NEW In this new workshop, the IAFF General Counsel’s Office will address best practices for governing your union, whether it is a local union, state or provincial association, or joint council. You will learn about important provisions of the IAFF Constitution and By-Laws, amending your local constitution and by-laws, and conducting officer elections in compliance with IAFF constitutional requirements and applicable U.S. federal law, among other topics. The discussion of union elections will cover issues related to COVID-19.

UPDATED What do your members, the community and political leaders associate with your local? Is it positive or not so much? Your brand is a communication shorthand that conveys messages to your target audiences. In the past branding was defined as a name, slogan, symbol or design. Today, branding is more complex and even more important. It is an emotional connection that builds credibility, loyalty and trust. How can you sell your union and what’s your brand?

UPDATED Every decision about the pay, benefits, working conditions and retirement of our members is made by someone elected to office or appointed by an elected official. This class discusses the information, tactics and resources you need to in order to build political power to put it to work for your members. In the lean budget years we may be facing, having political strength is essential for IAFF affiliates.

NEW This presentation will focus on the initiatives taken by KCFD to affect positive change within the department. Key areas emphasized are recruitment, training and mentoring, station culture and internal systems, promotional processes, community outreach and leadership. The purpose will be to highlight the efforts taken in these areas to make the job more equitable, diverse and inclusive. We will explore areas we have been successful in, areas we have challenges and those areas we seek to continually improve.

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.

UPDATED Fiduciary responsibilities are an important aspect of running a successful local, and every member of the executive board can make an impact on the local’s financial situation. Whether you are a treasurer, president, secretary or trustee, you must understand the local’s funds, and be able to prepare budgets, report results and comply with many local and federal laws and requirements. This workshop will provide a synopsis of those crucial responsibilities and explore tools and resources that all members and treasurers can use within their local. It will then explore best practices, case studies and audience questions with a panel of experienced local treasurers. Local treasurers, presidents, secretaries and trustees are encouraged to attend.

Currently, there are as many as four generations employed and working side by side in fire departments throughout the U.S. and Canada. Each generation brings its own individual values and behaviors and these can be a source of conflict in the workplace. This workshop will examine each of the four generations in a humorous way, providing a better understanding of generational behavior, the value that each generation brings to the workplace, why conflict exists among them and identify communications styles that work for each.

NEW Life insurance is a crucial and fundamental part of any sound financial plan. As you age, get married, buy a home, build a family and plan for retirement, life insurance becomes more critical. Learn from an overview of viable solutions the integral role life insurance can play when examining your pension benefits, wealth planning, retirement planning, tax diversification, business needs, long-term care, estate planning and life settlements. Some case study examples will be presented.

UPDATED This presentation will discuss the presenter’s experiences with Local 1339 leadership and her interactions with the Human Resources Department. Best practices to create a welcoming work environment for LGBTQIA+ identifying employees, both current members and future hires, will be discussed. She will outline the pitfalls she has encountered during her process and offer recommendations as to how better address these issues going forward. This course will use case study data on discrimination of the trans community to reinforce her recommendations as reality-based practices. These issues, while trans-specific, will also relate to the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole.

Preparing for Negotiations: Collective Bargaining
This workshop is a part of the Negotiations Bootcamp Track

The collective bargaining process allows you to negotiate for wages, benefits and other conditions of employment. To be successful at the bargaining table, you must thoroughly research and develop your strategy. In this workshop, you will learn how to set realistic goals for your membership and collect the data needed to support your case.

NEW From Right to Work states to collective bargaining states, every professional fire fighter deserves to be represented by the IAFF. Both internal and external organizing brings safety, security, dignity and a voice to those that are not represented. This session will provide you with the tools to begin your own organizing campaign.

The emerging threat of terrorism and asymmetric warfare, specifically small unit active shooter and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks, is a concern for the fire service. An attack by radicals armed with weapons in public areas, such as schools, shopping malls, churches or any other locations where people congregate is a real threat to a sense of security and daily life. Fire and police departments, regardless of size or capacity, must find ways to marshal appropriate and effective responses to these events. Therefore, it is important that – as a union leader – when these discussions, training and situations arise, we are prepared to advocate properly for our membership and understand how to keep our members working safely and effectively.

FIRE OPS 101 is a unique event that teaches elected officials and community leaders about the risks and challenges involved in the fire service. At this event, decision-makers suit up in protective gear and put out fires, rescue victims and perform other duties that fire fighters and EMS workers do on the job. Through FIRE OPS 101, participants learn about the importance of sufficient staffing and the critical role that time plays on the scene of an emergency. A FIRE OPS 101 event is one of the most effective ways an IAFF local can build relationships with elected officials, the media and department management. This workshop will focus on how to customize a FIRE OPS 101 event in your community.

This workshop will address many facets of being a union officer, including the responsibilities associated with their roles. This workshop will also address how to be a union advocate, utilizing the skills of the executive board and how to organize members and increase their participation in order to build a stronger local.

This introductory course on parliamentary procedure is an interactive learning experience designed to give participants the ability and confidence to fully participate in a meeting and to understand and exercise their rights as members. The course is appropriate for those with no parliamentary experience or those who want a thorough refresher. Questions are encouraged.

UPDATED Your local’s budget is both a plan and an indicator of the health of your local’s finances. In this workshop, the IAFF General Secretary-Treasurer’s office staff will lead you in a workshop examining how to develop a budget outline that will help your leadership safeguard assets, monitor your local’s financial health and meet key reporting requirements. The workshop will also explore the use of QuickBooks and other bookkeeping systems to ensure your budget is integrated with your local’s financial reporting. This workshop will also provide an overview of the key recording and reporting responsibilities involved in this role and explore best practices and case studies.

UPDATED Employee discipline is governed by a complex array of legal rules. To be an effective affiliate leader, you must be familiar with these rules to help your members in fast-moving, high-pressure situations when your labor lawyer is not yet on the scene. In this workshop, the IAFF General Counsel’s Office will familiarize you with the fundamental principles of U.S. law applicable to employee discipline, focusing on the legal aspects of employer investigations into workplace misconduct. You also will hear from an experienced affiliate leader regarding this important topic.

There is tremendous value to not only signing up members early in their career but also getting them involved. Effective new member orientation programs can have a lasting impact on the strength of local unions. Learn the best ways to develop a new member orientation program and the research behind why it is so important.

Tired of politicians’ damaging and ineffective attempts to increase pension funding levels by cutting benefits and increasing member contributions? Then come to this highly informative class on pension plan funding where the experts will discuss a wide range of tools that include pension obligation bonds, revenue bonds and more.

NEW Healthcare is typically one of the largest contributors to personnel costs. This class will discuss terminology and the inner workings of insurance plans, including indemnity pans, HMOs, PPOs, EPOs, HDHPs, HSAs and many more acronyms! Understanding your Explanation of Benefits (EOBs), different types of networks, Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) and independent Third-Party Administrators (TPAs) is paramount to being able to negotiate healthcare plans. Fully insured or self-insured: what is the difference and which type of plan do you have? Attend to find out!

NEW The most effective affiliate leaders prioritize behavioral health programming as central to the fabric of their organization. This session will provide a comprehensive overview of all behavioral health resources currently available to IAFF affiliates, including peer support and resiliency training, advanced peer training, clinician education, addiction recovery support, behavioral health toolkits, technical assistance and more. An introduction to the IAFF Center of Excellence will be provided, including how to be prepared when a member needs help fast. Attendees will also receive exclusive updates on the IAFF West Coast treatment center, as well as emerging treatment resources specifically for Canadian affiliates. Learn about the IAFF resources you need to be an effective behavioral health champion back home.

What kind of leader am I and what kind of leader do I want to be? This workshop will help IAFF affiliate leaders learn what kind of union leaders they are and will provide them with several tools to become more effective leaders. During this workshop, participants will identify their own leadership styles and will learn how those styles are perceived by and impact the members that they lead.

UPDATED The strength of a local depends on the active involvement of its members. Whether it’s a committee meeting, political campaign or public relations effort, your members make the difference between success and failure. This workshop provides methods to increase member participation and build an effective union.

On a daily basis fire department are confronted with a variety of issues that require labor and management to work together. The best departments have the tools in place to work through those issues successfully – even if they don’t always agree. This workshop will address best practices and how labor and management leaders create a team culture, build trust over time and develop consistent involvement. Case studies will be addressed where labor management cooperation was utilized to address situations that are generally met with conflict. In addition this workshop will address that there is no perfect system and even with collaborative labor-management relations, there will always be ups and downs.

Designed to help affiliate leaders achieve goals for their locals, this course teaches the skills necessary to be effective in any role as a union officer. Information is provided on the duties of each local union officer, as well as the responsibilities of the executive board and other committees in the local. It will also acquaint participants with the various services and assistance available from the IAFF.

Through its constitution and by-laws, your local establishes its basic organization, including the duties and responsibilities of your local union officers, executive board and committees, as well as the various procedures that govern different types of meetings. Your local’s constitution and by-laws should provide the precepts necessary for governing your members. It should meet their needs, as well as be flexible for reasonable and future change. In this module, you will learn the important aspects of your local’s constitution and by-laws and be given tools to understand how this document influences your role as a union leader and how to properly govern your local based on this important text.

Conducting Negotiations: Collective Bargaining
This workshop is a part of the Negotiations Bootcamp Track

Actively negotiating a contract is one of the most important functions IAFF affiliate leadership can perform for members and is the key ingredient in fire fighter–employer relations. In this workshop, you will learn how to create ground rules that benefit unions, participate in mock negotiation sessions and learn how to apply bargaining techniques.

“Don’t flow water at smoke, you will push the fire.” “The room went from tenable to deadly in seconds.” “You have to fight from the unburned to the burned.” We have all heard these statements. Understanding them can mean the difference in your survival. As an affiliate leader, you must ensure your members have the best possible information and training necessary to ensure they go home after every tour. This workshop discusses changes to the modern fire environment, research conducted by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) on fire dynamics, and how this scientific data can improve firefighting tactics and survival. Over 100 experiments have examined changes in the fire environment over time, impact of ventilation limited fires, implications of flow control and effectiveness in suppression tactics. The NIST and UL studies have produced tactical considerations that have become common themes over several studies, which may change your view of current standard operating guidelines.

Members who become parents face increased demands on their time and resources. Local leadership need to help ensure that the local employing agency complies with applicable federal, state/provincial and local laws, allowing these members the leave time and medical accommodation they need as they build their families. In addition, this workshop reviews how local leadership can advocate for family-friendly local policies and laws.

Local Union Governance
This workshop is a part of the Union Leadership Track

Through its constitution and by-laws, your local establishes its basic organization, including the duties and responsibilities of your local union officers, executive board and committees, as well as the various procedures that govern different types of meetings. Your local’s constitution and by-laws should provide the precepts necessary for governing your members. It should meet their needs, as well as be flexible for reasonable and future change. In this module, you will learn the important aspects of your local’s constitution and by-laws, be given tools to understand how this document influences your role as a union leader and learn how to properly govern your local based on this important text.

UPDATED This session aims to educate participants and provide them with the tools organizations need to be more diverse and inclusive. Education for the participants will include content centered on how individuals and organizations can utilize the tools presented to create and sustain diverse workplace cultures. In addition, participants will also be given an individual checklist assessment to identify and evaluate their own behaviors and unconscious bias.

UPDATED IAFF members are constantly confronted with choices that match work against family life and other personal obligations. Fire fighters must balance their 24-hour shifts with family events, holidays and other obligations. This workshop will give union leaders tools to help themselves and their members address these work-family issues for a better work/life balance.

NEW “Firehouse,” “fire station,” “fire hall” – whatever we call it, it is our second home; a safe haven from the events we witness when we leave to help others. How do we prevent violence from entering these four walls? What happens if it does? Worse yet, what if it is precipitated by “one of our own”? What steps can we take to ensure we are safe? This workshop discusses the rising trend in workplace violence and steps we can take to recognize signs of impending violence, prevent violence and ensure our safety to reinforce the quote, “There’s no place like home!”

This advanced course on parliamentary procedure takes a deeper look at running a smooth and orderly meeting. It covers topics such as making motions, amending and disposing of motions, presiding, the roles of the officers, the bylaws, committees, reports, voting, secret ballots, elections, the minutes and the role of the board. Questions are encouraged.

NEW Learn advanced techniques to manage your locals social media accounts and grow your digital audience. Learn to use Facebook Business Manager, Creator Studio and other advanced platforms that ensure your local is successful in the digital world.

NEW Unfortunately, assaults against the first responder are becoming more common. Dr. Taylor will provide data and up-to-date statistics on paramedic assaults. Often, these assaults go underreported due to the EMS provider blaming an underlying medical condition or fearing further retaliation. This workshop will discuss the need for properly reporting assaults (verbal and physical) and what steps can be taken to protect yourself from being put in harm’s way.

Many state and local governments continue to grapple with changes to fire fighter retirement plans. This workshop will provide legal, regulatory and legislative updates from both state and federal perspectives and how these changes are affecting public pensions. Also discussed will be the recent battles to convert defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans.

UPDATED This session will provide updates on the parameters of the Biden Executive Order expanding bargaining in the federal sector. The session will also cover recent decisions by the Federal Labor Relations Authority and the Federal Service Impasse Panel.

UPDATED Join Public Safety Financial/Galloway to discuss the top strategies to keep you financially focused and help avoid financial pitfalls. Topics will include: Public Safety Focused Financial Planning, Avoiding IRS Withdrawal Penalties, What You Need to Know Before and After Retiring, DROP Entry/Exit Strategies, Navigating Social Security Penalties, Vital Information Checklist and Survivor Guide, Building Wealth and Risk vs Reward.

NEW Fire stations and fire halls are a historic and important aspect of the fire service and the community. They are meant to be a functional and efficient space for work, but they can also have a huge emotional and physical impact on those that work inside them every day. This course will explore how we appropriately honor traditions, while taking advantage of the improvements in health, resiliency, safety, diversity and quality of work environment offered by evolving concepts in fire station design.

Often as a condition of continued employment, an employer may mandate a fitness for duty exam. This workshop will address fitness for duty examinations, how those exams relate to an individual with a disability and the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). Also addressed will be the reassigning of personnel, wellness programs and EEOC decisions that impact fire fighters and their fitness for duty.

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.

NEW The IAFF pursues a robust legislative agenda to enhance and protect members’ jobs, benefits, and health and safety, as well as provide them the resources they need on the job. This class will provide newly elected leaders comprehensive education about key IAFF legislative priorities. Instructors will discuss the IAFF legislative philosophy, major bills and initiatives, and future opportunities and challenges. Instructors will also lead discussion on how affiliate leaders and IAFF members can participate in the department’s work.

How Can I Help Our Union Become More Effective? 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 leverage and how to engage in strategic planning to establish and achieve effective organizational goals.

The manner in which you process grievances will determine how quickly they are resolved and how your members will perceive you. A good understanding of the grievance process will better enable you to enforce the collective bargaining agreement and avoid costly arbitration hearings. In this workshop, you will learn how to evaluate and file a grievance, reduce your chances of receiving a DFR claim and develop effective grievance strategies. This workshop is ideal for local union officers and grievance committee members who have limited experience with grievances.

Negotiating Health Care Benefits
This workshop is a part of the Negotiations Bootcamp Track

This workshop will address the negotiation strategies locals can employ to obtain the best health care benefits for their members. Specifically, this workshop will address plan design, negotiations preparation and strategies that can be employed during negotiations.

NEW New technologies, new construction methods, new processes and new materials are being introduced at a rapid pace, creating new risks for fire fighters and the public. Building code revisions also make the fire fighter’s work environment more challenging. We discuss ongoing efforts by the IAFF and its partners at Underwriters Laboratories to provide education and tools to mitigate risks regarding energy storage systems (ESS), tall wood buildings, exterior building cladding, automated industry processes and flammable refrigerants. Learn how these new challenges impact response and how to recognize them.

Fire suppression and emergency medical activities are labor-intensive jobs that require an adequate number of fire fighters on scene to safely and effectively protect property and save lives. Studies by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and updates to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1710 standards have shown that inadequate staffing can result in unnecessary loss of life and property and serious injury to fire fighters and the citizens they protect. In this workshop, you will be introduced to standards and studies that indicate best practices regarding staffing and that help you make decisions regarding staffing in your community.

Does your local tackle obstacles in a systematic, thoughtful and collaborative way? Or does your daily workload push you into a place where you’re always reacting to the next crisis? In this class, attendees will learn the importance of engaging deliberate strategic planning. We’ll talk about defining your mission as an organization, creating parameters to determine your strengths/weaknesses and opportunity/threats, and obtaining buy-in from members for the process. Students will engage in strategic planning exercises dealing with specific issues impacting their local.

UPDATED This presentation reviews what is known, and more importantly what is not known, about fire fighter suicide. Participants will learn about suicide prevention and suicide postvention (defined as an organized response in the aftermath of a suicide to facilitate the healing of individuals from the grief and distress of suicide loss), how to mitigate other negative effects of exposure to suicide and how to prevent suicide among people who are at elevated risk after exposure to suicide. Content will include effective suicide prevention strategies, evidence-based treatments for suicide, resources for suicide loss, and new IAFF efforts to understand and address suicide.

NEW Healthcare is the least transparent and least understood business in America. Overall, healthcare is a for-profit business model based on a flawed fee-for-service structure with profits being taken by everyone. Who is really to blame?

Increasing Membership Participation
This workshop is a part of the Union Leadership Track

The strength of a local depends on the active involvement of its members. Whether it’s a committee meeting, political campaign or public relations effort, your members make the difference between success and failure. This workshop provides methods to increase member participation and build an effective union.

NEW The VETS program from the U.S. Department of Labor provides assistance to those experiencing service-connected problems with their civilian employment and provides information about USERRA to employers. VETS also assists veterans who have questions regarding veteran preferences. This workshop will cover topics such as: compliance assistance, how to file a claim, knowing your rights, USERRA resources and USERRA training.

UPDATED The IAFF Peer Support training program continues to transform the behavioral health conversation in the fire service. Attendees will learn how to access peer support training through locals and departments. We will also introduce a 10-step model to developing a successful peer support program. Topics include how to obtain program buy-in, select peer team members, utilize mental health clinicians in your community, conduct program outreach, evaluate your impact to stakeholders and more. Attendees will be provided with practical strategies and IAFF resources to build or enhance an existing peer support program.

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.

This interactive course examines the elements of preparing for a meeting, conducting a meeting and maintaining the necessary documents after a meeting. Attendees will participate in identifying and collecting the necessary documents for a meeting, drafting an order of business, drafting a presiding script, conducting a meeting, taking minutes and maintaining records. Questions are encouraged.

UPDATED Employee discipline is governed by a complex array of legal rules. To be an effective affiliate leader, you must be familiar with these rules to help your members in fast-moving, high-pressure situations when your labor lawyer is not yet on the scene. In this workshop, the IAFF General Counsel’s Office will familiarize you with the fundamental principles of U.S. law applicable to employee discipline, focusing on the legal aspects of employer investigations into workplace misconduct. You also will hear from an experienced affiliate leader regarding this important topic.

NEW The provision of EMS response is an essential service that government must provide. However, for this service to be effective and efficient, it must be staffed and positioned appropriately to address emergencies in an equitable manner. When creating a staffing and deployment plan, it is important to understand how many units need to be in service and where they should be positioned. This course will outline how the IAFF utilizes demand and workload to calculate the necessary number of units to have in service and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to determine the optimal locations for units to be positioned.

UPDATED This session will provide valuable updates to federal affiliates on OWCP programs to include filing claims and the processes involved in claim approval.

NEW Learn how to grow and expand your local or state political and legislative programs. Hear from a panel of IAFF leaders how they established and enhanced their electoral and advocacy programs. Panelists will discuss best practices and successful strategies relating to campaigns, fundraising, policy development and lobbying. This class will include case studies and ample time for discussion.

NEW To protect our benefits, they must be affordable. Most employers don’t understand the industry and take the actions advised by the brokers and consultants. This leads to flawed RFP and bidding processes and bad deals for all concerned. This class will discuss Health Benefits Advisory Committees, healthcare trusts, choosing brokers, PBMs, and vendors and contract language for these entities and the local. We will examine case studies that our affiliates have implemented to provide solutions for our members and look at what the IAFF is implementing in the future.

NEW During the workshop, you will identify and learn how to effectively model union values while communicating with the membership, building an effective culture of union solidarity, and creating and working with coalitions to achieve local IAFF political and legislative goals.

On a daily basis fire department are confronted with a variety of issues that require labor and management to work together. The best departments have the tools in place to work through those issues successfully – even if they don’t always agree. This workshop will address best practices and how labor and management leaders create a team culture, build trust over time and develop consistent involvement. Case studies will be addressed where labor management cooperation was utilized to address situations that are generally met with conflict. In addition this workshop will address that there is no perfect system and even with collaborative labor-management relations, there will always be ups and downs.

UPDATED The Nationwide Retirement Institute® Managing the Taxes on Your Retirement Income seminar will provide insight into how taxes can impact your retirement plans. Tax efficiency in retirement requires a thoughtful approach to income planning that starts as early as 10-15 years prior. Nationwide’s educational resources can help guide decisions that have implications on your income and expenses. A more tax-efficient retirement income distribution plan can add tens of thousands of dollars to estate values or years to portfolio longevity. This session will refresh your knowledge of tax basics like which investment accounts are taxable, tax deferred or tax free. And it will provide some sequencing strategies for drawing retirement income tax-efficiently.

Mock Negotiations and Mediation
This workshop is a part of the Negotiations Bootcamp Track

To get results at the bargaining table, a negotiator must be able to develop a bargaining strategy and master key negotiation skills. In this six-hour workshop, you will practice key negotiations skills and tactics in simulated, scenario-based negotiation sessions. You will learn how to strengthen your bargaining position, determine an acceptable settlement range, respond to common management tactics and objections, make concessions, package your proposals and work with mediators. This workshop is designed for affiliate leaders who have mastered the basics of negotiation and wish to improve their skills at the bargaining table.

Despite your best efforts to resolve all disputes internally, some grievances cannot be settled at the local level and must be heard by a neutral arbitrator. To win at arbitration, a union leader must be well prepared and have a good understanding of the arbitration process. This workshop will give you an overview of arbitration procedures and protocol, methods for selecting an arbitrator and strategies for cutting costs. This workshop is ideal for local union officers and grievance committee members who work in collective bargaining environments and have limited experience with grievances.

NEW For leaders in the fire service, there are few things more important than identifying their top performers and promoting them accordingly. The success of every organization depends on putting the right people in the right places at the right time. This engaging and interaction session will provide an overview of various promotional procedures from the fire service, the U.S. military and the private sector. It will address diversity and promotional process shortcomings. Attendees will be able to identify pitfalls and tools for success, as well as best practices for their department.

NEW On April 19, 2019, four fire fighters were seriously injured when a cascading thermal runaway within a 2.16 MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system (ESS) led to a deflagration event. IAFF partners at Underwriters Laboratories Fire Safety Research Institute studied the event and will educate attendees on the ESS dangers and response strategies.

On June 24, 2021, Champlain Towers South, a 12-story residential condominium, collapsed, leaving one-third of the building standing but in danger of collapsing onto rescuers. We discuss fire department and IAFF response, efforts of technical rescue teams, peer support resources and environmental monitoring by the IAFF using lessons learned from the 9/11 attacks.

UPDATED Fire fighters put their lives and health at risk to save other people’s lives and property; they don’t stop to ask who lives in the burning building or for background information on the heart attack victim. At the same time, fire fighters need to bring that respect for community, diversity and ethics back to the firehouse, living up to their own – and their community’s – highest standards for providing a safe, diverse and respectful workplace. Similarly, a station house must be a place where teamwork standards live up to fire fighters’ – and their community’s – standards for fairness and transparency. This workshop helps examine what it means to be a good team member, how to make effective changes in individual behavior and how to build a culture of teamwork that respects and embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

The impact of the labor movement in the U.S. has been deliberately hidden. There is a lack of labor education in public schools, often an anti-union bias in the media and a hidden history of public employee organizing. In this class, attendees will examine the history of fire fighter and public employee organizing and how understanding and educating members about this history can help us build strong locals today.

This workshop will address many facets of being a union officer, including the responsibilities associated with each role. This workshop will also address how to be a union advocate, using the skills of the executive board, and how to organize members and increase their participation in order to build a stronger local.

Crisis Communications
This workshop is a part of the Union Leadership Track

Effectively addressing a crisis requires organization and planning. This workshop will address how to plan and organize in the case of a crisis and how to communicate with the public and media when crisis occurs.

Do you have an upcoming ballot Initiative? Pension fights? Negotiations? Learn how to incorporate social media into your message strategy to achieve success for your local.

UPDATED IAFF members are constantly confronted with choices that match work against family life and other personal obligations. Fire fighters must balance their 24-hour shifts with family events, holidays and other obligations. This workshop will give union leaders tools to help themselves and their members address these work-family issues for a better work/life balance.

NEW IAFF leaders face many challenges, but few are more pressing than pre-65 healthcare options for retirees. From VEBAs, PEHP, HRAs and HSAs, learn how to create opportunities through the collective bargaining process to engage employers to lower the cost of post-employment healthcare to allow IAFF members an earlier and more dignified retirement.

An inclusive and diverse workforce won’t happen overnight — it takes a continuing, multi-year effort with the jurisdiction, the fire service management and the union to build a workforce that reflects the communities it serves. This workshop provides the education and information required for affiliate leaders to construct and implement recruiting and retention programs that will increase the diversity of their local’s workforce.

UPDATED Your members, the public, elected officials – how do you deliver your message? Learn how to take advantage of traditional communications and emerging trends. Hear from the IAFF Strategic Campaigns team about suggestions on the best methods and tactics to reach your audience and make your message memorable.

UPDATED COVID economy will renew the desire for decision makers to attack fire fighters and EMS workers for cuts. Decision makers frequently rely on third-party consultants to determine plans of action for public safety because they don’t understand what fire fighters and EMS workers do. This workshop is designed to inform affiliate leaders how they can use their data, including publicly available resources, science and subject matter expertise to refute their findings.

NEW If the past two years taught us anything, it was to expect the unexpected. Record-breaking hurricane and wildfire seasons, a global pandemic, nationwide protests and civil unrest presented a broad range of challenges for our members who often lacked needed resources. Join us as we discuss lessons learned, provide an overview of disaster resources available to our members and identify steps we can all take to prepare for future disasters.

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.

Most IAFF leaders are public employees and have fiduciary responsibilities to their membership. Due to the nature of your position, you are subject to higher ethical standards than the average member or employee. These standards must be upheld in order to maintain the trust of your members and run an effective local. Failure to do so can result in loss of credibility, loss of union position or even criminal charges. This workshop will cover the principles of ethics, the requirements of public employees and strategies for making ethical decisions. You will use these strategies to analyze scenarios and case studies.

UPDATED Lobbying is an active and fundamental part of the legislative process at every level of government. As trusted, respected constituents, professional fire fighters have an important role to play influencing policy that has a direct impact on their jobs, benefits and working conditions. The COVID-19 environment has required fire fighter lobbyists to adapt lobbying techniques and practices to succeed in a virtual environment. This class will explore such techniques and practices, with a particular focus on virtual meeting techniques and social media. Please note this class is intended for beginner to intermediate level learners. There will be ample time for discussion and questions.

UPDATED The strength of a local depends on the active involvement of its members. Whether it’s a committee meeting, political campaign or public relations effort, your members make the difference between success and failure. This workshop provides methods to increase member participation and build an effective union.

The IAFF recommends that every local establish a human relations committee. Establishing a committee is a proven way to help locals sort through the opportunities and challenges that diversity presents. It can assist locals in resolving conflict and developing a proactive strategy for change. In this workshop, affiliate leaders will learn about the benefits of having a local human relations committee and strategies for developing their own committee.

Mock Negotiations and Mediation
This workshop is a part of the Negotiations Bootcamp Track

To get results at the bargaining table, a negotiator must be able to develop a bargaining strategy and master key negotiation skills. In this six-hour workshop, you will practice key negotiations skills and tactics in simulated, scenario-based negotiation sessions. You will learn how to strengthen your bargaining position, determine an acceptable settlement range, respond to common management tactics and objections, make concessions, package your proposals and work with mediators. This workshop is designed for affiliate leaders who have mastered the basics of negotiation and wish to improve their skills at the bargaining table.

NEW This presentation is designed to highlight challenges faced by female fire fighters during pregnancy and following the birth of a child. Oftentimes, inadequate pregnancy policies can lead to disparate treatment of female members. Such barriers can also contribute to a department’s difficulty in recruiting and retaining a diverse female workforce. The session will cover subjects such as common pregnancy injuries that create core muscular instability, rehabilitation techniques, and the need for development of comprehensive pregnancy manuals and breastfeeding policies. At the end of the class, students will have a foundational knowledge about resources that are available for female fire fighters during and immediately following pregnancy.

The collective bargaining agreement is a contract between union and management that outlines the wages, benefits and working conditions for fire fighters. To maintain flexibility in the workplace, negotiators sometimes include language in the agreement that is ambiguous or general in nature. Occasionally, this ambiguity leads to disputes between the two parties over the meaning of the contract. When these disputes are brought to arbitration, the arbitrator must determine which interpretation is the most reasonable and best reflects the mutual intent of the parties. This workshop will teach you how arbitrators consider contract language, past practice and other contributing factors in order to reach a decision.

One wrong social media post could ruin your union’s credibility and reputation. While social media can be a powerful tool for positioning your local within the community and generating goodwill, it only takes one mistake or one bad apple to hurt your brand.This session is intended to help IAFF affiliate leaders avoid the improper use of social media, as well as understand the importance of the union’s role in helping to establish your fire department’s social media policies. This session is intended to be interactive, giving IAFF affiliate leaders a hands-on experience to explore current social media and legal issues. The session will also explore how IAFF affiliates use social media to communicate with the public and lawmakers. We will discuss real-life examples of social media scenarios and what IAFF affiliates need to know to keep them out of trouble legally. We will also closely examine first amendment rights, media laws and cases, and the ramifications for unions if a policy is not in place. Our session is designed to be a smaller and more intimate session that will allow attendees to discuss their concerns and experiences freely.

The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants (SAFER) were created to provide funding directly to fire departments to help them increase or maintain the number of trained, “front line” firefighters available in their communities. This workshop will provide an overview of SAFER grant legislation, available funding, program priorities, and the application process. Instructors will provide tips and tricks for writing effective grants for their department, actual grant applications for critique, and a question and answer session.

UPDATED The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a U.S. federal law that establishes important minimum wage and overtime protections for IAFF members. Understanding how this complex law applies to fire fighters, EMTs and paramedics presents special challenges for affiliate leaders. In this workshop, the IAFF General Counsel’s Office will address FLSA exemptions and coverage issues, compensable hours of work, calculating the overtime rate and compensatory time, among other topics.

Preparing for Negotiations: Collective Bargaining
This workshop is a part of the Union Leadership Track

The collective bargaining process allows you to negotiate for wages, benefits and other conditions of employment. To be successful at the bargaining table, you must thoroughly research and develop your strategy. In this workshop, you will learn how to set realistic goals for your membership and collect the data needed to support your case.

NEW Providing a timely response to emergencies is crucial for a fire department. NFPA 1710 establishes precise objectives for the travel time to the scene of incidents. Travel times depend on the distribution of department resources and department workload, as well as on city-specific factors, such as traffic, one-way roads and geographic barriers. Predicting how the interplay of these factors affects travel times when resources are added or removed is often difficult. The IAFF developed a forecasting software, based on the combination of Geographic Information System tools and Computer Aided Dispatch data, which simulates how travel times and the workload of a department are affected by adding or removing units, closing or opening stations, or by any other change in the response model of the department. The software considers real-world factors, such as historical traffic level in the jurisdiction and variations in the calls volume during the day, and can be adapted to any response model as desired. This course will show examples of the IAFF forecasting tools applied to several fire departments.

A strong internal communications program is the backbone of any powerful union. How can you better communicate with your members? Everyday leaders struggle how best to reach their members. Internal communication is the key to developing engagement, activism and political power. This session will look at best practices being implemented today in locals around the country and will include a free-flowing discussion on what works and doesn’t work in your local.

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.

UPDATED The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution can be a valuable tool in a public-sector affiliate’s legal and public relations arsenal. In this workshop, the IAFF General Counsel’s Office will provide an overview of free speech and association rights under the First Amendment that are enjoyed by public-sector employees, plus some case studies and hypotheticals to facilitate discussion. The discussion will include workplace speech issues arising from current national issues.

NEW Cancer is a leading cause of death in the fire service and fire fighters are exposed to an array of carcinogenic agents in the line of duty. This workshop discusses studies on bio-markers of exposure and effect as well as the effectiveness of interventions designed to reduce exposure. Future directions in fire fighter cancer research with the aim of reducing cancer diagnoses and improving treatment outcomes will also be discussed.

The manner in which you process grievances will determine how quickly they are resolved and how your members will perceive you. A good understanding of the grievance process will better enable you to enforce the collective bargaining agreement and avoid costly arbitration hearings. In this workshop, you will learn how to evaluate and file a grievance, reduce your chances of receiving a DFR claim and develop effective grievance strategies. This workshop is ideal for local union officers and grievance committee members who have limited experience with grievances.

Once you have developed your committee, you are ready for action. In this workshop, you will learn how to assess membership needs, develop and carry out long-term strategic plans, report progress to key stakeholders and devise strategies to fund your committee’s activities. In addition, you will explore strategies for forming a cohesive team of committee members and learning how to keep them productive and energized.

When members face major health and life challenges, ranging from getting EAP counseling to workers’ compensation to PTSD treatment, trained liaisons from the local working with the member’s family can make the difference in ensuring access to treatment and benefits. This workshop reviews a model Membership Support program that uses trained family liaisons to assist members and their families facing major life events.

NEW Best practices for adapting to conducting union business online, such as union and executive board meetings, discipline, grievance and arbitration processes. IAFF leaders from different areas of the geographical map will provide success stories guiding attendees through their experiences providing everyday union business, conducting negotiations and working with employers, all while operating under a declaration of emergency and the unknown of going back to normalcy.

Mock Negotiations and Mediation
This workshop is a part of the Negotiations Bootcamp Track

To get results at the bargaining table, a negotiator must be able to develop a bargaining strategy and master key negotiation skills. In this six-hour workshop, you will practice key negotiations skills and tactics in simulated, scenario-based negotiation sessions. You will learn how to strengthen your bargaining position, determine an acceptable settlement range, respond to common management tactics and objections, make concessions, package your proposals and work with mediators. This workshop is designed for affiliate leaders who have mastered the basics of negotiation and wish to improve their skills at the bargaining table.

To win your case in grievance arbitration, it is crucial to have evidence to back up your arguments and assertions. Without sufficient evidence, it is difficult to convince an arbitrator to rule in your favor. This workshop will teach you how to gather evidence, identify the types of evidence admissible in arbitration and determine which types carry the most weight with arbitrators. This workshop is ideal for local union officers and grievance committee members who have limited experience with grievances.

For political candidates, the endorsement of fire fighters is the most coveted endorsement in campaigns today. The political action of an affiliate is what it takes to move fire service issues forward. In this workshop, you will learn how to select a candidate and campaign for political action, understand the endorsement process and create a local endorsement process.

NEW The recruitment/retention presentation will focus on our successes and challenges as we head into 2022. It will address the current political climate and how it effects recruitment into public safety, recruitment of a diverse workforce and what we, as current members, can do to be more transparent in selling our job to potential members. The presentation will highlight our recruitment efforts and how we have modified our strategy over the past few years. It will discuss changes we have made and are making and discuss future efforts. The second part will invite open discussion with attendees and facilitate an exchange of ideas as to current recruitments and where we need to go moving forward.

The AFG Training and Equipment grants are for critically needed resources to equip and train emergency personnel to recognized standards, enhance operations efficiencies, foster interoperability, and support community resilience. This workshop will provide an overview of AFG grant legislation, available funding, program priorities, and the application process. Instructors will provide tips and tricks for writing effective grants for their department, actual grant applications for critique, and a question and answer session.

Conducting Negotiations: Collective Bargaining
This workshop is a part of the Union Leadership Track

Actively negotiating a contract is one of the most important functions IAFF affiliate leadership can perform for members and is the key ingredient in fire fighter–employer relations. In this workshop, you will learn how to create ground rules that benefit unions, participate in mock negotiation sessions and learn how to apply bargaining techniques.

UPDATED A Geographic Information System (GIS) coupled with Workload Analysis are two great ways for you to start owning your data. However, although these resources could stand on their own, their power is tied to your ability to use the data, tell your story and build winning arguments. This workshop will show local leaders how to gather necessary data, assess their community risk, interpret a workload capacity and explain how the results can inform fire service administration. Join us to see the resources the IAFF has provided to fire departments.

UPDATED Local electoral campaigns often are the most impactful political action IAFF affiliates can take when it comes to their members’ pay, job security and working conditions. While the numbers may be smaller, tools and tactics from top-of-the-ticket campaigns can be put to work on these local races to help put you over the top. This class also will discuss campaigning in the pandemic environment, including early voting, relational organizing, and text and phone banking.

On June 24, 2021, Champlain Towers South, a 12-story residential condominium, collapsed, leaving one-third of the building standing but in danger of collapsing onto rescuers. We discuss fire department and IAFF response, efforts of technical rescue teams, peer support resources and environmental monitoring by the IAFF using lessons learned from the 9/11 attacks.