UK firefighters vote to strike

[alexa]

You can put a price on anything.

IMO we should pay firefighters only when they actually fight a fire and not the 99% of the rest of the time

Feel free to have your own private firefighters doing other things when they get the call to come for the fire which they clearly will not be able to go to until they have finished whatever it is they are doing.

Meanwhile the rest of us will stick with what works for the job, for putting out fires as quickly as possible and saving lives. Whatever turns you on.

 

[Blues Man]

Feel free to have your own private firefighters doing other things when they get the call to come for the fire which they clearly will not be able to go to until they have finished whatever it is they are doing.

Meanwhile the rest of us will stick with what works for the job, for putting out fires as quickly as possible and saving lives. Whatever turns you on.

Every town I have lived in has had a volunteer fire dept.

 

[alexa]

Every town I have lived in has had a volunteer fire dept.

Right to you it has always been a volunteer activity. Is that why the States use so many Prisoners to fight fires and then doesn't allow them to earn a living as a firefighter.

I trust you can see that when it is professionals working as it is in the UK, they need to be there waiting so that they can go immediately there is a fire and sort it out and they need sufficient money to look after themselves and their families.

 

[Blues Man]

Right to you it has always been a volunteer activity. Is that why the States use so many Prisoners to fight fires and then doesn't allow them to earn a living as a firefighter.

I trust you can see that when it is professionals working as it is in the UK, they need to be there waiting so that they can go immediately there is a fire and sort it out and they need sufficient money to look after themselves and their families.

They certainly can be doing other stuff for the town or city while they are waiting for something to catch on fire can't they?

 

[alexa]

They certainly can be doing other stuff for the town or city while they are waiting for something to catch on fire can't they?

No, I wouldn't think so. Not even if they are only working in a small town. They would need to change into their gear and all collect together and by that time the fire could have spread enormously.

 

[Blues Man]

No, I wouldn't think so. Not even if they are only working in a small town. They would need to change into their gear and all collect together and by that time the fire could have spread enormously.

Why can't they have their gear with them in their cars?

That's exactly how it works in small towns with volunteer fire departments.

 

[alexa]

Why can't they have their gear with them in their cars?

That's exactly how it works in small towns with volunteer fire departments.

OK. I can see it working like that in a town where everyone knows each other and that is the way they do it. It is difficult to imagine it would be so good but I will take your word that is what you and others like. So how do you manage your firefighters in the big cities then.

 

[toomuchtime_]

I note your extreme right position and can see by it that Tommy was more than correct in comparing your previous opinion with Empire firefighters wanting to see a person's insurance before they came out.

You and Tommy are only capable of thinking in terms of right and left, but what I presented to you was the natural process by which change comes about. Everyone prefers to pay less for the same product or service, including politicians who don't want to have to raise taxes.

There are two forces that produce a natural limit to what any worker can be paid: one is the number of people competing for that job and the second is the cost of a smart machine that can do that job. The desktop computer eliminated forever millions and millions of lower level white collar jobs and automobiles would be too expensive for most people to afford them if many autoworker jobs were not now performed by robots, just to give two examples of how society benefits from this process you are complaining about.

 

[Tommy Tainant]

You and Tommy are only capable of thinking in terms of right and left, but what I presented to you was the natural process by which change comes about. Everyone prefers to pay less for the same product or service, including politicians who don't want to have to raise taxes.

There are two forces that produce a natural limit to what any worker can be paid: one is the number of people competing for that job and the second is the cost of a smart machine that can do that job. The desktop computer eliminated forever millions and millions of lower level white collar jobs and automobiles would be too expensive for most people to afford them if many autoworker jobs were not now performed by robots, just to give two examples of how society benefits from this process you are complaining about.

Your agenda is based on the premise that the lower paid should carry the cost of the low pay ,low tax narnia.
That does not make for a harmonious society. People will not starve in a world of plenty and nor should they.
Post reagan and thatcher workers have accepted their lot. Wages have declined while we create super rich billionaires.
That era is ending.

Meanwhile the right defends the elites on one hand and bitches about immigration with the other. Lunacy.

 

[toomuchtime_]

Your agenda is based on the premise that the lower paid should carry the cost of the low pay ,low tax narnia.
That does not make for a harmonious society. People will not starve in a world of plenty and nor should they.
Post reagan and thatcher workers have accepted their lot. Wages have declined while we create super rich billionaires.
That era is ending.

Meanwhile the right defends the elites on one hand and bitches about immigration with the other. Lunacy.

You're being childish. I have no agenda; I'm just explaining to you how things work. No one pays more than they have to for goods and services, and that's why we have a "world of plenty."

Low paid workers are nearly always low skilled workers who can be easily replaced, so there is a natural cap on their wages and companies that pay more than that become less competitive in the market and these higher paid jobs disappear. In the past, there were nearly always more low skilled workers than there were jobs for them, so that kept wages low, but today, a large percent of these jobs can be done by smart machines, so when it becomes cheaper to have a job done by a machine than by a person, the job disappears, so the cost of buying and maintaining the smart machine puts a natural cap on wages. This is what businesses have to do to stay competitive, and if they don't, they will fail and the jobs will disappear, and most people would not be able to buy an automobile or home computer or many other things.

 

[BlackSand]

Give them every penny they want.

.

We have Volunteer Firefighters where I live.
They do a pretty damn good job too.

Of course, if you see a standard pick-up hauling ass with emergency lights flashing ...
You better get out of their way because they don't play around getting to a fire or emergency call.
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