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Nevada Firefighters Protest Report Calling for Cuts
LAS VEGAS - About 200 firefighters wore yellow T-shirts to protest a report recommending a reduction in their overtime pay and possible elimination of paramedic teams.
The Clark County Commission on Tuesday received the report from the 15-person Committee on Community Priorities. The group was created to discuss making departments leaner amid a budget shortfall. The county's finance director says falling tax revenue may mean the county faces a shortfall of $150 million to as much as $200 million. Commissioners on Tuesday agreed to discuss the recommendations in pieces in the coming months and let the public comment.
International Association of Firefighters Local 1908 President Ryan Beaman says he hopes firefighters will be included in future discussions.
Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
Related Firefighters oppose report calling for cuts
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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Well, if any community is willing to gamble on the health, safety and well being of their citizens Las Vegas certainly is the place to start.
If reducing OT pay and a few P/M teams is going to close the gap of a $150-200 million shortfall, those boys must be damn well paid.
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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protest a report recommending a reduction in their overtime pay and possible elimination of paramedic teams
You know, I am all for backing the brothers who are facing cuts and reduction of personnel etc to save the almighty dollar. However, when complaining about reducing OT, it makes it very tough to feel bad for them. If one has to rely on OT to live, then my guess is they are living beyond their means. There really is no reason one should have to depend on OT and to complain about a reduction in OT makes it difficult for the public, and even me, to feel bad.
Staffing issues on the other hand does make an impact, both for FF's and civilians and such cuts should not just be arbitrarily made as many appear to be. That is something to protest about, but protesting because OT is looking to be reduced, good luck with that fight.
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http://www.lvrj.com/news/firefighters-oppose-report-calling-for-cut...
Yes, overtime is high, he said, but the department is understaffed. The national standard calls for an area to have 1.22 firefighters per 1,000 residents, Beaman said. Clark County has 0.7 firefighters for every 1,000.
Martinez said it was unfair to lay all the blame on workers, especially when they saved the county $15 million by taking a smaller cost-of-living raise.
County Commissioner Tom Collins...said the answer is never to cut workers' pay. "If they're not worth what you're paying them, then you should fire them," Collins said.
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Yes, overtime is high, he said, but the department is understaffed
That would be a reason to protest, to point out the very basic issue that when stffing goes down, OT goes up, especially when maintaining the same level of service. Reality also is that paying OT is CHEAPER than hiring.
The way this article reads is the FF's are complaining about OT reduction, rather than the cause of the OT in the first place. For me, don't gripe about OT, gripe about why it was caused in the first place....reduced staffing.
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Maybe I just can't find the article that the "FFN Team" copied, but from one of the links I got this:
About 200 firefighters wearing yellow T-shirts made a unified show of force Tuesday as Clark County commissioners received an advisory panel's report that includes recommendations to reduce firefighters' overtime pay and eliminate paramedic teams.
and this:
Clark County firefighters, clad in yellow union T-shirts, crowd a commission meeting Tuesday in response to an advisory panel recommendation that their labor costs be trimmed. It was one of many cost-cutting suggestions for the county outlined in a final report.
which were a result, I think, of this:
The committee got most of its information from managers and little from rank-and-file workers and people who use the services, said Al Martinez, president of the Service Employees International Union Local 1107. SEIU represents most of the county's employees.
Apparently FFN Team thought it would read better as: About 200 firefighters wore yellow T-shirts to protest a report recommending a reduction in their overtime pay and possible elimination of paramedic teams. Does make it seem like they were upset about losing their OT, doesn't it?
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Does make it seem like they were upset about losing their OT, doesn't it?
Yes it does.
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