Quote:
Originally Posted by flameswin
Meh, I think there's a little too much emotional attachment to this issue for some people. Yes, it was amazing that thousands of volunteers came together and helped out where they could. And lots of people are attaching that same scenario to city workers who put in OT, but the reality is, they were working.
They were called out to work on this project and put in tons of hours, doing their job. There was no beer breaks, or standing around with people you've met to talk about how awesome everyone is, or stopping by a TD van to grab a bunch of food and drink. They just came out, on the clock and worked at specific tasks. They deserve the OT, and shouldn't feel bad about it, imo.
It's great for those of us who volunteered to look at it from our perspective and think "man, seriously guys? We were all there for free, and you're there collecting OT? Brutal." But the reality is, I'm sure a lot of those opinions would change if you were the one being called out for work and then being asked if you want money for it or not.
|
I don't disagree that these people worked for it, and I don't think that anyone thinks they stood around the water-cooler trading stock tips or spent the time posting on CP. On the radio last night though I heard that some of these guys claimed $300k in overtime! That seems completely ridiculous.
I have a hard time thinking that overtime is something that we should be paying to salaried employees who are at these levels. I'm not hardline here, because I recognize that these are extenuating circumstances that hopefully we don't see again, but at the same time a guy making a few hundred a year with full benefits a good pension and everything else is well compensated.
I think it also has to be recognized that we're not talking about front-line responders here. These people are in management. No one is suggesting that police offices, fire fighters, roads crews or other workers in these areas aren't deserving of being paid. That is a pretty clear distinction IMO.