1st District Conference

Internal Local Communications
The most important audience for our communications is our local union membership. Lack of communication within a union can seriously weaken unity in purpose and reduce the effectiveness of our efforts. This workshop shows how to move from fighting back challenges to taking charge of the message in communications to our membership.

Media Strategies and Messaging
It is important for affiliate leaders to have a media strategy, which should be a part of the overarching public relations campaign. This workshop will address components of media strategy, including understanding why a local should have a media strategy; knowing the considerations when developing a media strategy; constructing appropriate messaging based on delivery type and source; and understanding the importance of building coalitions.

Organizing and Implementing a Community Outreach Program
One of the most important things a local can do is to organize and implement an effective community outreach program by reaching out to elderly, faith, and community-based organizations. Through a community outreach program, affiliates can create and foster good community relations, which can develop a reciprocal relationship between the fire service and the public. This workshop will provide participants with an understanding of the benefits to both the community at large and the local, as well as how an effective program can reinforce the positive image of fire fighters. This workshop will use case studies from effective community outreach programs developed by other locals.

Social Media
Using social media to communicate with members and the community has become commonplace for affiliate leaders. This module will help affiliate leaders recognize several social media tools that are common in today’s society and learn how to use them safely and effectively to strengthen their local’s social media presence. It will also help leaders understand several guidelines for proper use and how to communicate effectively with their local and the community.

Discipline: Your Rights and Responsibilities as Union Officers
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.

Duty of Fair Representation
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.

Social Media Legal Issues and Best Practices
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. Explore the social and legal issues pertaining to proper and improper use of social media, as well as the legal ramifications, limitations, and policies that can affect your members and your department.

Understanding the Fair Labor Standards Act
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.

Conducting Negotiations: Collective Bargaining
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.

Fundamentals of Costing Contract Proposals
Wages represent a significant portion of contract negotiations, but to successfully negotiate improvements to compensation, affiliate leaders must thoroughly understand their contracts and the true economic cost of their current agreements. Before presenting management with proposed improvements at the negotiation table, affiliate leaders need to have a firm grasp of how the improvements they seek will impact the totality of a contract’s costs. This workshop will introduce students to the key concepts required to conduct a successful contract costing exercise and the fundamental processes of costing base salary, fringe benefits and proposed increases for a multi-year contract.

Negotiating Healthcare Benefits
As the cost of healthcare continues to rise, employers may attempt to offset these increases by reducing benefits, raising employee contributions or switching to more restrictive health plans. This workshop reviews other strategies available that may help departments maintain their existing level of insurance in a manner that benefits both the employees and management.

Negotiating Strategies for Tough Economic Times
We are a union regardless of the status of the economy. Therefore, when we are in tough economic times, we may adjust our mission but not change our vision to continually advance. These challenges may be in the form of decreased tax revenues, cuts in state aid to local government, or cuts in other sources of revenue. The reductions in revenue that result in municipal budget cuts have affected IAFF locals by influencing wages, benefits or operational resources. This workshop will provide an understanding of how fiscal crises impact the negotiation process, as well as providing insight on how to address wages, benefits, working conditions, and staffing issues in tough times. The workshop will specifically address the above outlined issues for locals with collective bargaining agreements or a formal negotiation process.