Letters to the Editor
Firefighters' Special Treatment

To the Editor:

Mayor Bloomberg, commenting on Firefighters' latest contract coup, called the settlement, "a fair agreement." What's fair, or fiscally responsible, about compensating one uniformed city service markedly better than all the others?

Tell our lesser-paid cops that the pay disparity is based on the dangers of firefighting and they'll go ballistic. When they're not being shot at, they'll point out the city realized its record budget surplus thanks in large measure to them keeping our streets safe and attractive to business.

Tell our lesser-paid sanitation workers, who save more lives than any other service, that their compensation reflects the importance of their efforts and they'll rightfully tell you where to stick it. They'll also point out that they manage their gargantuan task with 3,000 fewer people than the FDNY.

Tell the lesser-paid Emergency Medical Service workers that they must make do with $30,000 less than firemen because their productivity doesn't warrant more money, and they'll tell you they respond to 40 times the FDNY's alleged 28,000 fire calls a year with 6,000 fewer personnel.

Fires happen. The city needs firemen. Fighting fires is difficult and dangerous. The FDNY would have you believe, according to its own statistics, that there are 75 structural fires a day in the five boroughs, three an hour. One every 20 minutes. I work on a city ambulance and hear the alert for every one-alarm fire broadcast in the entire city and often work 16-hour shifts without a single fire call being transmitted. Where are all these fires?

The Police and EMS suffer rampant attrition, many members jumping at the opportunity to join the Fire Department. How many firemen opt to join P.D. or EMS, where the stresses, danger, abuse and physical rigors of the job aren't rewarded with commensurate compensation? Hell, P.D. and EMS can't even meet their hiring quotas; you can't pay most people to do these jobs. Yet many firemen performed for free as volunteers the same function the city pays them to do. What a gig: getting paid for something you'd do for free!

In a city with a large aging population with myriad health concerns, why isn't a fair wage allocated to EMS, the first link in the chain of survival? Paramedics bring the Emergency Room to people's doorsteps and along with EMTs generate $125 million annually for the city treasury.

If fiscal responsibility played any role in city government, the Fire Department and EMS would be recognized as the separate and distinct entities they are and each would be resourced according to demand. Since 1980, fires are down by half, but FDNY staffing levels have remained constant while EMS call volume has tripled; facts Bloomberg, an astute businessman when he's not politicking, well knows.

I'd like to see how long it would take Mayor Bloomberg to downsize a bloated employee roster at one of his financial service companies if demand fell 50 percent.

I'm not an ungrateful city employee looking out for himself only. I think city pensions should be defined contribution plans, not the defined benefits plans that some actuaries believe are unsustainable, and I would not balk at contributing toward the generous health coverage I enjoy. The Mayor can't keep asking, "How will the city pay for it?" when denying just compensation to some services while throwing money at Teachers and firemen.

JEFF NICHOLS, EMS Battalion 38