Despite Election Questions, the IAFF Will Prevail
From the November-December 2000 issue of the International Fire Fighter

Election Day has passed, but the presidential election in the United States is still not decided as I write this column and the International Fire Fighter goes to press. At the same time, our Canadian brothers and sisters are poised to elected a new leader and a new Parliament in Canada.

We will have new leaders and new legislative bodies to deal with in both nations.

The two presidential campaigns are still battling it out in Florida, and the razor thin margin of victory seesaws back and forth between Al Gore and George Bush. Nevertheless, I am already working with Secretary-Treasurer Bollon, our Executive Board, and my senior staff to map out strategies to advance our issues with the new administration and the new Congress.

This International has been involved in legislative and political action for 82 years, through good times and bad times, and we have always managed to move our agenda forward. It will be no different this time.

We will be prepared to deal with the next President of the United States--regardless of whether it is Gore or Bush--when he takes office on January 20.

Obviously, our game plans will be very different depending on whether Gore or Bush occupies the White House next year.

Our strategy is simpler if Gore is elected.

We chose Al Gore as our candidate because he has been a friend and an advocate of the IAFF and professional fire fighters and paramedics for 24 years. The International supported Gore because he supported us 100 percent of the time during his service as a congressman, a senator, and as vice president.

Gore supports our collective bargaining bill. He opposes paycheck protection to deny fire fighters and other union members the critically important right to participate in the political process. He has worked to protect FLSA overtime regulations that put money in your pockets. He supports the FIRE Act to give fire departments federal funds for staffing and other health and safety measures.

The Vice President made it clear throughout the campaign that he has a "special connection" with the IAFF and its members and, in turn, IAFF members worked very hard for him and showed their support at virtually every campaign event and rally over the last 18 months.

Needless to say, if Gore wins, the IAFF will have a seat at the head of his table.

The situation is more complicated if George Bush wins.

As Governor, George Bush has never had a positive relationship with our Texas fire fighters during his tenure as governor.

Governor Bush advocates paycheck protection and right-to-work laws, opposes collective bargaining for fire fighters and police officers, has no use for unions. He even vetoed a simple dues checkoff bill for Texas fire fighters.

His vice presidential running mate, Richard Cheney, voted twice as a congressman to deny Public Safety Officer Death Benefits to the widows and children of fallen fire fighters.

The differences between the two candidates on our issues were quite clear--and that was the basis of the IAFF endorsement.

But once the new president is chosen, the campaign issues become irrelevant.

It is then time for the IAFF to get down to business with whomever occupies the Oval Office--and we will, as we always have in the past.

Over the years, we have cultivated the support of politicians from both political parties because we have always supported those candidates who support our issues, regardless of whether they were Republicans or Democrats.

This year was no different.

Nearly 90 percent of the 276 candidates the IAFF supported for U.S. House of Representatives--incumbents and challengers, Republicans and Democrats--won election.

More than 75 percent of the 22 U.S. Senate candidates we backed from both parties also won election or reelection to office with the help of FIREPAC.

And FIREPAC supported at least 44 IAFF members and several spouses who were elected or reelected to state and local offices across the nation.

We have many friends in Congress from both parties, just as we have relationships with many Democratic and Republican governors, state legislators, and other influential politicians. In fact, the IAFF proudly supports more Republicans than any other labor union.

We will work with those friends to press our issues before the new administration and in the 107th Congress.

With the Congress virtually evenly split between the two parties, we can anticipate that both the House and Senate will be hamstrung by partisan infighting. As a result, we will have to seek appropriate opportunities to advance our legislative goals.

But our core issues and priorities--national collective bargaining rights for all IAFF members, health and safety protections, pension reforms, protection of FLSA overtime laws--will remain at the top of our legislative agenda.

We will work hard to win support from House and Senate members of both political parties for our legislative agenda. We will fight to make sure our bills are not caught in the middle of the partisan bickering that will possibly mark the 107th Congress.

On some issues we will prevail. On others we will wait and fight another day--but we will ultimately prevail. That is how it works when you deal with legislative and political bodies. But we will do better than many other organizations and special interests because we will operate from a position of strength and unity.

We will prevail because our Union leadership and our Union members will stand together. We will work diligently to find common ground with the elected officials in Washington and Ottawa who will decide the fate of our national legislative and regulatory agendas over the next several years.

Regardless of who ultimately wins the presidency, we, as a union, must put our differences aside and work to advance our agenda and achieve our important goals, and we must do it together.

When faced with adversity, our Union's leaders and members have always pulled together and I am confident we will do it again this time. There is too much at stake to do otherwise.

The IAFF is prepared to work to protect the rights, health, safety, and prosperity of all IAFF members. And we are prepared to do it in partnership with all of our affiliates--large and small.

I promise you that we will speak as one union with one voice and one purpose--to advance the interests of every IAFF member.

And we will succeed.

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