A side thought experiment on the topic of public unions.
As has been discussed before, the vast majority of metro areas in the US are serviced by volunteer fire departments (these tend to be small markets, but they are numerous). However, virtually ALL of the major metro markets (not a lot of markets – by definition – but lots of population) are serviced by a full-time, paid fire department.
Clearly, there are lots and lots of folks who would be happy to volunteer to help out the fire department, even here in SD. They’d go through the training, etc etc… and work essentially for free.
If the unions were amenable, we could start integrating such folks into the current fire department and have them working for and alongside the full-time folks. Over time we could strike a balance between volunteer and full-time workers that better fits our financial wherewithal.
So, why doesn’t this happen? I know the answer but I’m wondering what others think is the barrier.
