[quote=sdrealtor]I may be wrong but from my experience cops/fireman seem to come from two primary sources. Families that have a history in that profession and the military. I dont think the average person knows what kind of compensation cops/fireman get. I had absolutely no idea until I did short sales for 3 different fireman and saw their tax returns. They made close to double what I expected. I always saw the published base salaries and figured that was what they made not realizing that overtime was so prevalent and lucrative. When I asked if it was unusual all of them told me that the base salaries are nowhere near what anyone in their profession earns. I had no idea and dont think the vast majority of the public does either.
As for the long hours, in the private sector most higher paid individuals arent hourly and eligible for O/T. In the private sector many employees get on an airplane Sunday Night/Monday morning and come back Friday night. They are away from their families even longer hours and its just part of the job description to eat dinner alone and to spend your nights alone in a hotel.
I dont beleive privatizing is the answer but think compensation of the public sector should be more transparent. I hear lots of talk about making RE transactions transparent. I would like to see the total compensation of all public sector employees who our tax dollars pay made compeltely transparent also. I think there would be quite a lot of outrage.[/quote]
A firefighter’s standard workweek is 56 hours/week. The compensation numbers you see without “overtime” are for these 56 hours/week. Overtime is in addition to this, and is the standard 1 1/2 times regular pay. The reason they seem to make so much is because some of them *not all, or even most of them* work tremendous numbers of hours. I know some firefighters who’ve worked on wildland fires for months at a time. The majority of overtime for most firefighters is earned during fire season. When was the last time you or any of these private-sector “businessmen” were battling fires with heat in the hundreds of degrees with hot gear on and no breathing apparatus (maybe a mask, but it gets clogged up with ashes, so they tend not to use them most of the time)? Would anyone in the private sector work those hours, and in those conditions, for free? I don’t think so.
What people don’t seem to understand is that there is no room for absentee employees in emergency services (or teaching, for that matter). When you call in sick, you’re not just leaving an empty desk at work. These positions need to be fully staffed at all times; that’s why there is so much overtime.
BTW, I’d be willing to bet big money that the “businessmen” who are away from their families 24/5 make more money than firefighters, and if they don’t, they won’t be doing those jobs for very long.
