4th District Conference

Municipal Financial Analysis
This workshop is designed to educate affiliate leaders about municipal financial analysis (FMA). In order to ensure proper staffing and reasonable wage and benefit increases, a local must know the basic financial condition of its government, as well as what monies are available to fund its needs. Municipal financial analysis is a service provided by the IAFF that examines a jurisdiction’s financial records and determines its financial condition. The value of the analysis is dependent on affiliate leaders effectively understanding the key indicators of a government’s financial condition and knowing how to use the information appropriately.

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 multiyear contract.

Negotiating the First Contract (4 hours)
A solid first contract forms the foundation for all subsequent agreements. A common mistake made when negotiating a first contract is to focus on the “nice to have” items, rather than the “must have” items. This workshop will focus on identifying must-have items, such as terms and conditions of employment, purpose and scope of the recognition clause, how to identify work rules, and the jurisdiction ordinances and statutes that need to be incorporated into specific contract language to protect the working conditions and benefits of our members. Additional topics covered in this workshop include how to prepare for negotiations, review of mandatory versus permissive subjects of bargaining and how to avoid common negotiation pitfalls.

Crisis Communications
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.

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 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.

Local Union Governance
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.

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.

Overview of Employment Law
This workshop will provide you with an overview of the employment laws that affect fire fighters and emergency workers. You will learn how the courts define harassment and discrimination in the workplace and how to respond to members who believe their rights have been violated. This workshop will help you better serve the needs of your membership.

Understanding Pregnancy and Parental Rights and Accommodations
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..

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.

Generational Differences
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.

Ethics for Union Leaders
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.

IAFF Union Leadership: Self Awareness
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.

IAFF Union Leadership: Leading Organizational Change
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.

IAFF Union Leadership: Union Culture, Communications, and Coalition Building
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.