Michigan Welfare Rights Organization

Linking up the struggles!                                        

                                       "You get what you are organized to take!"

Welcome to the MWRO website! Your have entered the only website in Michigan dedicated to welfare recipients, low-income workers, and economically disenfranchised residents of this state. Help us fight the cuts and attacks against the poor!

WE ARE MARCHING!

INTO BATTLE! A MILLION WORKERS! ALL AROUND!

The striking American Axle workers have asked those who support their just cause to demonstrate as planned – Friday April 18^th , at 11:30am…Local 235, Holbrook just east of the I-75 (Chrysler) Freeway.

Let's show our gratitude to them for standing up in the face of this corporate attack, and thank them for striking to secure decent wages for us all.  We show unity in this struggle or we risk our children and grandchildren living in a world were they work 40 hrs. without benefits, & without decent wages, while the company bosses get million dollar salaries & stock options at our expense.  Are your children worth this fight? You choose...which side are you on!

COME JOIN WITH OTHERS AND TESTIFY AT THE

TRUTH COMMISSION FOR WATER RIGHTS (flyer)

Are you being denied your human right to water?

Are you in danger of having your water shut off?

Have your overdue water bills been put on your property taxes?

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

SATURDAY, MAY 3, 2008

View the trailer, Water Warriors, about Highland Park residents' determination to fight for affordable water rates, against privatization, and address the City's financial mismanagement.

Coming Soon! New documentaries about water shut offs in Detroit and Highland Park, and the daily struggles faced by poor and low-income people who must find ways to survive without water in their homes.

A World Without Water, a new film from Truevision TV in London about the international poor peoples' fight for water, including Detroit. View the trailer. Read the Michigan Citizen story about this film, and an interview with the producer.

  WATER NEWS

A BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT: We Welcome the Water Affordability Plan!
By Maureen D. Taylor
Michigan Welfare Rights Organization

Reposted from the Michigan Citizen 8/27/06

Dear Detroiters! Finally, the “little” one is about to arrive after so long a wait, and we are happy to announce this birth! This has been a complicated pregnancy, requiring the entire city to go on bed-rest to guarantee a live and healthy delivery. Questions of paternity, and even maternity were and still are being raised by those who want to claim this delivery, but we know who it belongs to!

“Baby-daddy” concerns are not new, but we have been able to over-look these distractions and stay focused on this coming birth, and the water has started to break.

The three mid-wives on Detroit City Council, nurses [JoAnn] Watson, [Barbara Rose] Collins and [Brenda] Jones, have led the process to sign off on the Plan, and despite attempts to harm this infant development by the Water Dept., we are close to the roll-out date.

Now, this is not the child we were praying for, but it is the one that we are delivering. It’s not as tall, or as deep, or as wide as we wanted, but it is the one that survived all harmful attempts. It’s a Caesarian birth, because a natural process was prevented. Here is what your baby looks like.

The “birth” announcements are starting to surface in your homeowner water bills, and the language is alarming on purpose. The birth-parents agreed to ask each bill payer to agree to a $1/month extra charge, or $12/year which would go into a fund. The Water Dept. has already put in $5 million dollars to start this fund, and will put in that same minimum amount every year.

What you contribute is that $12 per resident household which is the foundation of the Water Affordability Plan. Here’s what happens next.

All residential water customers who earn up to 175 percent over the national poverty level are eligible for enrollment into the Plan. These households would be entitled to pay a monthly, small amount, which would be matched (in part) from the foundation dollars and that amount would be their water payment.

Those who have no water service, would be reconnected, and there would be NO MORE mass water disconnections in Detroit because people are too poor to pay.

Those who earn more than 175% over the poverty level would be offered entry into the program at a slightly higher rate per month.

There is a similar structure set up for schools, for churches, for small and large businesses as well, as baby is inclusive. In the next few weeks, we will print the telephone number in the Michigan Citizen where residents can call for enrollment steps.

The Water Affordability Plan took many years, many months, many anxious moments along the way. We have parted company with old friends and made new ones while we stood and protected this new initiative.

Soon, we will be the proud parents of a newborn and all should stand in wonder at what Detroit has done. This birth is being announced all over the state, so cloning is on the way. Marianne would be so happy.

Congratulations, Detroit!
 

Messages to the Grass Roots

'Cipients Speak!

by Maureen D. Taylor, State Chair, MWRO

THE DAY LABOR GOT PUNKED!!

September 5, 2006-The days of union solidarity among organized labor is almost gone.  The death knell rang slowly but loudly as Detroit staged the worst, most unorganized worker celebration in memory.  In years past, labor both organized and unorganized took over Woodward Avenue for the duration of the Labor Day Parade events, and our families stood along the sidewalks waiting for us to appear in mass.  We had courage, we had depth, we had commitment and we were a galvanizing force with a clear and unequivocal message  - we built this country, and we plan to keep it!

WHEN DID SPINA BIFIDA SET IN? This dreaded disease attacks the spinal cord and renders total paralysis, which is what we witnessed in Detroit, this Labor Day, 2006.  Local authorities in charge of march permits set the tone by making workers march only on one side of Woodward, when we ALWAYS took over the entire street in years past.  The Teamsters trucks used to start the march with side-by-side rigs driving south to lead the parade, their horns blaring the sounds of strength.  All labor vehicles in the Detroit parade were directed off Woodward Avenue at Grand Circus Park except for the car Martha Reeves was in, and when the marshals were asked why she was allowed to ride down Woodward, it was because they were told to let the “dignitaries” go through.

Such is the state of organized labor. Why are we surprised at the dwindling membership given the pitiful, paltry, spineless, pathetic performance provided this day, a day that is sacred and important in the history of working people?  WHERE THE HELL IS THE RANK & FILE?

I heard someone say that the union movement should just go join AARP where at least they would get better representation.  The Detroit Teachers Union is out on a critical protest, suggesting that they are picketing on behalf of our children and for generations of teachers to come.  Where the hell were they this morning?  Thousands of striking educators should have been LEADING this damn parade with handfuls of information to pass out. AWOL! Thousands of airline flight attendants are out on a critical protest, suggesting that they are picketing for the greater good of airline employees everywhere as they demand fair wages. Where the hell were they this morning?  AWOL!  Workers in every venue are under attack with wages, with benefits, with pensions, with rights to unionize, and we walk on this day, with our guts missing in action – our man and womanhood eviscerated. 

Workers, all we have is our ability to work in exchange for a fair wage and for a chance that our children can experience better than what we have.  We must fight for a quality of life that insures such an existence.  When we reach that point where such a vision under current conditions is no longer possible, workers must move to make Detroit live up to her potential, for to do less makes us less than human beings.  We are afraid to sign recall petitions, afraid to sign-up to help impeach President Bush, afraid to march on both sides of Woodward.  Maybe, we just don’t care anymore. Happy Labor Day, Detroit!

On 6/14/06, MWRO hosted a People's Meet and Greet Celebration for the Ambassador of Venezuela, Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, and his delegation. Click here for more information about this historic event!

Get Involved! Check out the calendar for upcoming actions and events! Read more about Welfare Rights on Immigrant Rights

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