor know how they feel.

The mayor and his staff could barley get a word in as the crowd chanted.

"If we want to have a meeting, we have to be respectful of each other," Bing said as the crowd chanted.

Related: Detroit union workers rally in protest of cuts to pay, benefits

Union workers and family members went to the meeting to vent.

The reality of the situation is the city of Detroit has a $200 million budget deficit. The cuts to union workers' pay and benefits will shave $100 million off that deficit.

"We can do nothing and just wait until we just run out of cash and then everybody will be out of work," said Detroit CFO Jack Martin.

Everyone is angry and blaming Bing.

"There is no way we can fix this city without everybody participating," the mayor said.

More: Detroit City in Crisis section


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