Interesting rant . would have been great if it had been filled with more truth then BS. The City of Omaha has had private snow plow operators help plow the streets for some time now and all without a major accident on their part so I guess it doesn't really matter if your a fat assed union driver or not. Not to mention the fact that anyone here could probably name a career where they had to also pay for all the time and materials and travel to learn something related to the job they seek and they don't go online bitching that it's a better quality level of work then some shlub that went in and didn't join some ****ed up Union.
Good points you make. The specific mention of CDLs for showplow drivers is kind of funny to me personally because I happen to have a class B CDL with airbrake and tanker endoursement. I have this because I'm a volunteer firefighter. But I've never driven anything other than fire trucks and a church bus. And the bus experience was before CDLs were a requirement. The thought of little old me just jumping into a snow plow because I have a certain license is, well, goofy. I wouldn't want to go near one.
One other detail about the CDL I have is that the cost of my drivers license is higher than just having a regular DL. I pay that extra cost. Also, CDL ( i don't mean to lecture anyone) the points issued for infractions or DWI is different for CDL holders. If a moving violation has 2 points for a regular driver, it, the same violation gets the CDL driver 4 points. The regular DL holder is impaired at .08 the CDL is impared at .04. All this so that I can put out fires and cut people out of their wrecked cars for no salary.
I think also it is highly unlikey that a public employee would be required to pay out of pocket for any required training after they become a public employee.