Firefighters Fight Back!

Steven Greenhut: Here is the video that the firefighters’ union is running to defend themselves against the increasing criticisms of their enormous pay and benefit packages, which average more than $170,000 a year in many California jurisdictions and which include massive abuses of the disability system and so forth.  It features my comments from the Stossel show, which has made for some entertaining emails from firefighters, who often have an entitlement mentality that rivals any you will find anywhere. They are heroes and they deserve their pay — no matter the unfunded liabilities or the cuts in other services. Never mind that there are thousands of applicants for every firefighter job, which suggests that this is more about enrichment than heroism. Here is one Orange County blog’s rebuke to the union. Note that 72 percent of America’s firefighters are heroes — these are the volunteers who do this to serve their community rather than for financial gain. Those folks never pull out the 9-11 card to justify higher pay levels.

FEB. 13, 2011