Union Rules: Despite No Horses, Detroit Water Department Employs 'Horseshoer'

Capitol Confidential ^ | 8/20/2012 | Jarrett Skorup

[MichCapCon]

Despite having no horses, the water and sewerage department for the city of Detroit employs a horseshoer.

Yet even with a department so bloated that it has a horseshoer and no horses, the local union president said it is "not possible" to eliminate positions.

Union rules have turned the department into a government jobs program, some critics say...

[OldMissileer]

Perhaps the motor city hasn’t heard that there’s a new invention that some are calling a horseless carriage.

With all the recalls and problems with GM vehicles I would say they haven't.

[ReformedBeckite]

They might not have any horses to shoe, but I’m sure there are plenty of political and union A**’s that could could use a shoeing out the door, figuratively speaking.

[Axenolith]

I think a main point of irony here is that there are more horses now in the US than there were in use around 1900 and they can’t figure out how to farm this guy out to make a buck on the side...

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***the local union president said it is “not possible” to eliminate positions. ***

The term is “featherbeding”. Railroads have been required to keep boiler operators (firemen) on diesel engine trains since the days of the old coal fired trains.

[count-your-change]

Sounds like a ghost employee. The checks are written and cashed but by whom?

[oh8eleven]

No offense taken. In fact, I’m PO’d for not thinking of the “multiple votes” death benefit myself.

[carlo3b]

Not so fast..

With all of the Horses#it that the Unions dish out, one could assume that the Union Reprsentives that I meet are HorsesA$$, a Horseshoer, Farrier, might be appropriate..

[FrdmLvr]

No, silly! The DPS union employs mechanics In the
Mounted police division

[goat granny]

My dad retired from the mounted division in 1950. If Detroit still has a mounted division, they also have their own farrier and vet. Use to have stables at Belle Isle, Palmer Park, and the one down town was either Buthune or Bobian, can’t remember which....they might have had one more stable, cannnot remember its name...

[madison10]

LOL That makes total sense.

[Osage Orange]

We have some traveling ferrier's around here.......

I've shod a horse before...it's back breaking work. Not something I'd want to do for a living.

[mc5cents]

But we are talking about the WATER Dept. here, not the police. The police would make more sense if they had a mounted div. as most large cities do (for crowd control mainly).

[goat granny]

my only point was that perhaps the mounted division had their budget department cut and the farrier was needed so it just got stuck under another department...I am sure their budget runs into thousands of pages.... Mounted bureau also needs a good leather man to take care of tack and a vet. I think the cops use to sweep the aisle. I don’t know who may have taken care of the cleaning of the stalls, but I remember a picture my dad had of a bunch of the guys tossing one of the men into the pile of straw and whatever else, ie: horse biscuits and everyone was laughing even the guy in the pile.....could have been a new cop in that barn, I don’t know or someone that lost a bet..That would have been early 40’s...

[SunkenCiv]

[singing] how I wish, how I horseshoer here...

[Ax]

My dad retired from the DPD in 1964. I believe the address of which you were thinking is 1300 Beaubien. It was Police HQS.

[goat granny]

thanks but they also had a stable I believe and it must have been Bethune. My dad did some of the training of new horse's brought in and that (I think)) was downtown...Your a good speller on Beaubien. :O) I only remember him talking about a couple of horses, one new one panicked like a horse can do, ran into the high wood fence and broke his neck....horses can be very skittish. Another one, a Thoroughbred (which the department didn't use) but the head of the mounted division wanted it....It was given to the department by some rich dude that raised thoroughbreds but under the condition that if the horse didn't work out, he was to be destroyed....The donater didn't want the horse to fall into the hands of someone that wouldn't take care of it....(lots of problems with race horses and abuse)...The horse didn't work out. I believe most of the breeds they used were Saddle-bred...But that was many decades ago, I might be a bit off of my memory....