Keeping Staffing at Safe Levels

More than 13 million American workers are out of a job. The crash in the financial markets has put our retirement plans at more risk, especially in the United States, where the economic crisis has hit much harder than in Canada.

Foreclosures are rampant, home values are lower, neighborhoods are deteriorating and vacant structures are endangering our members’ lives.

And if that isn’t enough, the problems facing the United States and our members are deeper and broader than the economic news that’s in the headlines.

Forty-nine million Americans are still without health insurance, while those with coverage watch as premiums skyrocket and co-pays increase.

Men and women who proudly wear the uniform of our two nations — many of them IAFF members — are still fighting in two costly wars in both financial and human terms in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There is no way to sugar-coat what we’re up against, especially in the United States. But we have reason to be hopeful and optimistic because our extraordinary political work has helped put friends of the IAFF in office.

The $787 billion economic stimulus bill signed into law by President Barack Obama has $8.8 billion targeted to states and localities. It includes $210 million targeted directly for fire station construction, and it removes the employer match in order to get a piece of the $210 million that was appropriated for the SAFER program this year.

But it didn’t do nearly enough to prevent layoffs or to protect our members’ safety as budget cuts make their impact. Because of that, I have since met with top White House staff and sat with congressional leaders. They are listening. And we are now working on a real solution to provide the dedicated resources you need at the local level and we need to keep our members riding those rigs fully staffed and get those who have been laid off back to work.

It won’t happen overnight and it won’t solve every problem or bring every worker back to work. And since everyone everywhere has dire needs right now, it won’t be easy. But with friends in the White House and legislators on both sides of the political aisle in Congress ready to assist us, our union is positioned better than any other to get this done for our members.

Where this crisis is concerned, Winston Churchill’s famous quote is probably timely today: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

Because we are public employees, we are caught in the contraction of government-funded agencies everywhere that are decreasing in size and reducing the span and depth of their services.

In the face of this enormous challenge, our responsibility as a union is to weather this storm by having a realistic strategy grounded in the safety and security of our members. To do that, we must draw the line somewhere.

In discussions about what you can do to assist your jurisdiction in getting through the economic upheaval, we must hold the line on issues where life and death of our members are concerned.

We know that adequate staffing is imperative at the individual company level. Lives are on the line when crew sizes are cut, response times are increased and you are forced to do more with less.

We must clearly make that case to the decision-makers who are hurriedly trying to cut their budgets with no real understanding of what cutting fire fighters actually means to your safety and the risk to the community.

We must say in no uncertain terms — close companies and firehouses as a last resort, but a rig rolling out the door cannot be understaffed under any circumstances, because that is bad for the public and terrible for fire fighters.

As a union, our core mission is to ensure job security and promote the safety of our members. All decisions have to be viewed in the light of these fundamental requirements.

I’m not mandating how you have to approach the budget problems you may be facing in your jurisdiction — each local has to determine what’s best for its members.

But I am saying that it is this union’s duty to ask: Will an action improve security and prevent layoffs? Will it keep remaining staff as safe as possible?

We’re in the business of protecting the protectors, so our bottom line has to be keeping staffing levels at safe levels. And this IAFF is here to assist, with extensive resources and expertise ready to help you make your case.

Click Here to Read President Schaitberger's Past Messages