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Elections Matter
In Providence, Rhode Island, our members in Local 799 have been
engulfed in a bitter fight with the mayor of that city, David Cicilline — a
mayor they supported because of his promise to fix their contract problems once
he was elected in 2002.
The mayor quickly turned on them. Cicilline has become one of
the most anti-union mayors in the country, fostering ill-will by introducing
state legislation and city ordinances against Providence fire fighters and
forcing Local 799 to arbitrate its last seven collective agreements. To our
local’s credit, it has beaten Cicilline in virtually every arbitration and legal
battle along the way.
Clearly, helping this mayor win his initial election didn’t help
our members. But the story gets much better.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors decided, at Cicilline’s urging, to
hold its 2009 annual meeting in Providence. And it invited Vice President Joe
Biden and as many members of the Obama administration as it could. Ultimately,
Vice President Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder, Commerce Secretary Gary
Locke, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, six
other cabinet members and more than 25 administration staffers were set to
attend the Mayors’ meeting in Providence, hosted by Cicilline.
When we alerted the administration to the dispute and that our
members would be walking picket lines throughout the event, the administration
worked diligently with us in an attempt to negotiate a resolution.
And when Cicilline refused any and all overtures by the
administration to reach an amicable solution, the White House immediately
informed us, Mayor Cicilline and the U.S. Conference of Mayors that no member of
the Obama leadership team would cross the picket line to participate. I also had
a personal conversation with Vice President Biden to discuss the overall issue.
Without hesitation, Vice President Biden reiterated the administration’s
position and proudly told me that he has never — and would never — cross a
picket line.
That’s a powerful message coming directly from the president and
vice president of the United States. They’ve said clearly, we support the
Providence fire fighters. We support the IAFF, workers and labor.
Yes, elections matter. And now, with this president, unions
matter once again, even in the highest office in the land.
President Obama hasn’t stopped there in standing strong with us,
as we stood strong for him in the last election. To put it mildly, the past
several months have been difficult for the economy in the United States, and
that has had a negative impact on a number of affiliates.
While Canada has been largely spared from the recession thus
far, in towns and cities throughout the United States, the financial crisis has
forced layoffs, and threatens to cause more layoffs and reductions in force in
the coming weeks and months.
These cuts, in turn, are resulting in crew size reductions,
brownouts, and company and station closures. It’s a vicious, dangerous cycle on
which we have focused our attention in Washington, DC, since the new
administration took office and the new Congress was seated. And there is good
news to report on this front, as well.
Congress has approved an IAFF proposal that would allow the use
of federal funding through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response
(SAFER) grant program to rehire laid-off fire fighters and prevent reductions in
force at U.S. fire departments.
This bill is part of the president’s Supplemental Appropriation
and it contains language that allows the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to
waive the current rules for SAFER grants that have prevented their use to save
the jobs of IAFF members.
Once President Obama signs the bill — and he has assured me he
will sign it — this will be a significant victory, and it gives me hope that we
will be able to provide some relief to the economic storm that has battered
affiliates and which still looms threateningly on the horizon as next year’s
budgets move through the process.
I met with DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, another good friend
of this union, the week of May 18 to discuss how the new flexibility will be
used to protect the jobs of fire fighters. Secretary Napolitano agreed to
postpone the 2009 application process for SAFER grants until the new waiver
authority is in place.
This move will assure that the full $210 million that Congress
appropriated for SAFER for 2009 can be used to address the current wave of
staffing cuts.
So, where we have experienced layoffs or reductions in force
through attrition, we need to be ready to push your departments to apply for the
unrestricted SAFER funds.
We know that in many instances in the past, departments didn’t
apply for the SAFER funds because they judged the terms of the grants to be too
narrow. So, this time around, you’ll need to make your employer and command
understand that the rules have totally changed. And in the current economic
atmosphere, it’s incumbent upon all of us to do everything we can to ensure that
no money is left on the table when your department budgets are developed.
Command has to know the SAFER money is there to get your
staffing levels up to where they should be. There’s no excuse for not applying,
and we have to ensure that they pursue the program to keep our members riding
safe.
This change in SAFER was made because of our strong, vocal and
very visible gold-and-black presence in the last election. Yes, elections
matter.
And to top it off, the president’s budget, which he sent to
Congress last month, includes a doubling of funding for SAFER for fiscal year
2010, taking it from $210 million in 2009 to $420 million beginning next October
1.
While the last administration continuously zeroed out the budget
for this program, in President Barack Obama’s first budget proposal of his new
administration, he’s doubling SAFER funding — allowing us to help re-write the
rules — and is changing the authorization language that will help your
departments gain easier access to that funding.
Yes, elections do make a difference.
Click Here to Read President Schaitberger's Past Messages
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