Police and Firefighters in Scranton, Pennsylvania recently saw their pay cut to minimum wage. Is this a sign of things to come nationally? Is this what you would want the emergency workers in your town paid? Watch it.
They've shown they will pay no attention to "peaceful" protests. (OWS)
Really?? Peaceful?
I don't know about your town, but in Cleveland they tried to blow up a bridge!!!!!! I would not call that peaceful.
Maybe taking a crap on public square is peaceful in you mind? And the never they don't even clean up after themselves.
God, that is just so, so sad. But hey, good luck with that OWS stuff.
ron mariposa
7/10/2012 9:34:08 PM
blueb I agree the teabagger=gop will say this that public workers cant handle stress and we need to make them privative a fire and police service, and I know the more a fire fighter has to work longer hours the harder it is for them to cope. Some will handle it better than others, but sooner or later they all have problems. It is like our troops going to war zones 3-4-5 times takes the toll on them and many lose it and we all know that could lead to. We had a rash of bad calls that I and others responded to all and after a while we just sat down and talked it out and some still have a hard time talking about it. We are volunteers and we have learned to cover each other in times like that. I had to help take a person's body out of a burned out home, go to an car accident on christmas morning where a person died, and just a couple of weeks ago we were on a car acciednt that the young driver wasnt wearing a seat belt and he was trapped under the car, but we had some good and bad news he is alive and the bad he wont walk again. These are some of stress that the fire fighters and police deal with that tea baggers =gop never sees as most wont volunteer for these jobs,or wont work in these fields as they cant become millionaires...But wait we all know police and fire are making the big dollars and lavish pensions and health care. NOT...
donnajoy
7/10/2012 4:46:08 PM
I just read a ridiculous article on msnbc.com. It said that the problem that the cities are having paying their bills is due to rising labor costs. This is a real joke since the Governor of Pennsylvania has been giving out tax breaks to wealthy individuals and large corporations like water. He, like the other GOP governors, are using their state funds for sponsoring charter schools, etc. to pay back their financial donors and then claiming the states and cities are broke. These lies will only go so far before the people in these states revolt. Hopefully people have learned their lessons and not elect any conservatives without consciences whose only concerns are themselves and their wealthy benefactors. Otherwise we will truly be up a creek without a paddle.
blueb
7/10/2012 4:00:55 PM
Actually Ron,
Its their plan as you said.."The problem with overtime is it will get to people after a while and then they crash and can't do the job well".
When they crash it proves government workers can't do the job, big gov is inefficient and they say it can be done by private companies better. Its how we fought the talaban and it's leader sadam, we strangled their financial resources until they became ineffective at attacking us.
Same theory against public workers by conservative. Strangle their resources until they can't do the job well and then use it to prove private sectors are better. Its just a shame that the majority aren't seeing this, until as you say it gets to them, private sector minimum wage goes down to slave standards, then private sector employees will see it as their employers live large. Ouch, one future is visible
ron mariposa
7/10/2012 3:20:44 PM
Blueb the checking I did was about six or so years ago. I know overtime is an issue, but some areas are willing to pay more in overtime as they dont have the added cost of benefits. The problem with overtime is it will get to people after a while and then they crash and cant do the job well.
The gop doesnt get it we need more teachers, police, fire fighters. and the people who keep our cities running and in repair. We are falling apart and the gop will allow us to crumble and fall into ruin so they can advance their phony agenda of jobs because they say the massive tax cuts for business is good while cutting services. Wait until these clowns's home is broken into, is on fire, or their neighbors compalin about pot holes or their car blows a tire because of a pot hole then we may see more money for public services. Also the idiots who vote for them will see all the above happening to themselves maybe they will learn they have been lied to.
just my humble view
Rex, Moorhead
7/10/2012 1:35:47 PM
We need to read our history about the terrible strikes in the 19th and early 20th century. This could well be what creative writing professors in drama class call "foreshadowing". The history of the Molly Maguires in Pennsylvania of the 1870's, the 1877 Great Rail Road strike, the 1886 Haymarket Affair in Chicago, the 1892 Homestead steel mill strike, the 1894 Pullman Strike, and the the 1914 Ludlow mine massacre in Colorado. There were some of these bloody strikes that actually turned into armed military conflicts such as the long series of coal mine strikes in West Virginia. These coal mine strikes were vicious affairs culminating in an all out war in Logan County, West Virgina in 1921 after the cold blooded murder of union leaders by agents employed by the mine owners. The Battle of Blair mountain saw nearly 15,000 miners and 30,000 lawmen, strike breakers and federal troops fighting it out for a week. Some estimate say this was the worst violence in America since the end of the Civil War about one million rounds of ammunition were believed to be fired during this battle/strike. The Army used WW I bombers against the miners who were dug in on the mountain top. About 100 miners were killed and 30 lawmen and soldiers died in this strike. Nearly one thousand miners were arrested but the mine owners ended up losing big when the federal government recognized the rights of miners to unionize in the 1930's.
Does anyone remember Massey Coal Company and CEO Don Blankenship? There was of course the mine disaster in 2010 when Upper Branch Mine disaster that killed 38 miners in an explosion. The mines run by Massey Coal have a long history of killing its miners by working them hard under dangerous conditions. NPR did a story about black lung disease striking young coal miners in very large numbers. The journalist reported that increasing amounts of machinery are creating more coal dust because the mine owners want more coal out faster so they can make maximum profits. It seems as if we are again approaching the bad old days of American labor history. Go check out the December, 1907 Monogah, West Virginia mine disaster where nearly 500 miners were killed in a mine explosion. This is the worst industrial accident in American history. Is this the type of history that we want to relive? The federal government and the mine owners are failing to keep working conditions in modern coal mines safe because dust levels created by machinery are too high for human safety..
Our public schools do a poor job of talking about these historical events. Our colleges still go over them but these types of events are not talked about in the right perspective. The truth is that the American form of capitalism is often bitch hard brutal on its workers. Our corporations are mostly autocratic where its hard to get hired and keep your job but very easy to get fired even if you are productive. All that matters is that you work as fast as possible at all times. America maybe the land of opportunity for the Andrew Carnegies, the Steve Jobs, and Mitt Romney's of the world but how about everyone else that has to work for these people?
A Frenchman was asked by a British journalist back in the 1990's about comparing his country's form of capitalism to America's system. The Frenchman was well aware of his country's problems with the high costs of job creation, the high unemployment levels, and the high taxes paid by everyone in France for their social welfare system. But he said vehemently, no matter what we have to do in France to overcome our problems, we will NEVER adopt the American form of capitalism. The Frenchman described the American corporate system as the "land of the big boss" where the workers were treated almost like subhuman slaves. The Frenchman who said this has more accurately described the American system better than most college professors and certainly better than conservative politicians.
Mr. Fargo
7/10/2012 1:26:15 PM
Mitt is so out of touch her probably thinks all those firefighters & Police officers can just run to their parents for money...........................Hey, MItt.......many of those firefighters & Police Officers are the parents with families to support.................not everyone has rich parents to run to Mitt..........
blueb
7/10/2012 12:38:12 PM
eagle, i hate being a conspirator but i think you might be true...one of the risk factors associated with the east is its a younger population more likely to fight than comply-because- of-physical-inability-to-fight , attacking firefighters and police force are starting to attack the riskier able bodied population
Ron-we have some news weorthy police & sheriff people who are getting an unrealistically large salaries due to overtime pay...which means they need to hirer more to prevent overtime. A long time ago i had one of those spontaneous political discussions with a stranger that i remember, because we agreed on everything and i could learn from her,wish i still had contact with her. Anyway she told me the US was no longer a young country, can't behave as a young country anymore, we needed to look toward Europe to understand how they solved the problems of older countries they encountered the same problems and dealt with all the issues we are facing.
Anyway in Europe, there are NHS, so there is never a reason to pay more overtime to prevent having to assume the benefit costs of an additional employee...its cheaper to hirer an additional person than pay overtime, so overtime isn't allowed..no overtime if a job requires 1 hour of overtime, its more cost effective to get an additional person. Eliminates the news about the scandalously high incomes some public employees are earning. MORE IMPORTANT IN EUROPE IS PAYING WELL ENOUGH TO RETAIN EXPERIENCE/SKILLS BECAUSE THEY CAN HIRER AN ADDITIONAL PERSON WITHOUT THE EXPERIENCE: A PERSON WITH EXPERIENCE/SKILLS BETTER.LOOK TO GERMANY DURING THE RECESSION, THE GERMAN GOV SUBSIDIZED EMPLOYERS SO THEY COULD KEEP THEIR EXPERIENCED WORKFORCE WHEN THEY WOULD HAVE HAD TO LAY OFF DUE TO LACK OF ORDERS OTHERWISE.
eagleeye
7/10/2012 12:01:56 PM
I believe the revolution is coming. And I believe it will start sooner than most think. I don't believe it will be a "peaceful" protest, but a actual "take our country back" war. They've shown they will pay no attention to "peaceful" protests. (OWS). I also believe many in Government see it coming. Look at some of the laws that have been passed.
Linda S Houston
7/10/2012 11:34:46 AM
The President offered up money that would have helped this situation and many states turned it down. Then he was unable to get any other stimulus thru the Congress because of gridlock.
This is a national disgrace. I don't even recognize this country anymore. I am listening to talk of million dollar fundraisers with movie stars and billionaire CEO's. To HELL with all of them! Billions of dollars being squandered on stupid ads for the brian dead and we are cutting city services, teachers, firefighters, and everything that has any meaning in this society. What, so we can hand out another golden parachute to another CEO that drove his company into the ground?
Go ahead keep it up Congress and state governors. The revolution is coming. Maybe that's why the police depts bought all that riot gear.
