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Greed Report...SF UNION firefighter's smoking-hot OT - $221K and counting
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Leroy N. Soetoro
May 4, 2013, 12:36:07 AM5/4/13
to
http://blog.sfgate.com/matierandross/2013/04/24/sf-firefighters-smoking-
hot-ot-221000-and-counting/
If you�re looking for a poster boy for the San Francisco Fire Department�s
out-of-whack overtime, meet Lt. Gary Altenberg of Station 39 on Portola
Avenue.
Thanks largely to staffing shortages that had department management
ordering up extra shifts, Altenberg pulled in $221,000 in overtime last
year, raising his total paycheck to $363,000.
That�s nearly $50,000 more than what Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White made.
Frederick Binkley, a paramedic/firefighter at Station 51 in the Presidio,
was his closest competition, picking up $191,000 in overtime to bring his
pay for the year to $337,204.
Three battalion chiefs came next, earning $113,000 to $124,000 apiece in
overtime. That boosted their pay to $316,000 to $332,000 each.
Such payouts are a big reason why the Fire Department has already burned
through its $38 million overtime budget with more than two months to go in
the fiscal year, and is asking the Board of Supervisors for the OK to
spend another $4.1 million.
�It�s insane,� said Tom O�Connor, president of the San Francisco
firefighters union.
O�Connor points the finger at chronic understaffing � caused by the
department�s failure to fill 400 vacant positions � for requiring some
firefighters to put in hundreds of hours of OT a year.
Hayes-White conceded that it has been �more efficient�� to pay overtime
than hire additional firefighters, but said, �I don�t think it�s
sustainable � for someone time after time to accumulate more than 2,000
hours of overtime (a year). And as the fire chief, I don�t support it from
a safety perspective or from a mental health perspective.��
The department brass has repeatedly pledged to reduce its reliance on OT,
however, and little has changed.
It takes some mighty long hours to rack up the bill. Top earner Altenberg,
for example, worked the equivalent of about 1� extra round-the-clock
shifts a week.
�It�s mind-boggling,�� O�Connor said. �You are getting some real important
calls � a lot of cases involving congestive heart failure and elderly
patients that tend to show up in the early-morning hours � so you are not
getting a lot of sleep.��
Altenberg�s overtime load last year totaled nearly three times the
department�s supposed 633-hour cap, and this year he is actually picking
up the pace. He has rung up 2,100 hours for an estimated $265,000 in OT
this fiscal year, which doesn�t end until June 30.
Altenberg, through the union, declined to comment.
Firefighters are permitted to exceed the overtime cap if they volunteer
for shifts that the department needs to fill, sparing others from having
to work mandatory overtime.
�The only true way to solve the problem is to get more people in the
department,�� O�Connor said.
In December, Mayor Ed Lee promised to add at least one extra 48-member
class of firefighter recruits every year for the next six years, with the
goal being to fill many of those 400 vacant positions.
As a result, Hayes-White says said she has imposed a new �hard cap� of
1,100 hours of overtime a year per firefighter � meaning no more extra
volunteering to prevent others from being called. That policy took effect
April 15.
As usual, however, the new OT rule isn�t all that ironclad. Firefighters
who hit the cap are still subject to mandatory overtime if there are staff
shortages.
In other words, they�re right where they have been. And from what we�re
told, Altenberg was among the first to get the call.
For more M&R, including what the guy told a San Francisco store clerk
after somebody fired three shots at him, click here.
--
Barack Obama, reelected by the dumbest voters in the history of the United
States of America.
Eric Holder, racist black murdering United States Attorney General, still
has his job.
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact to
improper vetting of Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama, a confirmed
felon using SSAN 042-68-4425, belonging to a dead man.
Obama ignored the brutal killing of an American diplomat in Benghazi, then
relieved American military officers who attempted to prevent said murder
in order to cover up his own ineptness.
Obama continues his goal of disarming America while ObamaCare increases
insurance premiums 200% and leaves millions without health care.
Obama helped bankrupt Illinois. Democrat run Chicago closes 54 public
schools.
--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ne...@netfront.net ---
hot-ot-221000-and-counting/
If you�re looking for a poster boy for the San Francisco Fire Department�s
out-of-whack overtime, meet Lt. Gary Altenberg of Station 39 on Portola
Avenue.
Thanks largely to staffing shortages that had department management
ordering up extra shifts, Altenberg pulled in $221,000 in overtime last
year, raising his total paycheck to $363,000.
That�s nearly $50,000 more than what Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White made.
Frederick Binkley, a paramedic/firefighter at Station 51 in the Presidio,
was his closest competition, picking up $191,000 in overtime to bring his
pay for the year to $337,204.
Three battalion chiefs came next, earning $113,000 to $124,000 apiece in
overtime. That boosted their pay to $316,000 to $332,000 each.
Such payouts are a big reason why the Fire Department has already burned
through its $38 million overtime budget with more than two months to go in
the fiscal year, and is asking the Board of Supervisors for the OK to
spend another $4.1 million.
�It�s insane,� said Tom O�Connor, president of the San Francisco
firefighters union.
O�Connor points the finger at chronic understaffing � caused by the
department�s failure to fill 400 vacant positions � for requiring some
firefighters to put in hundreds of hours of OT a year.
Hayes-White conceded that it has been �more efficient�� to pay overtime
than hire additional firefighters, but said, �I don�t think it�s
sustainable � for someone time after time to accumulate more than 2,000
hours of overtime (a year). And as the fire chief, I don�t support it from
a safety perspective or from a mental health perspective.��
The department brass has repeatedly pledged to reduce its reliance on OT,
however, and little has changed.
It takes some mighty long hours to rack up the bill. Top earner Altenberg,
for example, worked the equivalent of about 1� extra round-the-clock
shifts a week.
�It�s mind-boggling,�� O�Connor said. �You are getting some real important
calls � a lot of cases involving congestive heart failure and elderly
patients that tend to show up in the early-morning hours � so you are not
getting a lot of sleep.��
Altenberg�s overtime load last year totaled nearly three times the
department�s supposed 633-hour cap, and this year he is actually picking
up the pace. He has rung up 2,100 hours for an estimated $265,000 in OT
this fiscal year, which doesn�t end until June 30.
Altenberg, through the union, declined to comment.
Firefighters are permitted to exceed the overtime cap if they volunteer
for shifts that the department needs to fill, sparing others from having
to work mandatory overtime.
�The only true way to solve the problem is to get more people in the
department,�� O�Connor said.
In December, Mayor Ed Lee promised to add at least one extra 48-member
class of firefighter recruits every year for the next six years, with the
goal being to fill many of those 400 vacant positions.
As a result, Hayes-White says said she has imposed a new �hard cap� of
1,100 hours of overtime a year per firefighter � meaning no more extra
volunteering to prevent others from being called. That policy took effect
April 15.
As usual, however, the new OT rule isn�t all that ironclad. Firefighters
who hit the cap are still subject to mandatory overtime if there are staff
shortages.
In other words, they�re right where they have been. And from what we�re
told, Altenberg was among the first to get the call.
For more M&R, including what the guy told a San Francisco store clerk
after somebody fired three shots at him, click here.
--
Barack Obama, reelected by the dumbest voters in the history of the United
States of America.
Eric Holder, racist black murdering United States Attorney General, still
has his job.
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact to
improper vetting of Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama, a confirmed
felon using SSAN 042-68-4425, belonging to a dead man.
Obama ignored the brutal killing of an American diplomat in Benghazi, then
relieved American military officers who attempted to prevent said murder
in order to cover up his own ineptness.
Obama continues his goal of disarming America while ObamaCare increases
insurance premiums 200% and leaves millions without health care.
Obama helped bankrupt Illinois. Democrat run Chicago closes 54 public
schools.
--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ne...@netfront.net ---
Joseph Smith, Jr.
May 4, 2013, 12:51:08 AM5/4/13
to
On May 4, 12:36 am, "Leroy N. Soetoro" <leroysoet...@usurper.org>
wrote:
so many unionists from the NYPD, FDNY and the Port Authority of NYC
were ruthlessly murdered by right wing religious extremists that
day.
And next time your shotgun shack catches fire and the niggers are
after you, call a Libertarian.
He wont race into danger when the shit hits the fan! A Libertarian
will say "Fuck you!" "I'm looking after myself!" then hang up the
telephone on you.
You are a "resourceful" "ruggedly independent" Libertarian, aren't
you?
You'll have better luck being a member of a club, like the one in
Son's of Anarchy.
But you don't have the balls to be an Outlaw. So you are essentially
fucked.
wrote:
> http://blog.sfgate.com/matierandross/2013/04/24/sf-firefighters-smoking-
> hot-ot-221000-and-counting/
>
> If you re looking for a poster boy for the San Francisco Fire Department s
> out-of-whack overtime, meet Lt. Gary Altenberg of Station 39 on Portola
> Avenue.
Well, I know that you were sitting on the sidelines during 9/11 when
> hot-ot-221000-and-counting/
>
> If you re looking for a poster boy for the San Francisco Fire Department s
> out-of-whack overtime, meet Lt. Gary Altenberg of Station 39 on Portola
> Avenue.
so many unionists from the NYPD, FDNY and the Port Authority of NYC
were ruthlessly murdered by right wing religious extremists that
day.
And next time your shotgun shack catches fire and the niggers are
after you, call a Libertarian.
He wont race into danger when the shit hits the fan! A Libertarian
will say "Fuck you!" "I'm looking after myself!" then hang up the
telephone on you.
You are a "resourceful" "ruggedly independent" Libertarian, aren't
you?
You'll have better luck being a member of a club, like the one in
Son's of Anarchy.
But you don't have the balls to be an Outlaw. So you are essentially
fucked.
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