16 bargaining union contracts in the city of Detroit were revoked by city Mayor Dave Bing Tuesday evening. The mayor says that the city remains willing to work with the unions but the interim will not collect dues for the unions. In other words, dues will no longer be automatically taken out of the paychecks of employees associated with these sixteen unions. Now, the unions will have to mail dues bills directly to employees, making them more difficult and more work to collect. The city has threatened to do the same for the rest of the city's unions if agreements are not reached within the next thirty days. The unions have called this deadline random and irrelevant.
See "Some city union contracts nixed", Zlati Meyer, Detroit Free Press, October 20, 2009