Fire Departments

[panamaniac]

The firefighters have a better union?  Are paramedics paid poorly, or is it that firefighters are over-paid?

The discrepancy between paramedic and firefighter pay certainly seems too large. 

Firefighters in Cambridge make $100K and up, plus overtime, benefits and retention bonuses.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/a...e13647608/

Retention bonuses.  Because the colleges don't crank out more qualified candidates than can ever be absorbed!  And this for what is, in some ways, a part-time job that lets you pursue a second career simultaneously. 
I'd say "nice gig", except for that life-threatening/cancer causing element.  Not that throwing money at them helps overcome that in any practical way.