Supes Fan Flames of Labor Blaze With Survey Stating S.F. Firefighters Work Least, Earn Most Per Hour Among Bay Area Cities

By Joe Eskenazi Fri., Jun. 19 2009 at 2:50 PM

Categories: Breaking News, Government, Labor, Politics

The ongoing pissing contest between the firefighters union and the progressive wing of the Board of Supervisors escalated to the point that they could put out a fire on their own today. The supes released a survey of Bay Area fire departments stating that San Francisco's firefighters work the fewest hours of anyone locally but earn near top dollar.

The survey, commissioned by the Board, noted that San Francisco firefighters' average work week is 48.7 hours -- the lowest among 14 other nearby fire departments, which worked 55 hours per week, on average. Yet despite the shorter work week, city firefighters earned the third-highest yearly salary at $98,670 (Santa Clara firefighters took home $114,576 and Oakland's earn $100,989). San Francisco's firefighters earn the highest per-hour wage at $42.86 per.

Considering the supes earlier proposed drastic cuts to the fire department budget and chided the firefighters union for not offering any give-backs this year -- it's easy to see where this is going.

A message left for firefighter's union president John Hanley has not yet been returned.

Read the survey here: Survey.xls