UPDATE: Busloads of Letter Carriers at Royal Oak Farmers Market to Protest Budget Cuts

About 300 letter carriers greeted visitors to the early this morning with signs, bullhorns and a message of protest against Gov. Rick Snyder's proposed budget cuts.

John Dick, a Royal Oak letter carrier and resident, organized the event, with the goal of getting 500 signatures on a petition protesting the governor's proposed budget. 

Dick, working with the Oakland County Action Team and the We Are the People coalition, said today’s effort included labors unions, workers, student groups, and seniors who oppose the governor's budget, viewing it as “an attack on the middle class.” 

“We are particularly disturbed by cuts in education," Dick said. “It’s an unfair shift in the tax burden.”

Three busloads of letter carriers took a break from their statewide National Association of Letter Carriers (NLAC) Convention in Troy to voice opinions about what they regard as giving CEOs “a $1.8 billion tax cut at the expense of seniors, children and families,” according to their petition. The group arrived at the Farmers Market at 7:15 a.m. with pickets.

Farmers Market Master Gwen Ross said she was “shocked” by the early morning turnout. She said she had believed today’s event was sponsored by the post office and that the group would simply be passing out literature. “I did not know they were planning a protest," she said.

Ross was concerned the group did not pick up a packet from the Royal Oak Police Department with strike/protest/demonstration applicable laws and ordinances, and the called the police to come and “set them straight.”

Dick said he “never used the words ‘post office’. I told her it was a letter carrier event.” Dick had talked to police and had the demonstration packet with him.

Ed Klein chairs the Oakland County Action Team. He said when police showed up they had a conversation that included Ross. Ross expressed concerns that the group was “blocking access to the market”

“She was also concerned that the perception to folks driving down 11 Mile was that we were picketing the market," Klein said. “When we heard that we changed one of our chants to ‘Where do we shop? The Farmers Market!’”

When they told Ross the protesters would only be there for about an hour, everyone was agreeable, Klein said.

Several vendors expressed support for the protesters, but there were marketgoers who complained to Ross, she said, particularly about the use of bullhorns. 

Klein believed the group would easily exceed their goal of 500 signatures. “Over half of the people who stop by and talk to us, sign our petition," he said.

April Smith of Royal Oak is a retired school teacher. She signed the petition, saying “the tax shift to the people – who can least afford it – is unconscionable. The priorities are all wrong.”

Bob McComb of McComb’s Construction is a regular vendor at the market. He did not agree with today’s picketers.  “I support the governor wholeheartedly," he said. “No one wants to get cut. But if we don’t change something, things will never get better.”

Corrections: Ed Klein's name was misspelled and where he lives was incorrect. Both have been corrected.