High Stakes Politics

November-December, 2005 International Fire Fighter

Everything is getting ratcheted up in politics these days. With the 24/7/365 television, internet, radio, talk show and newspaper coverage of the state of our political affairs, and with the endless babble of the pundits — who cite the seemingly non-stop opinion surveys about every decision a lawmaker makes — we no longer just have fall elections in the United States. We now have perpetual, high-stakes campaigns — and the big elections are not just for major candidates anymore.

For our members and our profession, votes by the general public on ballot initiatives have become just as — or even more important — than elections on who will represent you in the White House, the State House or on the City or County Council.

I’m proud to report that, with the results of this past election, this union, at every level, has once again shown that we are able to adapt to the new political reality, and we are in fact staying ahead of the curve.

The work done by our affiliates in Colorado, New Jersey, Virginia, St. Paul, Buffalo and many other communities across the country to win referendums and elect fire fighter-friendly candidates to office will pay off in ways that keep our members and communities safer, and the quality of our members’ lives climbing.

Beyond simply winning ballot initiatives and electing candidates that support our issues, we continued to elect our own. After 26 of 38 IAFF members running for office won in this November’s election, the IAFF proudly boasts more than 325 members who hold elective office.

But I want to single out the work done by our affiliates in California for this column, because their work wasn’t about helping a friend get elected. It was about survival.

Last year, when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger took on our fire fighters in that state and attempted to eliminate their defined benefit pensions, he failed because our members and affiliates — through the great work of the California Professional Firefighters — took him on in the media, and terminated his designs on our money.

But because of that success, the Governator decided he would try to eviscerate our union’s political strength by putting a measure on the ballot, among other anti-union measures, that would severely limit our ability to use dues money for political purposes (the ballot measure was called Proposition 75).

Since the decisions on just about everything covering your jobs — your contracts, wages, benefits, working conditions, staffing levels, training needs — are made by elected officials or by political appointees of those elected officials, Prop 75 could have had devastating effects on our members lives and livelihoods.

When Prop 75 was first introduced, surveys of voters showed that it was going to pass. But our California affiliates and their members swung into action. They created coalitions with other labor groups, conducted polling, tested messages, ran ads, took to the streets and knocked on doors.

And once again, that work turned the voters around, and they defeated all four of the governor’s bad initiatives.

Just as impressive, and probably an extremely important example that our affiliates across the country should attempt to model and accomplish, is the victory won by San Francisco Local 798 in the same election.

After a series of budget cuts by the city, rolling “brownouts” of local firehouses were initiated. And Local 798 rolled into action.

Our brothers and sisters in San Francisco gathered the required signatures and got an initiative on the ballot that, if passed, would require the city to restore the service levels to those that existed before the cuts.

Just like in the fight against the governor, our San Francisco local left nothing to chance. It did its homework and legwork — conducted polling, developed and tested messages, and delivered the messages in ads, yard signs and one-on-one contact. Again, our members won.

The lesson learned from the San Francisco victory is that the voters are ready and the successful plans have been developed. While a few locals in a few communities have stepped up thus far, it’s time for us to take the safety of our members and communities to the voters on a nationwide scale.

It’s time for us to go on the offensive and get communities to adopt NFPA 1710 — the staffing standard that says there should be no less than four fire fighters on each piece of apparatus for our members to operate safely on the fire ground — as the standard for hometowns across the country.

In the coming weeks, we will document and disseminate these campaigns as case studies that will complement the 1710 materials that the IAFF has already developed and made available to our affiliates. What you will need to do is take those materials and begin putting your campaign together.

Our goal at the International is to do whatever is necessary to help your local change with the political times. In this day and age of high stakes politics — when governing has given way to continuous campaigning — the more we work together, share our experiences and implement strategies that are successful, the more we will win for our members.

After all, that’s what this union is for — to win you more.  

Click Here to Read President Schaitberger's Past Messages

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