The Future is Now

The leadership of our great union will soon convene in Las Vegas for our 46th Biennial Convention. Even without the events of September 11, this Convention was certain to be the largest gathering in our proud 84-year history. But now, with 344 of our New York brothers and scores of other professional fire fighters killed in the line of duty, the event has taken on even more meaning. Our program and agenda will reflect the colossal scale of our loss.

Since our last Convention in Chicago in 2000, your principal officers, our hard-working executive board, IAFF staff members, state, provincial and local leadership and, most importantly, tens of thousands of rank-and-file professional fire fighters and paramedics have been on the front line fighting to improve our standards of living and growing this union.

We worked to pass NFPA 1710 and are now busy implementing this revolutionary standard. We built our political efforts to the point where our National Collective Bargaining Bill has gained a majority of support in both houses of Congress. We brought home more federal money for the fire service then ever before. In Canada, we convinced Parliament to implement measures to protect fire fighter safety and are poised to achieve meaningful pension reform.

We harnessed technology in innovative ways to serve our members. And we responded to the devastating loss of our brothers in New York without sacrificing any service to the rest of this great union. While we should feel proud of all our accomplishments, the time has come to prepare ourselves for the next round of challenges we face. Time waits for no one.

Right now, the public and politicians understand clearly what our members do on a daily basis, and the sacrifices professional fire fighters make to keep our two nations safe and strong. On Capitol and Parliament Hills, we are demanding that a “living memorial” be built to honor the 344 fallen fire fighters who died in New York and the hundreds of others who have been killed protecting their communities.

We must employ that same dedication to our work at Convention. We must honor the memory of those who are with us only in spirit by making the hard decisions on which initiatives to pursue and what resources to dedicate to the IAFF’s work. At its meeting in March, your IAFF Executive Board met its responsibility head on. By the end of the meeting, the Board unanimously approved an agenda, in the form of a package of resolutions, that will further strengthen the International’s ability to serve its members and position our union to meet the challenges and opportunities of the new millennium:

FIREPAC: The IAFF must continue to pursue its political agenda with the same fierceness our members exhibit on the fireground. To strengthen this effort, the Board recommended a resolution that will increase per capita spending on FIREPAC by 20 cents. The IAFF’s accomplishments on Capitol Hill are directly attributable to the success of FIREPAC. With the passage of campaign finance, this will be even more critical.

Communications and Media: The IAFF has always been aggressive in assisting its affiliates in communicating their message to the public and politicians. The International must provide more strategic and logistical support to IAFF leaders so they can better frame issues and utilize the press to further their issues. The Board approved a resolution calling for 3 cents for a new professional assistant in the Communications and Media Division.

The Internet: More IAFF members are utilizing the Web to communicate with the International, gather data, obtain education, stay informed, and seek other resources from us. We are extremely proud of the improvements made to our web-based communications and information transfer over the past 18 months. That’s the motivation behind a resolution asking for 5.5 cents to enhance IAFF Internet capabilities, support the development of new learning modules, and expand web-based services to affiliates and members.

Occupational Health, Safety and Medicine: This continues to be one of the IAFF’s primary concerns, especially as fire fighters face new threats from biological agents, Hepatitis C, and even weapons of mass destruction. We are working hard to develop proper protective clothing and equipment, as well as safe operating procedures to direct, protect, locate and communicate with fire fighters. The Board is supporting a resolution to provide 5 cents for a new Director of Health and Safety. Another resolution for 2.5 cents will provide additional department staff. We are also supporting a one cent resolution to build our enormously successful medical residency program and our relationship with Johns Hopkins University.

PSAs: The need to promote the health and safety of IAFF members is the reason behind another resolution that seeks one cent to help the International develop broadcast television-quality public service announcements to help affiliates promote and implement NFPA 1710 in their communities.

Labor Issues and Collective Bargaining: Demand from affiliates for assistance in negotiations, including exhibit preparation and other data from our Labor Issues and Collective Bargaining Department, has never been greater. Affiliate requests for customized service and comparative data have gone off the chart. As a result the Board is recommending an additional 3 cents to add a professional staff member to the department.

Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial: We expect this year’s Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial in Colorado Springs on Sept. 21 to be the largest ever, by far. As many of you know, the International has taken over the administration and responsibility for the memorial and the annual ceremony. As a result, the Board is seeking 3 cents to provide additional funds for operations of the memorial and to provide a living wage to the IAFF’s full-time employee there.

Budget and Finance: Despite the unforeseen scale of the support required by the events of September 11, the International Headquarters has continued to live within its means. To insure that the IAFF keeps its fiscal house in order, the Board approved a resolution that would provide 5 cents for a Director of Budget and Finance. The International’s accounting staff remains at the same level as a decade ago, even as our financial base has grown by a factor of five. This group is handling $5 million in HazMat grants, $3 million in a new Weapons of Mass Destruction grant, the IAFF Burn Foundation, Reward Fund, Disaster Relief Fund, and the 9-11 fund.

Budget Adjustment: A final resolution would transform how the IAFF budget grows between conventions. Since 86 percent of the budget is subject to inflation, there is a wide gap between approved line items and actual costs, especially in the second year of the budget. This resolution would adjust per capita amounts for Fiscal Year 2003-04 based on the U.S. National Consumer Price Index. This increase will never exceed 4.5 percent.

The two years since we met in Chicago have passed quickly. Together we have achieved a great deal – both in initiatives we planned for, and in tragedies we did not foresee.

If anything, the next two years will be even busier and will present greater challenges. Every day, our 250,000 members are on the front line protecting their communities. In August your affiliate leadership will be on the union’s front line at Convention.

Your representatives need to work hard to focus on those next two years, and beyond, to uphold the sacred responsibility we all share. I look forward to a productive and meaningful Convention that will produce a union that is stronger, and a membership that is more united, than at any point in our storied history.

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