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 ...
Clyburn is simply another union stooge, bought and paid for.
Just another in a series of steps to totally destroy America.
I was a volunteer fireman in a small town in west Tennessee.
Most towns would have no fire department at all, if not volunteer.
Granted . . . but his success still depends on that gang of six RINOs.
unization won’t kill volunteer fire departments - excessive rules and regulations will. you can’t even walk in off the street and volunteer without all sorts of rigamaarole, hoops to jump through, etc..
most people have better things to do with thier time than have to convince a township to accept their sacrifice of time and effort, not to mention the expenses volunteers bear.
I was wondering - what happens if a town/village has no fire department? Do their property insurance bills go out of sight? Will they just end up paying taxes to larger communities so they can get coverage from them?
26000 Volenteers Fire Co's.
50 Men per Co.
Check my math, but that's 1.3 mil new high paying jobs.
Opie really knows his dung.
It was mentioned in the article that many union firefighters volunteer their time to these small departments.
I like firefighters, but I can’t help noticing that they have hours and hours every week to fritter away at my local supermarket. Given their unusual work schedules, volunteering their time to communities without fire protection seems like a nice trade off.
Granted some good has come about safety wise, but the one size fits all attitude of bureaucracy is killing those small town departments.
Another member of the racist anti-American congressional black caucus strikes again.
We don’t have a fire department where I live. We rely on the volunteer departments of a half dozen neighboring townships.
It costs us some but not a great deal because many of the volunteers come from our township to begin with.
No it is not or yes it is, More sad news if it happens.
Just say NO!
No, they will have to leave their unprotected small town, which will return to nature or be turned over to big agra, and move to an apartment in the city where they can be watched and convinced to vote Democrap.
I’ve seen rural communities with volunteer fire departments respond to fires, put them out and save property.
I’ve seen similar unionized fire departments in the same county respond to a home fire, hookup their hoses to the mains, reducing the pressure in the area, then sit back and watch the fire burn the house down, and reply they were only there to make sure no other properties were jeopardized, while the home owner was standing there doing anything he could with a garden hose to put it out and the fire department wouldn’t lift a finger.
Community organizers only care about their communities, not about private property.
I don’t have much respect for county fire departments.
And God help the department if all the medical and training records don't have all the T's crossed and the I's dotted after an accident of any kind.
We live in a very small rural town, about 75 people. If our volunteer fire department goes away, our house insurance will sky rocket.
Also who will pay the union dues? These guys are not paid. Just another tax from the SOB's in Washington.
Unconstitutional!!!
The Feds DO NOT have the authority to make such demands on States and municipalities!
tearing down the american way of life one bill at a time....and they are ramming these bills thru in rapid fire succession....november can not get here soon enough....
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