More Than 65 New Members Join Hawaii Local

March 5, 2009 – Since September 2008, more than 65 new members have joined the Federal Firefighters of Hawaii Local F-263. The increase in membership is largely the result of accident involving four Local F-263 fire fighters on an engine company. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but the union became infuriated by how the incident was handled by chief officers. While management had initially shown support for union members on the night of the accident, support quickly turned to disciplinary action.

This lack of support angered non-union fire fighters within the fire department and subsequently led to their support for the union members. As the newly elected president of Local F-263, Reid Shimabukuro set a goal to have 90 percent of fire fighters in the department unionized by the end of his first year in office. This was a goal is lofty goal -- membership was below 50 percent at the time of his election.

"We reached 75 percent within the first four months," says Shimabukuro. We still have some work ahead of us, but are confident that every fire fighter will see the value of the local and step forward by becoming a member."

Local F-263 has developed a web site to use it as its primary means of communication to members, and hopes it will help maintain momentum and continue the drive to reach 90 percent.