Posted on 06/30/2010 4:35:12 AM PDT by chickadee
Volunteer fire departments are about as American as apple pie. But under legislation moving quickly in Congress, this staple of American life could soon be a thing of the past.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D.-S.C.) wants to include the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act as part of the war supplemental coming before the House this week. The bill forces state and local governments to collectively bargain with police, firefighters and emergency workers. Its critics say it would compel volunteer firefighters to join unions, threatening the survival of America's nearly 26,000 volunteer fire departments.
The act would affect some states more than others. In North Carolina and Virginia, for example, collective bargaining is currently prohibited. Eighteen other states have limitations on bargaining. The legislation would likely force those governments to abandon merit-based promotions for public safety workers and shift instead to a collectively bargained seniority schedule, which unions prefer.
By including the legislation in the much larger supplemental appropriations bill, which funds the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Clyburn would avoid a contentious fight with conservatives and appease unions with a legislative victory.
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
How quickly can we all become like Virginia and North Carolina?
How quickly can we all become like Virginia and North Carolina?
Sneaky scumbags are trying to force the entire country into a union so they can extort dues.
That may work in Virginia where the counties are so tiny. But look at Arizona, only 16 counties.
We live in New Mexico and our county is basically a square, but is 3,346 square miles in size.
Uhmmm....maybe you should check into it more. Its 24 on 48 off. That means calls off and on for 24 hours straight where I work with maybe a couple hours sleep total.
And yes many do have second jobs because they want to get ahead in life and provide for their families and the pay isnt all that good. What in the hell is wrong with working two jobs?
If you see two fire trucks at the same store its sometimes because the store is the closest to to stations and they both shop there. You see it everyday because there is a diffferent shift everyday and they all have to buy food for at least two meals.
Im betting “hours and hours frittered away at the store” is another exaggeration on your part right? You see, they all carry radios and are available for a call from there just like they are at the fire station. In fact I cant count the number of times we have been almost ready to check out and gotten an emergency call and left everything in the cart and taken off running. The store clerks are always understanding and roll our cart to the freezer till we get back, sometimes two hours later.
But, if several of the cities in a county had ambulance stations, they could serve the county, couldn’t they? With the economic crunch, we are all going to have to look for fresh ways to get needed services at an efficient cost. The last thing needed is more regulations from Washington getting in the way and feathering the municipal unions’ nest.
Does anyone but me see why we have to take control of our government to end this insanity?? The legislative process will NEVER undo what the trifecta (zero, Reed and Pelousy) have done to destroy America. They may undo tiny pieces, but the bulk will remain in effect forever.
END IT NOW!!!!
And massive tax increases to small towns with little or no tax base.
DEMOCRAT - COMMUNIST
Ask him if he cares.
They do not have the authority to pass 90% of the legislation they pass every year, yet they keep passing it and we keep obeying.
It's more like they know the end is near and this is their last chance to get things passed. Ironically it was democrats huge win that turned people against public unions with democrats. They are now seen as the problem now that Bush and Republicans are out of the way. If Republicans were in charge they would still be seen as the problem.
Representative Clyburn is certainly a piece of work, a true apotheosis of a Democrat in action.
Another of his flops: Clyburn mistake sends $100,000 to California — somehow, money for a library in tiny little Jamestown, S.C., was instead sent to Jamestown, California.
And he has been the champion of the "Clyburn Connector", an inane bridge pork-barrel project — and in a state with so many bridges that have pressing need for critical maintenance to be done on them, this is even more boneheaded than his usual clownish ways.
He's profligate enough with our public money that CAGW Names Rep. Clyburn Porker of the Month back in November of 2007.
Cities??? We have three towns in our county, populations of 1,100, 1,600, and 1,700. The distance between them is 25 miles and 40 miles. There is ambulance in one because it is on I40 and serves about 60 miles of the freeway. The closest city to us is Albuquerque, 80 minutes away. There is just no economic justification to have several stations throughout this county.
And other counties are even more sparsely settled.
Thanks for the info - I had no idea that the wide open spaces were so, uh, wide.
I am going to have to think that people willing to live so far from city services are very self sufficient. That’s not good for Democrats.
Help the unions, who cares if someone burns to death cause the local fire volunteers are prohibited from helping.
You got that right. Meanwhile, obamacare will do even more to destroy the economies of states who are trying to maintain more responsible budgets.
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