Police & Firefighters to Rally Thursday

by: Rosi Efthim

Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 12:03:45 PM EST

Firefighters rally in Trenton Friday

On Thursday 11am, comes a second rally. This time, it's New Jersey police and firefighters: Rally to Take a Stand for Public Safety.

For first-responders, the massive cuts to their labor force are not only about backdoor methods of making collective bargaining illegal, as Hetty Rosenstein charges Steve Sweeney and Jennifer Beck are trying to do. Not only about Christie's near-daily demonizing of the people who work for New Jersey, and not only about Christie ignoring labor's collective bargaining rights. Firefighters & police are charged to protect, and deep cuts in state aid have meant massive layoffs, and an impact on how safe we all are.

Boots of laid-off Camden police officers (APP)

Camden laid off nearly one-half of its police force this year; a third of its firefighters. Yesterday, about 40 laid-off firefighters and firefighters coming off shift rallied outside Camden's city hall, demanding action from Mayor Dana Redd. Their signs read: Camden's new emergency # (856) TOO-LATE, and People are dying.

The NJ state PBA's website is as hard on Democrats in the legislature as it is on Gov. Christie:

On the political front, Governor Christie continues to preach that he has no problem with the "rank-and-file" members while at the same time he proposes legislation that denies those same rank-and-file members their collective bargaining rights, violates their contracts, and reduces pension benefits that they have faithfully paid for during their careers.

Unfortunately, the Democratic majority, with only a few exceptions, has apparently forgotten their core values and has been ineffective in bringing some order and common sense to the table.