Hermosa Beach Public Safety Unions (False) Alarm

The police and firefighters' unions in Hermosa Beach have issued a
joint-statement criticizing city leaders for promoting a 27% cut to the
employee salaries and benefits.

 The unions have framed their opposition in terms of the negative impact that
these cuts will have on the community. Of course, public safety officers must
place the well-being of their cities ahead of their own interests, or why would
they be serving the city in the first place?

 Police and fire offer a crucial service — public safety is central to the
well-being of a municipality, the key element which determines whether a family
settles in the area and whether businesses decide to invest or expand their
operations in a community. A high crime rate and poor response time would
understandably discourage anyone from setting up home and court anywhere.

 Reading over the claimed concerns over cuts in salary and benefits, one
cannot help but think that the police and fire unions are engaging in some
slippery-slop thinking:

If the city imposes its proposed cuts this year, Hermosa Beach would
have the lowest overall compensation for police officers.

 The unions did
not offer any comparison. Were they inferring the surrounding base pay in the Beach
Cities, the entire country, or even the state?

 That might mean veteran officers would apply elsewhere, leaving
inexperienced officers as the main applicants for jobs.

 This specious
argument does not take into consideration that experienced police officers have
been laid off in other cities throughout the state, including Chula Vista and
San Jose, as well as Maywood and Bell and other harder-hit municipalities.  Chances are that there are plenty of experienced officers who would welcome the opportunity to work in the South Bay.

As a result, union leaders believe Los Angeles County would eventually
have to take over emergency services in the city.

Would this
really be so bad? Contracting out services would save more money for the city.
Perhaps the city council will have no choice but to force the issue with the
unions, which have taken their case to the voters, further politicizing the
negotiations.

 Mayor Duclos was pertinent without being petty:
The City of Hermosa Beach values its employees and their said views, but
the intent of this document [the unions' joint statement] is to
provoke rather than be fair and factual. We will not conduct labor negotiations
through the media.

 The union sent a small mailer to homes with its position, and said another
is in the works.

 This is scandalous. I am now more convinced than ever that the power of
public sector unions must be curbed. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker did not
have the forwardness to take on the public safety unions along with the other public
sector works. Ohio Governor John Kasich enacted sweeping reforms to all public
sector unions, and the result was a ballot initiative which rescinded all of
the governor's efforts to curb public sector unions' collective bargaining
rights. Walker was pragmatic and cautious, and he achieved noticeable decreases
in government spending, closed the state's budget gap, and kept his promise not
to raise taxes. However, after years of trading and discussing the terms and
costs of legacy payments, perhaps Hermosa Beach will be the government to take on
the public safety unions and assert that everyone has to pay a price in these
difficult times, even the peace officers who give their lives in the service of
their communities.