Don't know where you're from, but with all the budget cuts and downsizing local governments are going through, some of these unions may be finally earning the dues they take. Lot of contract violations occurring. To be fair, a lot of it is being done by managers not taking the time to familiarize with the standing contract and most of the time gets corrected.

 

Being IAFF affiliated has numerous benefits to you as a firefighter. The best advice I can give you is to contact a city close to you who is IAFF affiliated. Talk to the president and find out who your IAFF district rep is and have him come and talk to you and your co-workers about organizing. He will be a wealth of knowledge for you and be able to assist you in getting a Local chapter started.

 

We've had the state president and regional rep come and talk to us. The state pres. was a nice enough guy but some of his comments didn't sit to well with me. He is very liberal and I'm very conservative. I've spoken with several friends from other departments, and like I said they all like their local but not so much the state and national. I think a union could help alot with some of the issues we are having but I also think it could bring alot of headaches as well. Right now even though we are none union, regional and state levels are already fighting one of our biggest complaints. State laws says to for every manned response unit you must have a capt. and a driver. The way we currently work, myself and another ff man a station with three trucks. If a fire come in I drive the engine and my partner brings the rescue. We have no paid captains. If I take a day off my partner is by himself.

I guess my biggest problem with the union is that will be using my dues to support political candidates I personally oppose. Any one else see it this way.

 

I understand completely how you feel. Im so far to the right conservative wise, I could be labeled a right wing extremist. LOL. I do not care for the fact that a VERY SMALL portion of my dues goes to fund liberal candidates. But the pros far outweigh that. And the fact of the matter is, the money going to political candidates has nothing to due with liberal or conservative, Dem or Repub. It goes to the candidate that has proven himself Firefighter friendly. So, yes sometimes it supports a candidate that I am extremely against ie osama, he was only supported because he was for the issues that mean the most to firefighters. So, that being said, its a decision that you and the others will have to weigh. As for benefits, they are numerous, and I wont remember them all, but a few key ones that I like are, Death benefits. IAFF will conduct a detailed investigation into a fire that claims the life of a member and make sure that members family/families are well taken care of. There are also financial benefits such as banking, insurance, mortgage services, discounts on all sorts of stuff. As well as local, state and national representation for lawsuits. These are just a few, and you should definitely continue conversations with your local reps to get a full idea of what the IAFF can do for you. If you weren't satisfied with the rep that came and spoke to you, find another! I think you will be happy you did!! The IAFF is a great organization!

 

I am the President of my local and I can tell you for an absolute fact that your union can not support or endorse any candidate regardless of party affiliation without,

1- having a union meeting following all required posting.
2- a motion coming from the floor and seconded, to endorse or support a candidate.
3- Discussion on the motion
4- vote to carry or deny the motion.

If you choose to organize you can go with just the IAFF, you DO NOT have to affiliate with the state union.


It has its pros and cons your membership has to weigh it all out and choose what is best for you as a whole.

It absolutely blows my mind how any department can run with only 2 men on a piece let alone splitting them up to take separate apparatus to the incident scene. How the heck can you do any good on scene so short handed?

 

Hvytrkmech is correct, and I was speaking of nat'l elections not local. Thanks for clarifying that!

 

You do what you can and hope enough volunteers show up. I've put out plenty of fires by myself. You should come to work with me sometime. We've got 20 stations, 35 trucks and 4 guys per shift to take care of it all.

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep asking around here locally. Hopefully I won't be the deciding vote.

 

I will pass on the invite but do appreciate it. we have a hard enough time mitigating a job with minimum manning down to 3 personnel per apparatus when it is usually 4.

Good luck, fyi you will get more than you will lose by organizing. While you may not get money you would most likely get a lot safer.

 

My bad, thanks.