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Water Department Workers Strike In Del Ray

DETROIT (WWJ) - Some of the city's Water Department workers took to the picket line outside the waste water treatment plant in Del Ray on Sunday.

Members of the department's largest union are striking in protest of a proposal to cut 80 percent of the department's workers.

Susan Ryan is with AFSCME 207 and says the judge who ordered the department's reorganization is acting illegally.

"He has set the terms of our contract telling us that we are going to lose our jobs, and have our classification replaced," said Ryan. "He says we are going to have to lose our pensions, lose our health care ..."

The union represents nearly half of the department's employees.

A worker at the plant says upper management is being called in to cover the shifts and they'll likely be working 12-hour days.

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