First of all, I just want to apologize to Hog, I shouldn't have snapped the way I did. I guess you can say I have as big of a hard on for my Union and my profession as you do for yours. Its easy to see how we can get riled up over these things.
Secondly, I would now like to address the comments made by tailgater and SteveS.
Efficiency and complacency. Two excellent issues.
How efficient is a city being when they fail to forecast the needs for Capital Improvements, equipment upgrades, future staffing issues? How efficient are they being when they lower salaries, scrap overtime, cut training funds, reduce promotions, fail to comply with Federal safety standards, slash cost of living incentives, and cut a budget so low that they end up having an employee turnover rate of over 18%. My department has lost on average two rookies every year from each recruit class that it has hired on. When you calculate the expenditures put out to train and clothe these individuals . . . um yeah, real friggin efficient.
Complacency. I don't see it. When the bells go off we don't walk to the trucks we run. When the faucets leak we fix them, when the roof needs shingles we provide them, when we appear in public our brass and shoes are shined, we are courteous, polite, and sincere. We take pride in what we do. The simple fact that we unionize shows that were not complacent. We continue to stand up for what is right, making sure that no one gets left behind. If we were complacent, why would we be doing all of these things?
As for the town where your wife's family is from, the key word is volunteer. They don't work off of a city budget. They recieve generous grants from their State and Federal governments. They usualy employ someone well versed in the skills of grant writing. Grants that larger municipalities never see. Just poor enough to not qualify for welfare. Be grateful. By the way, most volunteer departments have been fighting for years to be allowed the chance to join their local unions.
And of course SteveS added the whole incompetency thing. Unions don't shield incompetency, they try to prevent it. When the city decides to slash the budget the first target is always Fire and Police. When the people complain(and they always do) that they want more cops and more firemen, the city is forced to hire on, usually in an election year, as many warm bodies as they can. It's a shame really. But then again who the hell do you think is going to take the job when the conditions are this bad? That's right, anybody with a pulse and no prior felony convictions. And even that's iffy. Warm bodies, as I stated before which will ultimately wash out and end up costing the city even more money when the have to start all over. I don't know about you, but when my house catches fire, I want someone with more than three braincells and some other form of motivation other than a paycheck coming to help me. Incompetency, our union fights for more training, better training, higher standards. We, and ultimately you, get warm bodies.
Unions have had a checkered past. The one thing that they do is provide a voice for people who would otherwise have none. I thought that was what this country was all about. E pluribus unum, from many comes one. By no means are they without their own faults, then again neither is this country. I'm sorry you guys feel this way, I'm sorry that other unions have to tarnish the name, but the next time some corporate giant, or some snotty executive(probably the CEO's nephew, unions don't have the market cornered on nepotism you know)steps on your toes, think about your recourse of action. Do you think Microsoft will listen to you? I bet they would if you brought along a couple hundred thousand of you friends.
