No Horses, But Detroit Water Dept Employs 'Horseshoer'

It looks like this but without the horse

From Capcon.com - 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. The horseshoer’s job description is "to shoe horses." The description was last updated in 1967. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) has a large debt, rising water prices and inefficient services using almost twice the number of employees per gallon as other cities like Chicago. A recent independent report about the DWSD recommends that the city trim more than 80 percent of the department’s workforce. The consultant who wrote the report found 257 job descriptions, including a horseshoer. In response to the report, John Riehl, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207, which represents many of the DWSD employees, told the Detroit Free Press that the department needs more workers. But critics say this is just another example of city departments operating as a jobs program for union employees. Read more

No Horses, But Detroit Water Dept Employs 'Horseshoer'