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Firefighters union douses volunteerism
Please let's get this out to as many folks as we can. You don't need to agree or disagree, just please read it and let's begin the discussions. Let's get ides out there about whether anything should be done about it.
I think it should be resisted at all cost, but how do volunteers take up the fight?
Firefighters union douses volunteerism
James Sherk
Heritage Foundation
October 9, 2007
You probably haven't heard that Congress is about to shut down many of America's volunteer fire departments. Not intentionally, perhaps. Yet a little-known bill advancing through Congress would do just that.
Nearly 26,000 volunteer fire departments protect tens of millions of Americans and their homes from fires. Almost three out of every four firefighters in the United States are volunteers, and smaller towns and cities call on them for protection. A town with 3,000 residents simply cannot afford the expense of hiring full-time career firefighters. They rely on volunteers.
These volunteer departments are usually anchored by a core of professional career firefighters. Often they work in another city and volunteer to protect their neighbors in their off-duty hours. Volunteer firefighters risk their lives and sacrifice their time for their communities. Who would want to shut them down?
The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), that's who. The IAFF represents career firefighters. Volunteers who give their time and efforts to their communities allow many communities to do without full-time career fire departments. This means fewer jobs for career firefighters, and fewer dues-paying members in the union that represents them. So the IAFF does everything in its power to stop "two-hatters" from volunteering.
The IAFF constitution prohibits its members from belonging to a volunteer fire department. In the words of IAFF President Harold Schaitberger, the decision to volunteer is a personal choice, but "that personal choice is one that can have serious consequences under our Constitution." Union members who disobey face steep union fines that the courts will enforce. In some cities, the IAFF negotiates, on its members' behalf, contracts stating that they will lose their job if they volunteer in their off-duty hours.
The union's effort to ban volunteering is an assault on our civic fabric. Doctors who provide free care to the poor, lawyers who work pro bono for the disadvantaged, and firefighters who volunteer for their communities make America a better country.
Without career firefighters willing to give their time, many volunteer fire departments would have to close. Look at Connecticut. The IAFF negotiated "no-volunteering" clauses in the contracts of every major city there. Now many of the state's volunteer fire departments are having difficulty finding enough volunteers to protect their communities. Some cities have had to raise taxes significantly to hire career firefighters – exactly what the IAFF intended.
Enter the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, which would make it significantly easier for the IAFF to shut down volunteer fire departments. The bill, which passed the House and is before the Senate, has nothing to do with employer-employee cooperation. This bill requires every state and local government to collectively bargain with their police officers and firefighters, and to negotiate virtually every term and condition of employment.
Those states that have decided collective bargaining doesn't meet their needs would have to do so anyway. States that currently limit what they negotiate would have to negotiate almost everything – including "no-volunteering" clauses.
If this bill passes and forces every local government to collectively bargain with its firefighters, the IAFF's membership rolls will swell and the union will have enhanced powers to negotiate away the freedom of its members to volunteer. Many career firefighters who want to serve their community will lose the ability to do so, unless they want to lose their jobs.
Recognizing that concerns for volunteer firefighters could sink the bill, its supporters added a provision specifying that private sector collective bargaining agreements cannot prevent workers from volunteering. Since virtually every firefighter works for the government and not in the private sector, this actually does nothing to protect volunteer firefighters. But it sounds good.
Instead of adding meaningless provisions that do nothing to defend firefighters' right to volunteer, Congress should let local communities decide if collective bargaining is right for them. Many communities have decided that it is. But others, concerned about how unions would attack their volunteer firefighters, have not. Congress should not make it easier for the IAFF to punish firefighters for volunteering to protect their neighbors.
I think it should be resisted at all cost, but how do volunteers take up the fight?
Firefighters union douses volunteerism
James Sherk
Heritage Foundation
October 9, 2007
You probably haven't heard that Congress is about to shut down many of America's volunteer fire departments. Not intentionally, perhaps. Yet a little-known bill advancing through Congress would do just that.
Nearly 26,000 volunteer fire departments protect tens of millions of Americans and their homes from fires. Almost three out of every four firefighters in the United States are volunteers, and smaller towns and cities call on them for protection. A town with 3,000 residents simply cannot afford the expense of hiring full-time career firefighters. They rely on volunteers.
These volunteer departments are usually anchored by a core of professional career firefighters. Often they work in another city and volunteer to protect their neighbors in their off-duty hours. Volunteer firefighters risk their lives and sacrifice their time for their communities. Who would want to shut them down?
The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), that's who. The IAFF represents career firefighters. Volunteers who give their time and efforts to their communities allow many communities to do without full-time career fire departments. This means fewer jobs for career firefighters, and fewer dues-paying members in the union that represents them. So the IAFF does everything in its power to stop "two-hatters" from volunteering.
The IAFF constitution prohibits its members from belonging to a volunteer fire department. In the words of IAFF President Harold Schaitberger, the decision to volunteer is a personal choice, but "that personal choice is one that can have serious consequences under our Constitution." Union members who disobey face steep union fines that the courts will enforce. In some cities, the IAFF negotiates, on its members' behalf, contracts stating that they will lose their job if they volunteer in their off-duty hours.
The union's effort to ban volunteering is an assault on our civic fabric. Doctors who provide free care to the poor, lawyers who work pro bono for the disadvantaged, and firefighters who volunteer for their communities make America a better country.
Without career firefighters willing to give their time, many volunteer fire departments would have to close. Look at Connecticut. The IAFF negotiated "no-volunteering" clauses in the contracts of every major city there. Now many of the state's volunteer fire departments are having difficulty finding enough volunteers to protect their communities. Some cities have had to raise taxes significantly to hire career firefighters – exactly what the IAFF intended.
Enter the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, which would make it significantly easier for the IAFF to shut down volunteer fire departments. The bill, which passed the House and is before the Senate, has nothing to do with employer-employee cooperation. This bill requires every state and local government to collectively bargain with their police officers and firefighters, and to negotiate virtually every term and condition of employment.
Those states that have decided collective bargaining doesn't meet their needs would have to do so anyway. States that currently limit what they negotiate would have to negotiate almost everything – including "no-volunteering" clauses.
If this bill passes and forces every local government to collectively bargain with its firefighters, the IAFF's membership rolls will swell and the union will have enhanced powers to negotiate away the freedom of its members to volunteer. Many career firefighters who want to serve their community will lose the ability to do so, unless they want to lose their jobs.
Recognizing that concerns for volunteer firefighters could sink the bill, its supporters added a provision specifying that private sector collective bargaining agreements cannot prevent workers from volunteering. Since virtually every firefighter works for the government and not in the private sector, this actually does nothing to protect volunteer firefighters. But it sounds good.
Instead of adding meaningless provisions that do nothing to defend firefighters' right to volunteer, Congress should let local communities decide if collective bargaining is right for them. Many communities have decided that it is. But others, concerned about how unions would attack their volunteer firefighters, have not. Congress should not make it easier for the IAFF to punish firefighters for volunteering to protect their neighbors.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Allen Wahlstrom on
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I think you misread my post, or I wasnt quite clear on the issue.
"what happens if vollies go away in towns that dont have taxbase to support career personnel..."
My meaning being; if vollie companies are forced to shut down due to this a*sinine legislation, many small jurisdictions will be forced to resort to something similar to what Savannah had. If you cant afford paid protection now, what makes then think they can do it at a moments notice. Getting legislation passed to bring a career system to a small town will take months if not years. And unless the members convert over, an entirely new staff will have to learn not only the city but get familiar with who you can nad cant work with in a pinch.
The entire idea of losing volunteer departments is disaster waiting to happen.
And I disagree on the notion that career departments are like subscription services. HUGE differences here.
1. A home is not going to be allowed to burn if they are behind on taxes (taking your point on mandatory funding) Southside FD would let your home burn if you hadnt paid.
2. Our job is to protect the community we work for regardless of where their socioeconomic level is, just as the volunteer protects his or her community.
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Permalink Reply by Joel C Kelley on
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It is so refreshing to get thinking folks on these forums. I see many of your points, but wouldn't a Contract company violate the job description as defined by NFPA, the part about minimizing loss of life AND PROPERTY?
I agree with you 100% about the loss of Vol. depts. as a disaster waiting to happen, and based on some of the posts I have seen here, I don't think this piece of legislation will really kill them, but I have discovered an underlying theme about how volunteers see the union, and how IAFF sees its mission in the 21st century.
Volunteers have NONE of the protections that IAFF members have. What does this mean? Well, apart from the salary protections, which vols. don't need, the IAFF doesn't take any position on working conditions or equipment standards or safety for all-Vol. departments, which leaves us to fend for ourselves. Here in Hawaii county, the union guys drive around in new apparatus, new bunkers, quality SCBA, and fully equipped, while the Volunteer branches of the SAME department make do with apparatus that has been jump started to get it off the fireground at times, no SCBA, and rusty old surplus equipment. Some of the Volunteers don't even have bunkers. The county could make room in the budget for these things, but does not. They could seek grant money but they do not. The money is out there, but nobody sees the value of going after it. So here, the bottom line is:
PAID= GOOD APPARATUS AND EQUIPMENT
VOLUNTEER= MAKE DO AND DO WHAT YOU CAN WITH WHAT YOU HAVE>
Its a sucky equation, but this is a combination department, and such is life.
Not all combination departments are this way, I will grant. That is why I don't get it.
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Permalink Reply by katcraw on
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I am thinking of the IAFF sticker on my vehicle, and wondering how such a thing could come to pass? This is incredibly detrimental, and as someone who is starting career in Jan '08 and wanting to still serve in the volunteer capacity of the town I reside in, I can't think of how more helpless a feeling it can be to hear the sirens in your OWN town and not be able to legally help. I'm writing my congressman about this.
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Permalink Reply by Smokeyjoe85 on
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I belong to a all volunteer fire dept, up in rural (Upper Peninsula of Michigan). There are only 3 regular full time fire depts up here. The rest are all volunteer depts. We would be in a heck of a mess with-out our volunteers. And I'm prowd to be one of em'.
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Permalink Reply by Daniel Brinkley on
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I cant speak for Conecticut but they have been established and felt for whatever reason this was a need for their organizations.
My point is that departments just getting the ability to negotiate will not set anti-volunteering clauses as deal breakers in their contracts.
Locals that deam Volunteer organizations as a "rival..." do so for a reason not just because. Yes it is a violation of the IAFF const. & by laws to volunteer but it not enforsed until a local makes an issue out of it because of their current situation.
To my knowledge the IAFF does not mandate any clauses to locals negatioating contracts.
Stay Safe
Lt Dan
19 years IAFF
started as a Volunteer
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Keep this in mind.
The Law in question is to provide paid firefighters and Pm's the right and ability to negotiate in good faith all aspecs of a/their contract.
It has nothing to do with the ability to volunteer.
The paranoia (sp?) is that locals will use to stop people from volunteering. They can do that now, but most dont.
The law benefits more Paid FF Brother and sisters then it will hurt Volunteer brother and Sisters
Stay safe
Lt Dan
19 years IAFF
started as a volunteer
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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
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I've been thinking about why the IAFF prohibits its members from volunteering in other fire departments. A few ideas came to mind.
First, I recall that in the 1970s and 80s the city of Buffalo, NY went through a series of budget cuts resulting in the closing of some companies. At times there would be two or three multiple alarm fires occurring in the city at the same time. To cover the empty fire houses, the dispatch office would call in volunteer companies to provide engines ladders and manpower while the city companies were working. The rank and file members were pretty sore at the vollies for coming in, but the real problem was that they were pissed at the city fathers for cutting the manpower and companies. As I recall they wanted to recall off-duty FFs and man reserve apparatus rather than call in vols from the suburbs.
I would guess that many large and not-so-large cities experienced this same scenario, and this may have some bearing on the career vs. volunteer debate.
The bigger issue, however may be more subtle. Suppose we have a career FF, an IAFF member of a big-city department, who volunteers in the small town all-vol FD where he/she lives. In the career job, the FF has great job security because of the CBA, and has numerous benefits including medical, dental, pension, disability, and what have you. NOW: the career FF breaks his leg while performing volunteer duties back home. What happens to his/her job in the city? The VFD probably offers workers' comp and some limited disability benefits, but what happens in the FF's real job situation?
I'm not familiar with union CBAs or benefits, so I rely on others to comment. I would guess that the union would have to protect that member's job, but it would be very complicated because the FF was not hurt at work. And especially because there is a clause that forbids volunteering.
Just my thoughts, anyways. Fire away.
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Permalink Reply by steve price on
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joe stoltz
im sure you remember the conneticut st armory fire, and they did call in volunteers and career guys
and put reserve trucks in service i remember because my dad was active at that time and our trucks were called to the scene
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Permalink Reply by Todd on
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"The bigger issue, however may be more subtle. Suppose we have a career FF, an IAFF member of a big-city department, who volunteers in the small town all-vol FD where he/she lives. In the career job, the FF has great job security because of the CBA, and has numerous benefits including medical, dental, pension, disability, and what have you. NOW: the career FF breaks his leg while performing volunteer duties back home. What happens to his/her job in the city? The VFD probably offers workers' comp and some limited disability benefits, but what happens in the FF's real job situation?"
How is breaking your leg at the volunteer department any different than if you break your leg snow skiing, playing basketball in the driveway, or in a car wreck?
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I think that fire happened after I left the Buffalo area, perhaps between 1979 and '82 when I lived in Batavia. As I recall the armory fire was a "general alarm" which called all 35 or 40 BFD companies to the scene.
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"How is breaking your leg at the volunteer department any different than if you break your leg snow skiing, playing basketball in the driveway, or in a car wreck?"
My thought was that if the member was engaged in activities specifically prohibited by an agreement, and was incapacitated while so engaged, wouldn't that be a breach of the agreement? I'm sure the union would come to bat for the member but, wouldn't that cause some fur to fly?
Otherwise you are correct, there is no difference.
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It would be just as easy to prove, if volunteers were afforded the same protections as paid union firefighters. If the union worked to guarantee the same protections for volunteers, a few things would happen:
1. Volunteer departments would be able to focus on improving the level of training rather than trying to scrape out enough money for decent apparatus,
2. Volunteers would be able to work with career personnel on a more equal basis, and not hold grudges over the disparity between them,
3. Career crews would have less to look down their noses at, since volunteers are trained to the same standard.
4. Mutual aid agreements would be stronger and aid departments would learn to trust one another, since they get to work together more often.
Who knows? Maybe we would all learn to depend on each other as a real brotherhood!
IAFF. International Association of FIRE FIGHTERS. It isn't the Association of PAID firefighters, or the Association of VOLUNTEER firefighters, just firefighters, and the more I think about it, the more I would like to see IAFF open its doors to volunteers. It would be a win win situation for all, all except the governing bodies that administer the thousands of small, all volunteer departments.
Let's be clear. Not everyone who fights fire wants the paycheck. One of the Chiefs of my first department was a US District Court Judge, and would never have wanted to take the salary cut to fire wages. Another was a stock broker, and made more than twice what a city BC made in our nearest incorporated city. My Captain was an artist, who made mor from his art than most paid Chiefs. I run my own business and while I have always thought of going career, I like my business, and I like being able to spend so much time with my daughter. Iwould like the representation the union would offer, and the lobbying power, but I don't want or need the salary. The benefits might be nice, and the IAFF could certainly offer a low cost medical/dental plan for volunteers.
The bottom line is that I think many Volunteers just want a little respect from the IAFF.
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