Around the coffee table, our shift was discussing how nice it was to have I.A.F.F. stickers on our apparatus and helmets. How many have or know of other fire departments that allow I.A.F.F. stickers on their apparatus or helmets?
We use to be able to have IAFF on engine and gear but our city manager made us take them off becuase he was having a problem with the union. I see know reason that we should be able to. Most people don't even know what it is.
We're a combination dept., so the commissioners (several of them vollies) won't allow decals on the apparatus. We used to be allowed to put a decal on the underside of our helmets, lost that 2 contracts ago (although we are now allowed to wear a pin on our dress uniforms, which are hardly used). Several of us have decals on our radio straps, haven't heard any complaints from above or vollies (yet).
We have them on our Apparatus and our helmets. Since we are Federal and no a closed shop, it is interesting to note that we are given the opportunity to do this. All our department members are encouraged to join, but they do not have to. They benefit from all we do, and we will go to bat for them if they have issues, but under Federal Guidlines we cannot be a closed shop.
On the Spokane Fire Department all of our apparatus has a union sticker. It started by us putting them on and the brass making the drivers remove them. But we had more stickers than they had time to waste on it. Whe I was elected union pres I negotiated the following. We can have stickers on out helmets, we have Local 29 with IAFF logo on our uniform T-shirts and sweatshorts, we have L-29 union patches on out dress uniforms (union made patches, made in America I might add) and we can wear IAFF pins on our class-b shirts. It was a tough sell but we did it.
I would also add that a friend of mine that works for a county department here, says they cannot have union stickers on the apparatus so they put one on a water bottle and put the bottle on the dash where it can be seen through the window. There is more than one way to skin a cat.