Building An Even Stronger Union

September-October, 2006 International Fire Fighter

Every two years, 3,000 IAFF leaders and members come together, forming a sea of shirts and hats bearing our profession’s Maltese cross at our union’s convention.

This year, on the shores of Lake Ontario, our new leaders blended with those returning to serve another term, mixing experience and seasoning with the aggressive enthusiasm of first-time officers to create what I believe is the strongest leadership group of any union, anywhere.

Together, we took on the serious work of giving our union the direction it needs to work for you and your family. And I want to use this space to make sure you know that those you have elected to represent you did one hell of a job.

Rookie and veteran leaders alike — the men and women you elect to run your local and represent you at City Hall, who I believe have the toughest job in this union — made sure that this IAFF, the union that binds together all of us from two great nations, has the direction and resources to provide you and your local with the power and support to do the job without fear of intimidation from management.

Your local leaders joined with those elected to represent you in the statehouse as leaders of your state association, and with the officers of the IAFF — Vinnie and me, and our 16 dedicated district vice presidents and three trustees — to bring your issues to our 48th Biennial Convention.

I want to report to you that your leaders truly take their job seriously, and I believe they take that approach because they know so much is at stake. We engaged in serious discussions and debate, even on issues where we had consensus, to make sure every penny of per capita was accounted for, needed and spent properly.

We passed many resolutions, along with critical per capita increases, to make sure this great International remains strong to fight for your rights.

We voted to bolster our Emergency Disputes Fund to fight the many ill-advised mayors, city managers and chiefs who regularly attempt to cut fire fighters or companies, and to create the Political Referendum Operations Partnership to protect your rights at the ballot box.

We made the decision to ensure that this union is there for our own when disaster strikes, as happened in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, by voting to ensure that our IAFF Disaster Relief Fund has the resources necessary to help members who suffer dramatic losses due to a terrorist attack or act of Mother Nature.

We voted to reach out and bring together fire service unions from across the globe to share strategies, strengthen our hand when dealing with managers who share ideas across continents and extend the bond that brings all fire and EMS workers together.

We approved the creation of a database of all the cancers that too often take the lives of our brothers and sisters, and took a moment to dedicate 9/11 — the day that saw the greatest single loss of life the fire service and our union have ever known — as a Day of Remembrance.

Your elected representatives took the time and made the effort to strengthen this vibrant union and ensure that it is here to protect your job and your rights, and to help take care of your needs when you need it most.

In the end, we made decisions together about where this International should focus its attention for the next two years, and about where to spend our resources. And we made decisions about how to improve the lives and livelihoods of the fire fighters and EMS workers we are sworn to represent.

We did this together — the elected leaders from two great nations — bound by what we all call “the job,” with an enormous amount of respect and dignity for each other, despite any differences of opinion that may surface.

And I commit to you that we will not stop there. We will continue to tackle the important issues. And we will continue to raise our profile in the political arena, because we know that every important decision that is made in your state, province, county, city or riding is made by an elected official or someone appointed by an elected official, so we must continue to ensure that candidates who support us are elected to office.

I believe the delegates did their jobs successfully in Toronto, and they deserve my thanks, and a thank you from all of our members. We came together on the shores of Lake Ontario, and when we left, our union was even stronger.

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