The attacks on fire fighters and paramedics everywhere have never been more fierce or more sustained.

There is no doubt about it, we are at war with multiple battle lines.

Make sure to read our story in this issue of International Fire Fighter on the widespread threats that you are facing throughout North America. It outlines in no uncertain terms that our enemies are using many different tactics to chip away at what we’ve built. It also emphasizes that the attacks are real and they are pervasive.

I am not being an alarmist. I am not making this up. Our enemies want our union dead. They want organized labor dead.

Public officials on both sides of the aisle aren’t just coming after our pensions. They are trying to weaken collective bargaining laws. They want to roll back presumption laws. They want to make dues check-off illegal, they want to under staff our rigs, and close our companies or brown them out. And they will stop at nothing to accomplish their goals because we represent the last bastion of fully unionized workers across our two great countries.

The future of labor could likely be decided over the next two years as we wage the fight of our lives.

We know we are right. We know we haven’t done anything wrong. But we are being demonized in the court of public opinion.

It has become a badge of honor for governors and other public officials to blame fire fighters for the fiscal problems confronting our two countries. It’s wrong.

It’s opportunistic. It’s a lie.

Now there are people like Newt Gingrich who are trying to convince lawmakers in Washington, DC, that states should be able to declare bankruptcy so they can walk away from their moral and legal obligations to our members.

Mr. Gingrich and other current and former members of Congress are entitled to a very generous pension plan and free health care for the rest of their lives, but he’s not suggesting that politicians should make sacrifices. He’s suggesting that the retirement security of fire fighters and paramedics be sacrificed.

This is what we’re up against — hypocrites and opportunists.

Politicians are demonizing us because it’s easier than taking responsibility for the fiscal problems they created and Wall Street created.

The discussion surrounding public employee pensions is riddled with mistruths and generalizations, and it’s time to inject some truth into the dialogue about fire fighters.

So we are fighting back.

It starts with putting a personal and professional face back on our membership — those of you who work so hard in your communities. Our enemies are attempting to dehumanize us, calling us faceless bureaucrats. They are portraying us as hooligans who are making off with taxpayers’ money, creating debt and deficits and crippling federal, state, provincial and local budgets.

As former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich wrote recently in his thoughtful op-ed, public servants have become convenient scapegoats, so we need to remind people and public officals who you are — critical emergency service providers, coaches, boy scout and girl scout troop leaders and philanthropists who raise money every year for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and so many other good causes.

So we are pushing back to give you back your identity that you’ve earned over your careers and give you a voice. You don’t deserve the abuse and the lies. You represent the best of what this union is and the best of what government has to offer, and we will make sure everyone knows that.

We have developed a broad, multimedia public relations campaign to do just that. Our first salvo was launched February 9, when we ran a full-page ad in USA Today.

We ran that ad to send a very clear message to the public and the pundits that public officials are doing fire fighters and paramedics a disservice by trying to pin the blame for the recession on workers. Wall Street’s recklessness caused our nation’s financial collapse. Public employee pensions didn’t cause the problem. Taking aim at workers with laws like Gingrich’s hair-brained bankruptcy scheme will destroy the retirement security of millions of Americans, but it won’t contribute to our nation’s recovery.

Several years ago we launched a media campaign asking “Which Side Are You On?” It challenged politicians either to stand with fire fighters or have the courage to publicly attack us. Today, regrettably, we are facing that battle again.

Today I need to know which side you are on. The battles before us are real and threaten your lives and livelihoods.

No member has the luxury of sitting back and letting someone else carry the fight. The days of enjoying the benefits won by the hard work of your local and state leadership are over. We are fighting to survive.

Will you become involved? Will you sacrifice your off-duty hours to battle our enemies? Will you stand with your local, state and provincial leadership to say “NO” to politicians who are trying to scapegoat you for doing your job?

Ask yourself which side you are on. Ask yourself how far you are willing to go to fight for your job, your benefits and your future.