Frontline Union Representative Basics (2 hours)
This workshop addresses the knowledge and skills involved in effectively enforcing contract provisions and representing workers’ rights with your fire service management and jurisdiction. It will introduce and explore the issues and best practices involved in handling grievances, enforcing contract language and handling discipline issues. Additionally, this workshop reviews ways that key union personnel can inform membership on the benefits of union membership and active involvement.
Discipline: Your Rights and Responsibilities as Union Officers (2 hours)
This workshop will provide union leaders with an overview of their rights and responsibilities during the employment disciplinary process. Union leaders will learn how to best represent their members in accordance with their contract, civil service laws and the Weingarten, Loudermill and Garrity decisions. This workshop is applicable to affiliate leaders in both collective bargaining and non-collective bargaining environments.
Understanding Public Pensions (2 hours)
As a union labor leader and a public pension participant, it is vital that you are aware of the various components of public pension plans and how they operate. There is a vested interest to ensure that your public pension plan is adequately funded and prudently invested in order to achieve long-term goals for you and your members. With public pensions under attack, it is important to become involved in the oversight and monitoring of your pension system. This workshop will address how public pensions operate, pitfalls and questions that should be asked of the pension board, trustees, plan administrators and other stakeholders.
Duty of Fair Representation (2 hours)
As an affiliate leader, you may be subject to a legal standard known as duty of fair representation (DFR) that governs how you represent your members in contract negotiations, grievances and other labor matters. In this workshop, you will study relevant case law to learn what is required of you, how the courts have applied this standard to unions, the consequences of violating the standard and best practices to avoid DFR lawsuits.
IAFF Union Leadership: Leading Organizational Change (2 hours)
This workshop will provide tools to help affiliate leaders become more effective as IAFF locals continue to evolve to meet the serious challenges facing our union and our members in the 21st century. During the workshop, participants will learn how to assess and to prioritize union resources and how to engage in strategic planning to establish and achieve effective organizational goals. This is the second workshop in the IAFF Union Leadership series.