Firefighters union should accept apology for racy video and move on

It’s utterly ludicrous that the firefighters’ union will burn $50,000 of precious taxpayer money to investigate allegedly hurt feelings over a silly video (“City hires law firm to investigate firefighter video,” Feb. 24). No reasonable adult could possibly construe that video as harassment. This waste of $50,000 is, frankly, a five-alarm offense given the firefighters’ skyrocketing pension costs. That’s right, starting soon, San Luis Obispo taxpayers are going to have to pony up another $8 million a year to CalPERS to cover rising costs for public employee pensions.

But I guess the firefighters’ union has a more narrow, selfish focus. The union is apparently steamed that Chief Garret Olson reduced overtime. But I digress.

The video clearly did not intend to offend anyone. To those who took offense, the chief and the city manager sincerely apologized. The union should accept it and move on. Otherwise, maybe taxpayers should sue the firefighters for harassing our wallets.

This story was originally published March 19, 2017 at 7:30 PM with the headline "Firefighters union should accept apology for racy video and move on."