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Outcry over firefighters making up to $400,000
CBS ^ | 3/4/2017 | staff

Posted on 03/04/2017 6:57:28 PM PST by bkopto

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61 posted on 03/04/2017 9:49:50 PM PST by musicman (The future is just a collection of successive nows.)
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To: stevio

At $180k, moonbeam is paid 10X what he is worth. A raise? Snort!!


62 posted on 03/04/2017 10:45:21 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: bkopto
Fire Fighting as in going in and battling the blaze is a young man to at tops early 50's job in age ability. California especially the Bay area as I understand it has a very high cost of living. The fireman like our military due to age and wear and tear on their bodies {remember there is also lot's of required practice training} will take it's physical toll much like military jobs will.

The article is somewhat misleading when you factor in retirement comes from this amount as well. They earned their pension. They unlike Moonbeam actually serve a useful purpose for the good of all.

Actually there are many places for years where craft level non management workers made more than their bosses by working lots of overtime. My dad did it. He was a 45 year Ma Bell employee whom retired as a service tech working outside on data circuits his last few years there. When I was growing up dad did a lot of 13 straight day stints working 8-12 hour days. He made more than his boss who has about as much seniority.

My last job I counted on overtime to nearly double my income to a liveable wage and a I was skilled Jack of all Trades maintenance mechanic and boiler operator. My last year and a half I put in a lot of it and it made a difference on my disability check. BTW I've been a fireman as well but not in civilian life. I was a One on One {Navy fire fighting term for #1 nozzleman on #1 hose}.

63 posted on 03/05/2017 4:11:51 AM PST by cva66snipe ((Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?))
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To: sheana; boycott
Reno has it's share of FF’s that make big bucks also - by exploiting a loophole in their union contract. If one calls in sick to one assignment at a station then his buddy calls in sick at another station they then cross over and fill in on overtime while collecting sick pay from the first assignment.

I actually don't blame the FF’s. I blame the city manager that negotiated the contract and the stupid city council that approved it. The city manager has since resigned over sexual allegations from his staff.

64 posted on 03/05/2017 4:22:09 AM PST by mad_as_he$$ (Watching Obama tap dance.)
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To: sheana

It’s not so much about worth as affordability. In mosts necks of the woods, that kind of compensation is unsustainable.


65 posted on 03/05/2017 4:28:57 AM PST by mewzilla (I'll vote for the first guy who promises to mail in his SOTU addresses.)
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To: al baby

What’s an excetaline welding outfit ?

I hope you aren’t too stupid to figure that out.


66 posted on 03/05/2017 4:35:32 AM PST by Rannug ("all enemies, foreign and : domestic")
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To: bkopto

Sound like it’s not a pay issue, but a benefits issue...

I have no problem if a veteran firefighter is making a nice fat paycheck...it’s not like just any smo can walk in and do what they do...

Streamline the benefit packages to more private sector limits...

Of course at some point math will rue the day when the money runs out...


67 posted on 03/05/2017 5:05:30 AM PST by Popman
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To: supremedoctrine

“They have their own language and their own universe, well-protected against ours.”

Their universe is funded by ours.

My town has a bloated paid fire department that is a holdover from our manufacturing days (when those firms bore the brunt of the taxes and used most of the services). Now it is primarily residential, but has kept all four firehouses - and most days the firemen just sleep away their shifts. The fact that so many have second jobs (often in the building trades) indicates how draining their firefighting duties are; a former classmate that got on the “workfare” dole preached about the need for paid fire departments before moving his family on to two successive towns with volunteer departments. He doesn’t want to pay the scammers, just collect as one. They resist regionalization, though that is the only practical solution to prevent the flight of American taxpayers and companies from the financial burdens these people inflict on them. Departments should be a hybrid of paid and volunteer, and they should also assume EMS duties - then the paid firemen MIGHT have a full-time job.


68 posted on 03/05/2017 5:49:00 AM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: sheana

My replies have been sarcasm.

Obviously the firefighters positions are way, way, way, over compensated.

What job gets 400 applicants for 10 positions? BTW, here in the Rockies it’s more like a thousand applicants per position.

What kind of job? A job that pays way too much.

Cut their salaries in half, and our taxes will go down.

I can spend that money much more wisely than they can.


69 posted on 03/05/2017 7:25:27 AM PST by Balding_Eagle ( The Great Wall of Trump ---- 100% sealing of the border. Coming soon.)
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To: kearnyirish2

Thank you-—you said a lot. Meanwhile the absolute deification of firefighters continues apace.By now, it’s a conditioned response, their saintliness silently evoked in comparison to the ambivalence most are taught to feel about Police Officers. The high regard they’re held in is in DIRECT proportion to what SHOULD be a more sober, objective and measured evaluation of them, what they do, and how they might actually EARN their considerable pay. This is a rich field for analysis, and fraught with irony, this Cops/Firemen narrative.


70 posted on 03/05/2017 2:22:11 PM PST by supremedoctrine ("If you want to be able to predict the future, first you have to create it"---Lincoln)
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To: supremedoctrine

You’re welcome.

Here in NJ they aren’t deified much; our property taxes are crushing us, and the future pension obligations guarantee NJ will not see an economic revival in my lifetime. Anyone moving here or opening a business is simply buying a share in a huge IOU, and so much current revenue is diverted to people who retired decades ago. How long can you pay property taxes that are among the highest in the nation while services are constantly cut? For example, in my town we probably pay the equivalent of 500 cops for an active-duty force of about 120...


71 posted on 03/05/2017 7:16:40 PM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: kearnyirish2

Well, I too live in NJ..what town are you in..I mentioned Rockland County because that’s where I joined the Tea Party group-—it’s just about 10 miles away. I cannot wait to get out of Bergen County-—I am close to the State Line-—primarily because of these crushing prop. taxes. People we know all over the country cringe when we tell them what we pay quarterly. It’s been 16 years since our daughter has partaken of public schooling, too, and it’s the fabricated “lure” of the good local school system which is always pointed to as a justification for the high property taxes AND also why we can always expect to get high prices for the houses we own. THAT is the very “iffy” proposition they hand their hegemony on.


72 posted on 03/07/2017 9:08:00 PM PST by supremedoctrine ("If you want to be able to predict the future, first you have to create it"---Lincoln)
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To: supremedoctrine

I’m just south of the bottom of Bergen County (Kearny, just below North Arlington/Lyndhurst). Bergen County is nicer than Hudson (which also has high taxes), but everyone I know who lives north of Route 4 insists they have the best schools in the state - and you’re right, the “great schools” are used to justify the ridiculous taxes.

Jerseyans accepted them when there were good jobs here, but those days are gone (I recall Mercedes recently moved some good jobs from Montvale down to Georgia); now our government workers (especially teachers & cops) are our new upper middle class, maintained by the rest of us.

The evacuation of American taxpayers from NJ in my area is almost complete, and instead of moving to cheaper parts of NJ they are leaving the state altogether. This has contributed to real problems in NW Jersey, where an anticipated boom has fizzled quickly.


73 posted on 03/07/2017 9:16:31 PM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: i_robot73

You reminded me of something my Father told me at a very young age.

He said, “the day you can complain about a Job is the day somebody puts a Gun to your Head and makes you take it”.

He also told me “nobody owes you a living, so shut up and get back to work”. LOL


74 posted on 03/07/2017 9:32:15 PM PST by Kickass Conservative (The way Liberals carry on about Deportation, you would think "Mexico" was Spanish for "Auschwitz".)
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To: Kickass Conservative

Smart man ;)

“Work for yourself, or make a hobby your job that you enjoy getting up every morning”.


75 posted on 03/08/2017 5:42:07 AM PST by i_robot73 ("A man chooses. A slave obeys." - Andrew Ryan)
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