Schaitberger Meets With President Obama

December 17, 2010 -- IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger joined a small group of labor leaders today for a meeting with President Barack Obama to discuss jobs, the economy and the issues important to American workers.

“I was privileged today to meet with the president in a very intimate gathering of top labor leaders and discuss the IAFF’s top legislative priorities,” Schaitberger says.

Schaitberger met with President Obama and a handful of other labor leaders for an hour in the Roosevelt Room at the White House and had an opportunity to discuss issues with senior administration officials.
“This was a very important opportunity, and I said in no uncertain terms that it is the responsibility of the president and Congress to continue to provide funding to get fire fighters back in the job, extend collective bargaining rights to fire fighters and pass the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act,” Schaitberger says.

Schaitberger told the president that the towns and cities across the nation that employ fire fighters and paramedics are still reeling from a long recession and are putting residents in harm’s way by gutting public safety budgets.

“The economic recovery has not extended to our members, and I emphasized that fire fighters are being laid off regularly, which puts more people in the unemployment line and jeopardizes public safety throughout the country. It is vitally important that the White House and Congress provide funding to restore the jobs of fire fighters who have been laid off or have lost their job through attrition. Fire fighters must not be left behind in this economic recovery,” Schaitberger says.

Schaitberger also stressed the importance of passing and signing into law the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act to extend collective bargaining rights for all fire fighters.
“The National Labor Relations Act extended collective bargaining rights to nearly all workers in 1935, but the law didn’t extend that right to fire fighters. Our members simply have waited too long to get the same rights other workers have had for more than seven decades, and the reality is that Congress is likely to adjourn without correcting that injustice,” Schaitberger says.

Schaitberger emphasized that the Zadroga Act, which has broad bipartisan support, will provide funding for existing medical monitoring and treatment programs for people who were at the World Trade Center on 9/11 or involved with the cleanup at Ground Zero who have suffered illnesses from the toxic dust and debris.

“The White House and Congress must pass and sign into law the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act to help the living victims of 9/11. The Zadroga Act has broad bipartisan support and it is time to extend the life-saving support it will provide to those who desperately await the benefits that this measure will provide,” Schaitberger says.