I recently did an article about Issue 2 where I compared the details of that very good bill to the aerospace company Boeing, building its new manufacturing plant in South Carolina. To see that article click the link:
Issue 2 is not about firefighter safety, or police ability to do their jobs. It’s not about teachers instructing our children. Issue 2 for Ohio is about keeping jobs in the state because to the south, the Right to Work States is soaking up all the manufacturing jobs. For the unions, repealing Issue 2 is about keeping control of the states that aren’t yet Right to Work states. As you can see by observing the map below, the states in Blue are Right to Work states, with South Carolina being part of the southern culture of maintaining independence from organized labor efforts.
http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/files/2011/02/right-to-work-map.gif
We are in the midst of a Civil War of a different kind, where the goal of the war is the unions struggling to maintain their power base. They fear that more companies will do as Boeing is doing, and that’s locating their business in the southern states, so that those companies do not have to worry about radicalized labor practices.
Unions in the private sector share much with the public sector but as with the circumstances around Boeing, there is nowhere to hide from a public sector union. They embed themselves in our communities and force tax increases upon demand. There is no competitive edge in public unions and we cannot escape by moving the enterprise to another country. Unions in the public sector are unconscionable in that they force employees to take part in them whether or not the employee wishes to, and the public is forced to support them with increased taxes without choice in service. In Ohio by law if a teacher wants to teach, they must join a union. Does that seem right? Why should any public employee be required to join a union as a condition of employment? The fight over Issue 2 is the radicalized portions of these public unions who are hiding their true intentions behind their members, who simply want to be employed. The union leaders are seeking to control the spread of Right to Work States and if Issue 2 holds, Ohio will go a long way to moving in that direction. This leaves the militants desperate to act.
All the history shown in that video is true. The map tells the whole story. In the north where militant unions took control, they have embedded themselves in our political process and driven up taxes. That video shows how we have arrived to this point in time involving Issue 2. Notice that the bill talked about in 1981 never had any impact, because the union lobby prevented the reforms, just as they are doing with Issue 2. Ohio cannot begin to attract business to Ohio if the public unions are bankrupting our communities. And militant union behavior is not something large companies want to be a part of. They would much prefer to establish themselves in the south where the people there enjoy their independence. And if operating in the south is too expensive, then the companies will just take their operations to another country completely, leaving the union thugs of the north jobless and desperate, seeking a government job so they can have a safe-haven for their beliefs, because unions have destroyed virtually every industry they’ve penetrated. It would seem only the entertainment unions have been able to survive because the public has been willing to support the increases in ticket costs to support those inflated expectations.
I can see belonging to a public union as an option, but I cannot see being told that I was under legal obligation to join one. I have no tolerance for the militant behavior that comes from public unions, the over exaggerations they employee to manipulate the public. Every time I hear cops proclaim that they are willing to take a bullet to keep me safe I shudder in anger. I would happily become deputized by my local Sheriff and run into a building under gunfire. Heck, I might even pay to do it, because danger of this kind is a privilege to a man. I wouldn’t think of charging for such a thing, because the danger is the payment! Or to the firefighter, let me become a volunteer and I would gladly run into a burning building to save a gold-fish, not to mention a human being. And I’d do it for the thrill of feeling the heat and smelling the smoke. And I’d do it without expecting a dime because I might save a life and bring ease to someone’s mind who is my neighbor.
It can be noticed that much of this union trouble comes from these northern states, because in the south, they won’t put up with it. In the south they have a strong tendency toward self-reliance, and tend to look down their noses at organized labor. And this is why they are experiencing economic growth in the south. They do have their share of public unions, but the people who live in those states seem to much less tolerant of the kind of extortion they employee upon the public. You don’t see protests like we’ve seen in Wisconsin and Ohio in places like Nashville and Dallas, or even Charleston.
Ohio is trying to compete with the south for future business. Issue 2 is not about hurting public workers, as they’d have you believe. They are a group that is in denial, and they believe their union leaders who think that they can hold these unions together when economic circumstances are pulling them apart. The unions are failing because they allow for a level of selfishness that can only be supplemented with militant behavior.
The firefighters and police of today who are running the face of a repeal attempt of Issue 2 have changed their militant behavior from what was seen in the video above, where firefighters took illegal strikes and actually started fires burning down homes and businesses, then preventing citizens from trying to put those fires out. In fact, at a recent debate over Issue 2 a labor attorney Steve Lazarus informed us that the reason for the collective bargaining law of 1982, which Issue 2 seeks to reform, is because police went on strike in militant behavior similar to the firefighters. The claim was that too many officers were being killed or injured, but my feeling is that officers were using the deaths of their union brothers to drive up wages for themselves by declaring unsafe working conditions which no witless politician had an answer to. So the politicians did what they do, they threw laws and money at the squeaky wheels of the labor unions.
The militant behavior of the modern age is not much different. The public unions are threatening the violence of the past if they don’t get their way. When they gather, there is a pretense of violence in their behavior. Their collective mass is meant to threaten us. They are using the threat of “safety” or the lack of it to pave the way for behavior yet undefined. They leave it to the imagination of their targeted ads. They implication is clear.
What they are all in denial over is that if the private sector has lost their jobs to foreign manufactures, because the labor costs are much lower in places like China, India or Brazil, and when companies like Boeing needing a stable work force knowing that they can’t get it in Washington because of union radicalism Boeing is attempting to move to a southern Right to Work state, and now find themselves in trouble with the Federal Government because of it. There is no quick remedy to solve this debacle. The unions and their radicalism have brought this situation upon themselves. The private sector is making 43.4% less now than the public sector because the private sector has to make financial adjustments competitive to the world marketplace. The public unions don’t want to change and they certainly don’t want to see what they’ve done to community budgets, and they are threatening various forms of militant behavior if they don’t get it. The union militants want higher taxes to fund their uncompetitive wage demands no matter what the cost to society. (WHO DO YOU THINK IS BEHIND THESE OCCUPY MOVEMENTS) CLICK THIS LINK TO LEARN WHO THE UNIONS ARE BEHIND THOSE PROTESTS AS WELL; IT’S JUST ANOTHER FORM OF MILITANT.
For the unions the battle is about the map shown on this article. The unions want to remove the blue from those states that have Right to Work options for their workers, because union leadership is out for political conquest. Meanwhile states like Ohio are pushing back, so that they can be just as competitive as the southern states and the unions are set to do anything to prevent that from happening.
That leaves the fate of Ohio in the hands of you, the voter. Are you going to cave in to the union militants who will drive up your taxes and reduce the number of public employees you can have, because the current budgets cannot support the number of employees we currently carry, because wages in the private sector are not what they used to be? And there are not enough wealthy people to loot in order to rescue these despots from their own greed which creates a chain reaction of failure of which they are solely responsible for. Ohio is trying to fix this discrepancy in Ohio with Issue 2, which among many reforms; the most powerful one is in returning the “option” of belonging to a union to the employee. If you do not support Issue 2 by voting YES you will be responsible for what follows, because Issue 2 was created to fix the problems coming on multiple fronts, and becoming more competitive on the map between states that are Right to Work and those that aren’t.
For the answer to everything, CLICK THIS LINK:
Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com
The Gunfighter's Guide: 
Rich, we ought to compare injury/fatality rates between heavily unionized states and those that are either right-to-work or those that have outlawed public sector unions…I suspect that there is no statistical difference, but I cannot find a site or study that says so. The BLS website is very difficult to navigate and i can’t find a query that allows me to search incident reports by state. If we could “prove” that there is no statistical increase in incident rates, it may go a long way to turning back the emotional, fear-based arguments of the pro-union crowd. Any ideas where to look?
LikeLike
I think I’ve seen such data on the various right-to-work web sites out there, but it’s been a while. I’d have to do some digging, but you’re right. That’s something worth doing. Thanks!
LikeLike
WE THE PEOPLE are at a crossroads and WE MUST MAKE decisions and if you watch this video click it will put things into perspective that even our children can understand(the link is a cartoon made in 1948 and updated in 2008) and once you view this and it becomes crystal clear what has to be done, share the link. Take it to your church group, Ministre, Pastor, the local Tea Party meetings , PTA and EVERYWHERE people gather that will view and take in the message and digest what is happening all across America ! ! ! Every American, man woman and child has a “PATRIOTIC DUTY” and should understand that WE THE PEOPLE are in a struggle for our “FREEDOM”, “Life , Liberty and The Persuit of Happiness is at stake not just a battle about jobs and “UNION vs NON-UNION” ! WE THE PEOPLE are in the midst of a struggle with the forces that would DENY us the “RIGHTS that have been given BY GOD ! ! ! When you watch this video ; think about the daily news, the events happening everyday all across America and understand IT IS TIME TO STAND UP for our “FREEDOM” ! ! ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O92dKfqIQxQ Patriots across America should be advised that even our children can understand simple messages and they have been being turned away from The Flag, Our Pledge of Allegience , The Declaraation of Independance and even Our Constitution ! ! ! When you have seen the video and understand the importance of the message…SHARE IT , SHARE IT , write to your Elected Officials and SHARE IT WITH THEM and tell them what YOU WANT AND DEMAND that they do ! WE THE PEOPLE are the “VOICE” of America and this government needs to be controlled from the voters perspective… and WE THE PEOPLE have to use our voice and tell them what we expect and remind them of their “OATH to The Constitution” ..PLEASE….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O92dKfqIQxQ IF you have a desire to be more “PATRIOTIC” and want to get involved further then come , join the Freedom Connector and visit and connect with groups and people working to “Save Our Republic” : Please visit and sign up now at :
100 Million Patriots Standing
http://connect.freedomworks.org/node/79901
CLICK the JOIN BUTTON PLEASE !!!
STAND WITH US & GOD BLESS YOU ! ! !
MAY GOD RICHLY BLESS each PATRIOT that reads and acts on the message ! ! !
LikeLike
Ditto, Robert! Thanks!
LikeLike
I think you are a complete fool to write “let me become a volunteer”??? Are you serious???? LET YOU??? It is VOLUNTEER!!!! Go volunteer HERO!!!! Run in and save a goldfish. Thats what its ALL ABOUT. You seem to be the king of knowledge on EVERY issue whether its the schools, or the unions, or the townships. Yet you don’t run for ANY office??? Why is that? Also you wrote about a BIG F-250 at the Tea Party debate the other night. This is EXACTLY why I posted on here before about “do your homework” before you go making comments. that is my truck and it is NOT an F-250. You drove by it and didn’t even read it but you ran home and made made some false comments….again. Also, my wife works in the PRIVATE sector, so I can afford to buy a BIG truck like that.
But on a side note… since you have the answers to everything, answer me this. Senator Coley stated that SB5 is “a tool to help local governments lower their expenditures to attract new business”. So Fairfield Township Fire Department is all PART TIME with NO union….. How do they “cut expenditures” when SB5 doesn’t even touch them???? Yet all the states cuts have devastated their budget. But I forgot, SB5 will fix all this. West Chester Fire Department carried over $13.7 MILLION last year. But SB5 enables them to BANK even more money. That sounds like the fix to me.
And one last question, why does SB5 eliminate ALL lieutenants, captains and battalion chiefs from the union COMPLETELY???? It eliminates 1/3 of the entire Ohio Association of Professional Firefighters. You posted above that you agree if someone WANTS to be in a union, they should have the right to join. SB5 sure doesn’t allow it. So therefore you are against it, right???
LikeLike
Volunteer is exactly what I meant, but as of now, we are well staffed. But if you guys don’t want to do the job, people will step in and do it. When it is said that “we run in to danger when you run out” you aren’t talking about me. The difference between a hero and a mercenary is the hero doesn’t expect money for their service. They do it because it’s the right thing. But with you guys, and I’ll toss your friends over in Monroe in there too, who disputed a contract recently wanting 5% increases per year for 3 years, you are doing it for the money. So that makes you mercenaries.
Since you brought it up, I have a question. I would volunteer if there was need, but what do you guys do all day? Because I’m way too busy to sit around waiting for something to happen, what do you do between fires? What do you do in between Emergency Runs? How many of you guys are on staff during the day and night to be on call if something were to happen? I know you guys do First Aid classes. How many do you do per day, per week? Who approves your overtime, and how is it decided because I’ve seen the pay rates for you guys and I find it hard to believe some of you guys are making that much on straight time.
As for your truck, I didn’t want to incriminate you. Given that you were the only truck with a big sign in it, anyone who wanted to figure it out could have. But I changed some of the names a bit to protect the innocent, and until you posted here, you were innocent. And I didn’t run anywhere, dude. It took several hours to render the video and I didn’t post the article for another 24 hours. I took my time, believe me. And I also held back on my opinions of your matching shirts and general behavior out of an attempt at respect.
I’ll tell you the same thing I tell the teachers who ask why I don’t run for office. First off, I think politicians should be retired, and should never take a job in politics for money. I would only run for an office if I didn’t need to make an income. Second, I would not allow myself to get stuck in discussions with my hands tied behind my back. If Issue 2 sticks, then I’d be able to help keep costs down more, but until management has some real teeth, political positions are just token wastes of money. Third, I do more good here than if I were stuck chasing my tail arguing with you guys over health insurance in one district over one issue. There are a large number of local and national politicians who read here every single day, and I do better helping them by throwing some light their way. I won’t go so far to say firefighters and cops are the problem, because we employee far fewer of you than we do of teachers, and it’s the teachers who are breaking our budgets. But you chose to stick yourselves valiantly in front of them, so you take your share of the blame for making a bad problem even worse. Do you really think this ride you’re on will go forever? While you protest with your sign in the back of your truck do you even care what will happen if Issue 2 doesn’t hold. Yeah, I know what you’ll say, “tax somebody so you can pay me.” You are so focused on your little piece of the pie, you aren’t looking at the big picture. It’s the “Firefighters against the politician.” That’s how your union has framed it, and that’s why it’s impossible to deal with you guys.
I’m sure you’re a nice guy and you think the world is out to get you, but believe me, you are on the wrong side of this issue and time will prove it.
And Issue 2 allows choice in a union. If you still want to be in one, you can. If you want out, you have that choice too. I think that’s more than fair.
Thanks for writing.
LikeLike
READ THE BILL!!!!! SB5 does NOT give 1/3 of the Ohio Association of PROFESSIONAL Firefighters a choice. They can’t say, sure I’ll join the union today. IT IS IN THE BILL!!!!! Here is the problem with blogs like this that you say politicians from all over read. You DON’T talk about the whole bill. You pick and chose what you want to talk about. And for your unfair comment that WE put ourselves in this…. wrong again. WE didn’t put ourselves in SB5!!! The politicians did. The next issue I have is you ASK Sheriff Jones (also a republican AGAINST SB5) to contact you??? That is not the definition of VOLUNTEER. Trust me I know the definition.. I started in this profession as a VOLUNTEER for 6 years before I became a PROFESSIONAL. Also, the administration (non-union) authorizes our overtime. And no guaranteed overtime is not in my CBA. I’m not going to go into every single thing we do every day, but I’ll give you a start… We clean the entire station EVERY day, floors, trash, bathrooms, bay floors (and yes, we even clean the administrations bathrooms) we have even been called full time janitors and part time firefighters. We mow our own grass. We flush and pump hydrants. We inspect EVERY business. We are required to train in EMS, Fire, Inspector and Hazardous Materials in order to maintain our certifications (state requirement). We shovel our front pad and our sidewalks. We do all minor repairs to our equipment.. and sometime major repairs (like installing a power steering pump on firetruck). We also test every piece of hose we carry. We also do construction…. we paint the interior of the stations, we strip and wax the floors, we clean the carpet, one station even GUTTED the kitchen and replaced everything, cabinets, floor, counter, sink appliances…. they saved an estimated $15,000.00 doing it themselves. NOW… this is all between an average of 16 runs a day. Now you are correct, we don’t run ALL DAY EVERY DAY. That is when we take care of the other 15 things a day we need to get done. Again, this isn’t EVERYTHING… I’m not even going to try to list the classes and car seats we do. What most of you don’t understand is we don’t want to be called heroes…. We are just doing our job. Because you would run in to save a goldfish, most people won’t. I get a “tahnk you, I couldn’t do that” almost every day I work. I don’t want that. If I could wear unmarked clothes everyday, I would.
LikeLike
I have read the bill, which is pretty boring. And I don’t see a problem. Granted, you are looking at it different from me because you care about all the details, because you’re building your life around them. But when circumstances have changed for me many times in the past, I’ve made the adjustments and moved on. I can remember when we eliminated the ability to accumulate personal days to sell back to the company, all the employees were upset and you’d think the world was coming to an end. I didn’t like it, and I went and took on another job. The problem with these kinds of things is that employees fall in love with their benefits and expect those things to never change.
Being a Republican does not mean someone is conservative, and not all Republicans are locked arm and arm with matching t-shirts toward one cause. I know where Jones stands and we’ve talked about it. He believes what he wants, and he like you doesn’t want things to change. He’s done this kind of work all his life, and I’m sure its scary. But things change, and the world will not come to an end. You adapt and overcome and move to the next thing if you don’t like what people are offering you.
LikeLike
Very nice concern Firefighter! And we are still waiting for something other than talking points and hate to be spewed out people like yourself and Senator Coley.
The question about decapitating the unions is still unaswered from either of you. Obviously we can not admit to what it really was – a move to remove leadership in the unions, and to have the ability to retaliate against those who had been involved in the unions. My friend is a Lieutenant and will not be able to join the union but has no hope of ever being the immediate replacement for the fire chief where he works. Where is his choice? Still waiting….oh i hear crickets!!!
If you really want to examine some issues about taxation without representation why don’t you put a little of the time and energy you have devoted to this issue and your anti Lakota Levy efforts to take a real hard look at the RID and TIF’s going on in West Chester and in Liberty that take the precious tax dollars from things that people approve like fire levies, schools etc and put those tax dollars into slush funds for pet projects to be platforms for re-election. There are millions of dollars being diverted in a “legal” money laundering scheme that was approved in Columbus. When the law was ammended in 2006, guess what was specifically left out in the cold to continue to be robbed from- Public safety levies because of the same statistic that former Senator Grendell cited in the house floor debate on SB5. If you took some time to look you probably would be shocked. I know I was when I read some of the things my friend showed me. And guess how that was found out about—during contract negotiations under the current law.
Now people such as yourself want to put all the blame on the employees and their unions. So cops and firefighters aren’t the problem because there are fewer of them? Why involve them in this then? You do realize that police and fire protection are core services that communities are required to provide by law? But hey when has the rule of law ever gotten in anybodies way?
I was at the debate, still trying to see the out of line, thuggery, etc that elude to in other posts, I even posted on the tea party site and west chester buzz about it. What you left out talking about the truck is that it was parked between a mercedes and a lexus I believe that carried tea party members to the meeting based on the signs they were carrying out afterward.
And as far as your volunteering to run into a burning building or that you would pay to join a gun fight. Since you have the time I know that if you called the union presidents in Liberty or West Chester or Monroe or the like I am sure that they can arrainge for the training neccessary to expose you to it, I can’t speak for the gun fight though because I don’t know a whole lot about police training beyond they have a long academy, maybe sherrif Jones could help there. We could make a big media day out of it, I am sure Doc and Willie would jump on board to promote it since you would be trying to learn about the other side, maybe then you could post some realistic comments based on real experiences. If you really wanted to get crazy you could teach in a classroom for a day or week too. It would be so much better than the cincinnati mayor on undercover boss. We are talking about huge coverage!!!!
When you get your training all set up and send out the bat signal from wherever it is you can sit and listen to Doc and Willie everyday I will be the first in line to hand you some water when you get done and shake your hand. But, I think there is a better chance of issue 2 getting repealed than that happening.
LikeLike
As to the training, you guys make things so complicated. At various times I’ve done just about everything you are talking about in training. Why would I have to call a union president? Do they control everything? And if Sheriff Jones needs some help, he can give me a call. The other stuff you brought up on taxes, that’s a good tip. I’d be happy to look at that stuff.
The reason you hear crickets is because it’s the middle of the night. I just put this video up. I’d be interested to hear from you guys where this is wrong. Why do I have to support a union to support a firefighter? It was the union lobby who made the laws you are pointing out about essential services. Issue 2 is a fix to many years of that union leadership painting us in a corner.
And why involve the police and firefighters…..you guys involved yourselves. The teachers can strike, and they do drive up costs in out-of-control ways, and you and your friends put yourselves in front of them to protect the behavior.
LikeLike
There is the problem, people such as yourself only see what they want to see and then want to blame the big bad union, you still have not answered the question about how 1/3 of the current people lose thier choice to belong to a union….It is just like when you cite figures from a contract you just use what is conveniant. Your so obsessed with “burning” the teachers like the govenor that the law of unintended consequences has kicked in.
How is it that one person can not be in the unions under this bill even if he wants to? We are still waiting for how this is fair. My buddy loses that immediately just because he over achieved and got promoted to be a lieutenant. If there really are politicians who read this stuff why don’t they jump in and try to explain that- oh wait that was something slipped in because the people who testified against the bill all had the rank of Lieutenant or higher.
As for the training I really don’t think that you have what it takes based on what I have seen, heard and read here. It is way too complicated? If you had a real idea of what being a cop or firefighter was and required you would not say that, unions don’t make the training complicated the job does but then you don’t see a problem with this bill because it is complicated and has a lot of stuff in it, it like fire and police, paramedic training has more to it than talking points to rally the troops.
As for the laws about essential services that have to be provided, the legislature created them somewhere around the turn of the century when the ohio revised code was modified to incorporate the state constitution. I also believe that those sections were ammended in the 50’s and still remain the same, it is right there with the obligation to provide a township cemetary or a county rest home. I don’t think that there where any union fat cats influencing those votes then. I guess you would classify that under the entitlement category?
Volunteering- why is that there has to be a law on the books in ohio that makes it illegal to terminate a volunteer firefighter if they would be late to work because they were at a fire the night before, because people such as yourself had done that in the past- you obviously are proud that you don’t hesitate to terminate employees in your other posts.
Why don’t you and the great senator coley make some time and ride along with a department and see what it is about instead of sitting listening to 700 wherever that might be or posting stuff on the internet. What would you do to an employee that sat and called in to Doc’s show in the midday, had to hold forever to get on then ranted about whatever issue happened to be going on instead of working? Terminate them? Seems like a do as I say not as I do standard-glad I don’t work for your company
Oh and as far as being involved, wisconson did not involve police and firefighters-just teachers, so the cops and firefighters here got dragged in up in Columbus or in Shannon Jones mind when she was copying the bill from wherever she got fed the language from
Pablo
LikeLike
I’d terminate an employee who sat on hold all day to call into a radio station. That’s why my visits are scheduled, and I schedule those around my work day.
Your attitude proves my point. You are so programed to think one way. Everyone else has the problem but you. I’m the bad guy, some politician like Coley, Sennator Jones. Everyone but you. Who says you have a right to anything, especially a union?
And you didn’t answer the question I posted about the video. What do you say to any of that?
If I had it my way it would be illegal to work in any public position, and be in a union. Collective Bargaining is a joke and the only people who support it are the people who get something from it.
You know what the sad thing is, you guys aren’t even the big problem and listen to your positions. Look at your attitude. The more you talk, the more convinced I am that we are wasting our money on you.
LikeLike
LikeLike
I have yet to see anyone offer anything other than a critique of Senator Coley’s debate skills, I merely offered that before you talk about cops and firefighters jobs that they do while not having the background to base the majority of your comments on. So as far as Ms Jones interview, she is very good at reciting the talking points on issue 2. She neglects to address the other aspects of the bill such as the items that we have been discussing here. As senator Sietz mentions in his time the following day on the same station. Speaking of the radio time, I almost wrecked when I heard Doc Thompsons change in stance in issue 2, and then to hear you agree that this is flawed to try to apply the wrecking ball being put on teachers to firefighters and cops also.
Again, the involving cops and firefighters occured in columbus. I went back and watched the video of the debate again and you have again distorted things to fit your agenda- the firefighters and cops there did not “occupy” the entire center of the auditorium, as matter of fact the head of the butler county replublican party tea party champion sat with a group of union officers from the ATU, IAFF, and FOP in the center of the place. There was no chanting, stomping etc, Most of the union people were off to the two sides based on what I saw.
As far as your questions you had- after some research I can provide you some answers but again your local union officers and the management of your township can answer some of them, binding arbitraction being removed is the key aspect of dispute resolution as referenced in the supreme court decision Mr. Lazarus cited – commonly referred to as the Rocky Road case. There is no comparision between the private sector and public sector firefighters and cops- they do not exist and can’t because there is no profit to be made providing those essential services hence why it is statutory required by the ohio revised code.
When re-watching the debate video, I did have an epithomy. Steve Lazarus asked the same question that I have heard Doc Thompson ask to multiple callers and guests- What exactly is a firefighter or police officer worth? I know you think that teachers are overpaid- you have made that crystal clear. I racked my brain and still can’t come up with a cirucmstance when someone has had an answer.
I can say that when minimum staffing is concerned that a community that does not have minimum staffing for its police and fire departments in a collective bargaining agreement that there is a safety issue- one or two people on a fire truck can’t cut the mustard. If you knew a little bit more about the job you would readily agree, try it. Go back a few years and look at the aftermath of the Crooked Tree fire in Mason to see how the lack of adequate staffing can cause problems that causes an already bad day for a home owner to become a total loss. So what happens then they try to sue, public outrage about the operation of the deparmtent, then some changes, a lawsuit, and who knows.
I guess we will just have to disagree or maybe you have swayed a little and see like Doc that there are flaws, maybe also you could go back to Senator Grindell who is no labor friend who predicted the court battles to come, but then we would be having to move on to your next on the corruption of america list-lawyers-
I do challenge any elected official who reportedly reads this blog to email me to refute or even just entertain me with your talking points. pabs9611@gmail.com.
LikeLike
Nice comments, and it was good that you put down your email. I wouldn’t expect a response before the election, but maybe after. Everyone is too geared up to talk in the next three weeks. I’d respond in greater detail, but today is a football day, and that is a priority.
LikeLike