Once upon a time unions served a noble purpose. They fought for a living wage and concentrated the power of hard working members. Now residing in the shell of days gone by is a greedy, power hungry union leadership that all too often becomes drunk on power and losses sight of the common good. It sickens me to see the corruption that goes on this the city of Pittsburgh. From the Mayor, to the Unions, to the school board. The stories that have surfaced over the past few weeks makes it all to clear. The people of Pittsburgh are not important as long a these folls get paid.
The bankrupt city of Pittsburgh is expecting to spend $11 million on firefighter overtime this year. The city was down to 707 firefighters at the end of January. To staff every shift, many are called back to work on overtime to fulfill the minimum staffing requirements in the fire union's contract. It's clear the city can not honor that contract in the current state. SO is the union willing to work this out? Sort of ....But it wants a five-year contract in exchange. The city's fiscal oversight board says the city should only sign a short-term pact with the fire union. Stalemate!
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported last week that firefighters made up 42 of the city's 50 highest paid workers during 2004, because of the overtime problem. All were paid more than $100,000 during the year. I have no problem with the amount. I think firefighters should be paid well. However, half of your earnings should not be based on overtime in a city that can not afford it. The police union will be fighting this same issue soon. I hope they all realize that unless all parties are willing to work together, there will no be much of city left to serve and protect.
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