fireman

Where I live they are. The rest of us get paid like farm laborers.

We keep being told that we are appreciated, but our pay is well below the regional median, we're not getting hazardous duty pay or any other form of bonus or benefit, and annual merit increases based on performance aren't going to happen this year.

Mmm. Doesn't sound right. But . . . where I am, they earn easily double the local median - plus probably another 30% in bennies - and just got an annual 3% hike for 5 years. Everyone else is flat or getting progressively poorer, where poverty is already rampant.

Small wonder public unions here are seen as the bloodsucking parasites they are. They're buying boats while the typical person supporting them in the area is a good chance to be on food stamps.

Yeah, it's definitely a double edged sword. I work in Northern Virginia, where the cost of living is atrocious. Median salary for the region is about 140K. Average local government worker makes 50-60% of that. They try to tell you that your benefits make up for what you could be making privately, but they don't.

So there are people who are parasites, "living off the public tit" I think the saying goes, who are not worth what they are paid. Then there are honest workers who bust their ass to provide a necessary service and don't get compensated for it.

Seems like no matter where you live, there's something crooked going on.

Well said. I used to live in a major city and thought moving to the small town years ago would be a change of pace in the corruption.

Nope ;-)