House Committee Stands Up For Military Fire Fighters

May 11, 2007 – The House Armed Services Committee, led by Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) and Ranking Member Duncan Hunter (R-CA), have unanimously rejected a proposal by the Department of Defense (DoD) to privatize military fire fighting. The Committee also added language to the annual Defense Authorization bill to secure collective bargaining rights for thousands of fire fighters and other DoD civilian employees.

In a decisive 58-0 vote, the House Armed Services Committee approved H.R. 1585 which reaffirmed a 20-year ban on privatizing fire protection at military bases. Since 1986, DoD has tried to repeal the ban and, with the backing of the IAFF, Congress has again reinforced it this year. Congress’ rejection of DoD’s plan safeguards military families and the nation’s military infrastructure and represents greater job security for 3,000 IAFF federal fire fighters.

The rejection of the plan comes two weeks after IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger wrote a letter to Chairman Solomon Ortiz (D-TX) and Ranking Member Jo Ann Davis (R-VA) of the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Readiness urging the Committee to remove the privatization plan from the administration’s version of the defense bill, arguing that it “would jeopardize the safety of our nation’s military personnel and vital military assets.” The letter made clear that “it would be penny-wise and pound-foolish to turn these critical functions over to the lowest-bid contract fire fighters, who may lack the necessary training and security clearances to fulfill their duties effectively.”

The defense bill also includes a provision to roll back the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), a new personnel system that undermines collective bargaining and institutes merit pay for civilian DoD employees. Under the language adopted by the House Armed Services Committee, NSPS would be amended to restore important labor protections. As a member of the United DoD Workers Coalition (UDWC), a coalition comprised of 36 labor organizations representing 750,000 DoD civilian employees, the IAFF joined forces with congressional allies and the labor community to reverse course on the three-year old administration law that gave DoD unprecedented flexibility to ignore longstanding civil service protections.

President Schaitberger commended the Committee’s action, saying, “Today is a historic day for military fire fighters. Chairman Skelton and the Armed Services Committee reiterated that military fire fighting is mission critical. Pure and simple, privatizing fire protection puts our military bases and our military families at risk. The safety of our military families should not be sold off to the lowest-bid contract.”

The full House will consider the bill next and the Senate begins consideration of its version of the bill on May 21.