What do you think of this clip?

[Polynikes]

Curious as to what you all think of the content of this video. Put aside some of the prejudice against Fox News and take in what is actually being said.

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

I'd like to know if the supervisors in question were brought on to manage established teams, or if the Spanish-speakers came on later.

I'd also like to know if the Spanish-speakers were hired because of a shortage of candidates.

 

[jamesrage]

Curious as to what you all think of the content of this video. Put aside some of the prejudice against Fox News and take in what is actually being said.

I think its ridiculous that tax payer funded servants in the US are requiring firefighters in the US to learn Spanish.If it was Mexico, Spain or some other spanish speaking country I would understand tax payer funded servants in those countries requiring their firefighters to learn Spanish. This however is not a Spanish speaking country. City jobs should not be open to non-citizens,especially those who do not speak english. If you do not speak english then you have no business applying for any tax payer funded job.

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

If you have an established team of Spanish-only firefighters, it absolutely makes sense to require a team leader to speak Spanish.

Additionally, if they were having trouble finding otherwise suitable firefighters, it absolutely makes sense that they hired the guys they could to fill the slots and then required management to make do.

There are a lot of important details missing from the story.

 

[American]

Seems odd this wasn't established during the interview process. They should have know right away that the workers couldn't speak english, and a supervisor should not be laid off because the HR dept screwed up. A good supervisor with experience is harder to come by than a spanish-only speaking firefighter.

 

[mike2810]

This issue was brought up before I retired from wildland fire. What the article doesn't say is it applies mainly to contract crews or (AD) crews (temps hired for the duration on the incident). During my time I know of no permanent/wae federal or state employee let go because they could no speak spanish. After the federal rule took place I know of contract crews being sent home or not hired because they did not have adequate english speaking personnel on the crews. In the wildland fire community it is critical that supervisors and firefighters understand english. Communication is critical to safety of the firefighters. I can't speak for the state of OR, but in AZ the state pretty much follows federal guidelines. The wildland fire community pretty much puts the burden on the contractor/tribes/sponsers to ensure that enough personnel on their crews speak english.