Lifeguards' high pay riles California beach city

[The Northerner]

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Aurora Toussaint brings her disabled son to the sun-kissed beaches of this Southern California city almost every day in the summer, knowing that the lifeguards who watch from their towers will be there in seconds should anything go wrong.

Yet Toussaint, who quit work and dipped into her retirement early to care for her seizure-prone son, was shocked to learn that most of the fulltime lifeguards in this city earn well over $100,000 in total compensation a year — more than Toussaint made in her previous life as a nurse and more than she believes is right in an economy where pink slips have become common fare.

"When I first heard that I was amazed at how much they make. To think that these are lifeguards! That's more than some doctors make," said Toussaint, 55, as she sat by the beach with her son's therapy dog, Romeo. "It does kind of make me feel like, 'Gosh, maybe I should be a lifeguard.'"

That's the kind of reaction Newport Beach's 13-member fulltime lifeguard crew has drawn this month, since the local newspaper editorialized about lifeguard salaries, benefits and overtime pay that in at least two instances top $200,000 (with $400 for sun protection) as the city struggles to rein in pension costs.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iOX982YP932CogjsJbMT0eP2ZQQw?docId=79959bafd9cd4546b12bc54ada0391d1

[Fumesucker]

1. 'Gosh, maybe I should be a lifeguard.'

Go for it, girl..

My daughter was a lifeguard, she weighed about 120 lbs and could drag a completely limp 200 + lb man out of the pool.

Ocean lifeguarding is even more difficult and demanding physically.

[vandelay]

2. Well, then they should raise lifeguards salaries to $200,000...wait...

they already did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5FytHY2qhc

[Fumesucker]

4. Not salary, total compensation..

How much is your insurance?

I wonder what it costs to insure a lifeguard?

No more than an accountant I imagine, it's not like it's a hazardous job or anything.

[tkmorris]

7. Yeah, that phrase is a red flag for me

Anyone who says "total compensation" is trying to blow someone's paycheck out of proportion, generally speaking. About the only time such a phrase is relevant is when we are talking about CEO's whose salary is a pittance for PR purposes but are getting rich through other forms of compensation. I doubt such a thing applies to lifeguards.

What do these folks actually get paid? Bottom line?

[blondeatlast]

8. No doubt that also includes insuring the entire department as well as individual

lifeguards.

Besides, how much is a single life saved worth, anyway?

[Fumesucker]

9. To a Republican?

Nada, zip, zero, the big goose egg..

Unless you are rich of course, but they have their own private beaches with lifeguards making minimum wage.

[Horse with no Name]

13. Are we going to compare the lives a nurse saves with the lives a lifeguard saves?

As a nurse, I will tell you that I probably save as many if not more lives.

We can talk about hazardous....nursing is the #1 most hazardous job and has the most on-the-job injuries.

But, let's not make it about this, please.

I do not believe that we should seek to tear the carpets out from under someone else...if that is the deal that the lifeguards make, then fine. I have more of a problem of the banksters making out like bandits.

Let's fight to RAISE everyone...not to lower anyone.

[Fumesucker]

14. I did not intend to denigrate nurses in any way shape or form..

It's a hard job and I agree, you save lives on a regular basis.

My comment was directed at the specific individual who made the statement I quoted, not meant in a general sense. I suspect the person was misinformed and thought that the lifeguards actually made a couple of hundred thousand just in their paycheck, the M$M loves to distort things that way and it's a major problem because so many people believe their distortions without questioning.

Raising everyone is my preferred goal, just as it is yours.

:hi:

[GeorgeGist]

22. Little known fact:

Sanitation workers save more lives than emts, doctors, nurses, police officers, fireman, and lifeguards combined.

[blondeatlast]

3. And the lifeguards contribute a great deal back if you consider tourist revenue.

But of course, the perpetually envious never think of such things, do they?

[GCP]

5. OK, why don't they just employ some of the homeless

Who live all along the coast. Then when a few people have drowned and they have to settle enormous lawsuits, they'll maybe realize why the lifeguards were paid a living wage. Total compensation is not the same as pay. These media bastards are constantly trying to stir up one set of people against another, and theend result is a race to the bottom for salaries and working conditions, and all in the name of ratings.

[Fumesucker]

6. Good point about the M$M... n/t

[jberryhill]

10. Seriously... among the requisites to being a lifeguard

...is generally living within practical distance to what is normally pricey beach area real estate.

[lunatica]

11. Jesus fuck woman! Why does it always have to come down to money

Lifeguards are exactly what their title says. They save lives as a living. Not on the side, not every once in a blue moon. all the time. It is their job and they have to deal with stupid people all the time. And with people who are handicapped, are just learning to swim and who get in trouble very easily in moving water.

Shit! But it all comes down to what salary they make. Should they get minimum wage for saving your kid's ass?!

[Hepburn]

12. I was a life guard.

One of the ways I worked my way through undergrad school. I had a cake job compared to beach life guards. I worked at a private country club pool. However, I have had to pull kids out and had one almost drown. It was hard work. And.. it was an every minute "watch." Eyes right, eyes left, count heads, be alert at all times. Very draining. I had none of the hazards a SoCal beach guard has. IMO, $100K a year is not too high at all.

JMHO

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LeftishBrit]

16. Well, being a lifeguard is an important and potentially dangerous job

I think they deserve good pay.

[jmowreader]

17. This is the FULLTIME lifeguard crew...

We ran this story yesterday too...

Two of these lifeguards pulled down $28,000 in overtime and night-duty pay.

Something else to consider: the Newport Beach Lifeguard crew is part of the Newport Beach Fire Department. The lifeguards are considered a fire battalion, and the head lifeguard has the same rank as the other battalion chiefs in Newport Beach.

Plus, as someone said upstream, to be a professional lifeguard you must live within commuting distance of the beach they work, which means they have some serious house payments. Given all that, this isn't out of line.

The best part of their compensation package: $400 annual sunglasses allowance. Which makes sense--you need really good sunglasses to do this.

[XanaDUer]

18. I love these stories where workers turn on each other

I had relatives up in NY who were lifeguards, and it's a dangerous, stressful job. Maybe she should be a lifeguard, and let's hope she does make a lot of money so she can put her child into a quality day care. Because pink slips have become common fare, they should punish lifeguards?

[Obamanaut]

19. Additional responses at this similar earler thread ->

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1139691

[Edweird]

20. Aurora Toussaint is an idiot.

[girl gone mad]

21. Oh noes, a working person is making a decent living!!!1!

Only corporate looters, Wall St. crooks and political cronies are allowed to make good money in this society!

[Bluenorthwest]

23. Median household income in Newport Beach is $110, 500

Median rent is $1,542. Newport Beach makes lists of 'richest city in America'. My question for Toussaint would be 'what is the income of your family'? She used to be a nurse, and now she lives in a place most can not afford.
Once many years ago I heard a famous star being paid millions comment on the pay of another doing the same job. She said 'boy, I went into the wrong business'. She was in the same business, and making 20x what the other made. People say "I should have been a plumber!" when they pay the plumber, even if they are millionaires.