It just makes sense for FD to find something I'm citing other cities to inform that it isn't uncommon for major cities to have equal pay. I only mentioned it because that idea is not new. Also adding the chart was just showing the disparity of HFD compared to other fire deparments some which don't include EMS. Both are dangerous jobs keeping the public safe. Both have been shot at and assaulted. Both deal with every walk of life and work with each other side by side.
Because they both involve public safety, that makes them equal? Because firefighters have also been shot at and assaulted (ignore the VAST disparity), that makes them equal? Pilots and flight attendants work side by side. Doctors and nurses work side by side. Does "pay parity" in those cases make sense? You again prove my earlier point. The strongest argument for "pay parity" isn't the merits, it's saying some other cities have it.
My argument is that I do believe they are equal. Fire/EMS is on the same level for public safety as police. Both get dispatched on calls together all the time. Doctors are on higher education level where as Fire and Pd both take the civil service exam and both go through their academies. One, 6 months. The other 9 months.
http://www.billkingblog.com/city-of...ing-the-fire-fighters-pay-ballot-proposition/ This is information to explain in further detail.
Fire fighting is about a $50k a year imo. Regardless of what everyone else makes. Other cities hace their own costs of living. NY LA and Chicago fire fighters should make more. Plano is a unique outlier. All that being said $42k for first year non ems seems very reasonable
HFD is the EMS system. They are the same thing for the city of Houston. Firefighters rotate shifts from the firetruck to ambulance or medic
For the city of Houston all firefighters are either EMTs or Paramedics. They all rotate from firetruck to ambulance or medic depending on what that firehouse houses The only people that don't rotate are the drivers and captains because they are assigned to a vehicle.
I think I'm leaning No on this. Mainly because this is a complicated issue, and it looks to me like the union is trying to make an end run around negotiations (they aren't the only ones; looks like Houston got the state house to step in for them). This is a high information dynamic and voters are low information arbiters. Even having started this thread and trying to do some reading to decide, I don't feel well enough informed. I'm inclined to let Turner represent the city's interest in this. If he causes some firefighting calamity, I'll be happy to vote him out at the next opportunity.
I'm leaning this way, but it seems like this is going to pass easily the way the proposition has been framed. So regardless of the sliminess of the Firerfighters' union tactics, let's say this happens and it creates huge financial problems for the city. What happens then? Many cops and firefighters get laid off and potholes are slower to get filled? What else? Is it really that bad? At least the drain on good firefighters leaving to other cities will slow down and perhaps stop. Hopefully, Houston will become attractive to top fire fighters and education/training criteria will improve.
I'm leaning towards NO on this one. I have some friends who are HPD cops and they have told me that HFD has fought every Mayor since Whitmire and their idea of bargaining has always been all or nothing. Meanwhile, HPD has also fought every mayor - but they have always worked out a deal and given concessions, sometimes just getting 2% raise or nothing at all. So over the last 10 to 15 years those little raises have added up. And now HFD wants to play catch up after never conceding anything to the city during that time.
On the flip side, this phenomenon perpetrated by our predecessors of failing to fully fund pensions effectively swindled millions of workers of their compensation. There are reasons that happened and not all malicious, but I don't really fault the firefighters for fighting to protect the pensions they were promised. Maybe it was HPD that should have fought harder, and not the fault of HFD for being too stubborn. This is just a footnote in the larger pension fight, but maybe the precedent should be set that unions that don't concede get rewarded. Fewer concessions would be made in the future and the earning power of working people would be better protected.
EMT pay needs to go way up - I read last night they start at 11 an hour and average 14 bucks. If accurate that is pathetic.
They also said on a later broadcast that the 7% percent that HPD will receive would cost 98 million which is the same amount that Turner has said for HFD that would cripple the city. This also explains why HPOU is against Prop B because the city will use HFD as reason for lower PD raises. Or at least that is what the city is threatening to them.
