Turning the Tide

Many of you have been engaged in the political and legislative battles of your lives this year across the United States.

For more than four months, the IAFF has helped our affiliates wage a war in response to the onslaught launched by the extremists who want to blame you for the stock market crash and revenue crunch that has hit jurisdictions across the country.  And they want to eliminate your rights on the job, your right to free speech and right to due process in the name of “fixing the crisis” while they extend tax cuts to their corporate executive friends.

Together, we have used every means possible to fight back, and today I can proudly report that, while some attacks continue to be launched our way, our efforts together are paying off.

In Wisconsin, a circuit court judge on May 26 struck down the law to take away collective bargaining rights from many public workers in that state. That victory in the courts may be temporary because the legal fight is far from over, but it is incredibly significant because the fight in Wisconsin was our first major battle. Wisconsin fire fighters and paramedics are also assisting efforts to recall six Republican state senators who helped Governor Scott Walker strip away the collective bargaining rights of most public workers. They are doing this even though the governor preserved their collective bargaining rights by carving them out of his bill.

In Alabama, a federal judge on May 20 granted the IAFF’s request for a preliminary injunction restraining the cities of Mobile and Jacksonville from continuing to apply a law recently enacted in that state that violated our members’ Constitutional rights once again.

The state statute made it illegal to arrange for public employee payroll deductions for union dues unless the labor organization does not use the dues for broadly considered “political activity,” including mere references to candidates for state and local offices.

We initially filed this suit under the IAFF Guardian Policy on behalf of Cullman Local 2644 and Decatur Local 1437. But after the IAFF sought a preliminary injunction, the cities of Cullman and Decatur agreed to maintain dues deductions and those two cities were voluntarily dismissed from the court action. We know our opponents are trying to silence the voices of our members in Alabama’s political arena, and the federal judge’s preliminary injunction is a meaningful step in this legal fight.

On Memorial Day the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois (AFFI) celebrated a huge victory when the speaker of the Illinois House announced that he would pull the plug on legislation forcing most government workers to pay significantly more for their pensions, following a major grassroots effort by our members to derail the bill. Fire fighters weren’t included in the measure, but an attack on their pensions wouldn’t have been far behind if the bill had passed. Anti-worker lawmakers didn't stop there. They also tried to take away the collective bargaining rights of supervisory employees and eliminate the ability of fire fighters to negotiate over staffing, but the AFFI defeated both measures. And while lawmakers did make modest workers’ comp reforms, our state association defeated attempts to remove fire fighter occupational disease presumption language from the state workers comp statute.

In Oklahoma, an effort to weaken collective bargaining failed. The Professional Fire Fighters of Oklahoma and our affiliates there worked tirelessly to defeat SB 826, which was an attack on the binding arbitration of fire fighters.

In Michigan, voters on May 3 rejected ballot initiatives in Jackson and Harper Woods that would have allowed those cities to consolidate the jobs of fire fighters and law enforcement by shifting to public safety officers.

In Florida, the Florida Professional Firefighters foiled multiple anti-worker measures, defeating dues deduction, watering down Governor Rick Scott’s pension reform and protecting defined benefit pensions.

In Tennessee, our members faced a wave of bills that threatened their political activity. Tennessee lawmakers tried to limit payroll deduction and bar unions from contributing to political campaigns. Our sisters and brothers succeeded this year, but the threat is certain to return.

We have proven that together we can fight and win. Together we can influence the outcome of these debates in state capitals.

But we aren’t done yet. More fights are coming.

One of our most important battles is the ongoing fight in Ohio. We have a major fight ahead there to repeal SB 5, the law supported by anti-worker Governor John Kasich, who wants to strip collective bargaining rights from all public workers in the state.

Our members are participating in a statewide effort to gather signatures so SB 5 can be placed on the ballot and repealed in November.

This is a major undertaking. More than 230,000 valid signatures must be collected by June 30 for the referendum to get on the ballot. But our sisters and brothers are mobilizing in Ohio like never before because SB 5 is a dangerous bill that eliminates the right of fire fighters to negotiate health and safety standards.

In Michigan, our members remain on high alert as Governor Rick Snyder seems bound and determined to saddle his cities with emergency financial managers, who have unilateral authority to abrogate contracts as they assume full control over cities.

In New York state and New York City, our members are keeping a watchful eye on their elected officials. In the New York General Assembly, lawmakers are threatening to further weaken pensions. In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed closing 20 fire companies. I was proud to rally with the members of Local 94 and Local 854 on June 3 to let the mayor know we will not let him further jeopardize the safety of our members or the lives of citizens in New York City.

In New Hampshire, our members are working to defeat SB 3 and HB 2 to protect the retirement security and health care of fire fighters and other public workers.

In Nebraska, our sisters and brothers worked until the very last hour of their state's legislative session to preserve collective bargaining. The momentum of their opponents was fueled by their anti-union governor, but our members worked with their allies to broker a compromise that -- while not perfect — everyone agreed they could live with. But they know their opponents won't stand on the sidelines during the next legislative session and that more fights are on the horizon.

We must also be wary of potential threats to our sisters and brothers in Canada, where the Conservative Party solidified its grip on power in the May 2 federal elections. While the New Democratic Party, labor's traditional ally, surpassed expectations by winning 102 seats, the Conservative Party captured a majority government by winning 167 of 308 seats in the House of Commons. This is in addition to an ongoing shift to the right in many provinces and increasing anti-union rhetoric from provincial conservative leaders.

We are also fighting back in Washington, DC. On April 26, we announced a freeze on contributions from FIREPAC to federal candidates and federal parties, party committees and the super PACs that support them. Our enemies are trying to destroy us with their waves of anti-union legislation in the statehouses, but too few of our friends are standing up and fighting for us. So with the full support of our union’s Executive Board, we turned off the spigot.

We will focus our efforts in the states, where many of you are fighting for your lives. I know we will be able to claim even more legislative victories in the coming months as we remain focused on the fights in your state capitals.

Our work is paying off, but it is not over.

Let’s keep fighting.

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