My grandfather, Hoyt Eller, was a union member when he moved here in 1923 to help build the Boca Raton Hotel. At that time, in order to get into the union, it was necessary to have at least two years of formal training in your craft and own your own tools. Granddad was not just a regular carpenter, he was a skilled “finish carpenter” and did the fancy wood work that still enhances the entrance lobby of the Boca Raton Hotel today. Therefore, because of my respect for my Grandfather Eller, I made sure I hired a carpenter union member to lead the building of my own house in 1971.

Boy was that a mistake. Unbeknownst to me at that time, almost anyone could get into the carpenter’s union by then. You didn’t even have to know how to hang a door or install roof joists correctly. By the time I figured it out, and in addition caught my union carpenter building things on my job site for other people while charging me, I’d bought myself thousands of dollars of education.

Fast forward to a current union situation a effecting all of us in South Florida: In Dade County, there are dozens of firefighters, according to the Miami Herald, who are grossing more than general surgeons ($228,000) or obstetricians ($203,000), even though firefighters only need a high school equivalency degree. Capt. Raul Fernandez, a firefighter/paramedic crew leader in the Brickell area is one of the leaders in compensation with estimated earnings of approximately $349,279. He responded to the Herald saying: “Now, here’s this pot of gold in front of you, and you just want to stick your hand in it. Do the numbers look bad? Yeah, they look bad. But I worked the hours!”

He is one of 19 firefighters in Dade costing taxpayers more than $300,000 a year in compensation and benefits. Another 161 of the 630 sworn firefighters are making over $200,000! And that is just from the government, as most of them work 24 hours on and 48 hours off as firefighters and have other jobs and businesses going on the side.

No wonder these jobs, while they last, are highly coveted. Last February, Miami advertised 35 more firefighter jobs, and more than 1,000 people stood in line and camped overnight for a shot at getting one. Unfortunately for the general public, most jobs are also “wired” ahead of time, by those on the “inside” making friends and taking certain courses ahead of time to get an advantage.

Although Dade County is used as an example here, the same type of thing is happening in Broward, Palm Beach and other counties. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer is threatening to lay off a sizeable number of their firefighters in order to get costs within an affordable budget. So are places as far away as Los Angeles and Oakland. Other cities are preparing to shut down the gravy train for the few and privatize the whole system. As they’ve done to the automobile and other industries, the union is bringing its own ultimate demise on itself.

–David Eller, Publisher