Firefighters do not receive fair pay for their job criteria. Even with a salary so low, firefighters pay into their own retirement or pensions. Their retirement is not paid by taxpayers (Truth About Firefighters). As the jobs grow more complex and dangerous, the compensation of firefighters has not. Firefighters have a shorter life expectancy. They are three times more likely to die on the job. Firefighters run in to burning buildings risking their own lives to save others. They venture through risk, physical and mental stresses and the exposure to toxins in smoke (Truth About Firefighters). When the pay of firefighters does rise, so does the retirement savings (Truth About Firefighters). Cities that pay such a low salary to their firefighters …show more content…
Retirement benefits are based from many factors. Some factors have been overlooked on reports of firefighter’s retirements, salaries, and benefits. Firefighters don’t receive Social Security. “Out of every dollar that fund’s a firefighter’s pension and health insurance plan, 100 cents comes from the workers because the “contributions” consist of money that employees chose to take as deferred wages- as pensions when they retire- rather than take immediately cash” (Truth About Firefighters). Also meaning, retired firefighters can’t receive this benefit either. Firefighters have negotiated increased retirement benefits because they can’t collect social security. When a firefighter retiree dies, their retirement savings go back into the system (Truth About Firefighters). This is because most fire departments use a public benefit retirement system. Because it’s a public system, the spouse only keeps 50%. The private sectors will let spouses keep 100% of the retirement benefits (Truth About Firefighters). The employee pays their own retirement savings. Taxpayers do not pay for firefighter retirement benefits. “Firefighters contribute a minimum of 8-16% of their salary towards retirement savings” (Truth About Firefighters). They pay more into their retirement system than most other public and private sector employees. The retirement system earns more than the stock market (Truth About Firefighters). Firefighters are citizens and taxpayers. The only difference is they know how important their taxes are to contributing to the communities. Firefighters know they took on a big role, but they are just not getting paid enough for what they signed up for. They are committed to protect the community, assets and the society from fires, natural and man-made disasters, and other risky emergencies (Truth