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I found three people who might be able to afford Trumpcare

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by poindexter, May 4, 2017.

  1. QYFW

    QYFW Well-Known Member

    It is busy work. Incoming firefighters these days are required to have dual certification, right?

    There just aren't as many fires as their used to be in the city. But I can't blame the union for not giving back concessions it has won. Especially given the city's history with staffing, safety, etc.
     
  2. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    Here in Deploraville protocols call for both an ambulance and a fire truck to be dispatched on any call. So if you call 911 with chest pains, an ambulance and a fire truck -- with full crew -- are going to show up post haste. Hell, if you have a fender-bender ... here they'll come.

    In labor economics there's a term -- ganging, I think, but that's not popping up on my searches -- for the process by which the workers' union fights for work rules such that more workers are required than necessary. I would imagine that many of these overtime stories result from such a process.
     
  3. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

    I might be more outraged about this if I thought the tax money spent on excessive overtime would otherwise be responsibly spent to advance the common good (or used to genuinely lower the tax burden of the poor and working class). But since my cynicism tells me it would be siphoned off by politicians anyway, part of me doesn't mind that someone else is getting over for once.
     
    QYFW likes this.
  4. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    In LA city and LA county, this is what they do all day.

    One of my firefighter friends says they spend their day (if not going on a Costco run or watching the Dodger game in the lounge) is going on runs for "Chicken Breed".

    I asked, What is Chicken Breed?


    They arrive at the call, and some elderly hispanic gentleman tells them "Chicken breed. Chicken breed. She...... can't..... breathe"
     
  5. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    The budgets can handle the OT.

    It is the pensions that are going to wrap a chokehold around the state.
    CalPERS’ pension fund ‘shortfall’ will cost Huntington Beach $23 million more
     
    YankeeFan likes this.
  6. QYFW

    QYFW Well-Known Member

    You think they should lose their pensions?
     
  7. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    Sounds like a great gig, you should apply Poin.
     
  8. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    *lose* their pensions? Of course not.

    Retire at 53 and make $130,000k a year for the rest of their life? Fuck no.
     
  9. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Yeah. You get the ambulance and fire truck in Chicago too, unless they aren't both available.

    And, as others as pointed out, fires are way down.

    So, the fire truck spends its shift following around the ambulance.
     
  10. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    It's impossible to even negotiate them downward these days. We basically end up paying 50 years of income for 25 years of work. It wasn't all that out of whack when many private companies also paid out pensions, but it's completely unrealistic now.

    Noteworthy reminder that among the early opponents of public-sector unions was FDR.
     
    YankeeFan likes this.
  11. QYFW

    QYFW Well-Known Member

    Again, that's not the firefighters' fault. That's bad city/state policy.
     
  12. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    I got the next best thing. My oldest (for those of you who have been around here a long time, he's the marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan) became a firefighter a couple of years ago. Racks up overtime by the bushel.

    The feeling I had when he got graduated from the academy, knowing he is set for life... very satisfying for a parent.
     
    JC and YankeeFan like this.
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