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HAMTRAMCK—Mayor Gary Zych of Hamtramck continues to fight an uphill battle with the city council and employee unions over privatization of his city's garbage collection. Citizens are currently in the grip of a "garbage crisis" as rats have begun to infest trash that has not been picked up by city employees.
Why the crisis? According to Zych, union members are trying to protest low staffing levels in the trash collection department. A recent audit of Hamtramck says that the department is actually overstaffed. Workers for garbage collection often do not come into work and have been discovered in bars in the middle of the day and sitting in alleys for hours at a timethe real reason the garbage is not being taken out, Zych's office contends.
Zych's proposed solution is to privatize the city service. The city council refuses, claiming that union rules will not allow it. Zych also has proposed short-term contracting to take care of the work that unionized employees refuse to do. Councilman Michael Witkowski has expressed concern that the union will sue the city for bringing in outside help. "It'll cost the taxpayer a lot more money," Witkowski said. Meanwhile, garbage is piling up. Zych himself recently discovered a garbage truck sitting in his own alley for several hours during the workday, ignoring its route. Reporters from Hamtramck's newspaper, The Citizen, report garbage collectors screaming and spitting at them, threatening them, and putting a dead rat on their equipment.
The garbage woes come amidst a budget crunch arising out of a policy stalemate between the city council and the mayor's office over the city's $1.5 to $2 million debt. At press time, Gov. John Engler is considering whether or not to put Hamtramck into receivership and appoint a manager to take over the city's finances temporarily.
