IAFF and the Volunteers

IAFF and Volunteers
I know there have been a lot of discussions on the issue of unions and volunteers, but I thought his point of view as a career firefighter was a good take in this issue.What does this union expect the volunteer department to do. The use of off duty people volunteering on a small department is a big shot in the arm for a lot of departments that are becoming short handed year after year. The IAFF still does not support their membership from assisting the volunteer department as stated in recent press release on their web site. IAFF Letter to IAFC on Secondary Employment Read More...
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This was written by a career firefighter from Austin TX, Adam Kinnon

The career fire service in America is comprised of approximately 350,000 fire fighters. The volunteer fire service numbers over 800,000. The International Association of Fire Fighters boasts a membership of approximately 260,000 of the career fire fighters. As other sectors of the union movement dwindle to record lows, government worker’s unions are on the rise. It is important to note that the overwhelming majority of IAFF members are utilizing the union for local purposes. Most fire fighters are unaware of the larger labor movement and the problems arising from the IAFF and its affiliates violating the individual rights of fire fighters.The IAFF takes an anti volunteer stance which is demonstrated by the fact that their constitution prohibits members from volunteering. The union leadership defends their stance by indicating their locals are autonomous. They leave the enforcement of their constitution to the individual local. The IAFF has demonstrated that they will vehemently support locals that pursue an anti volunteer stance and keep their hands off the locals that support their, “Two hatters”. Maintaining affiliation, membership, and the influx of money is more important to them than pushing their agenda on the members.There are a number of ways that the IAFF is attempting to put pressure on fire fighters not to volunteer. The members that buy into this can file charges on members who volunteer. The fire fighter who volunteers will be forced to resign from the IAFF or quit volunteering. Another way is by passing collective bargaining contracts which state specifically that fire fighters may not volunteer in their off duty time. Collective Bargaining along with Presumptive Health Care legislation is being used to push the IAFF agenda. Career fire fighters must understand that Civil Service and Collective Bargaining legislation at the state level usually contain a Preemptive clause. This allows contractual agreements to over ride any and all state laws, rules, and regulations. The first collective bargaining contract negotiated by my department last year circumvented State Right to Work law regarding the method used to assess sick time from members to support union activities. As a non union member I am not allowed to negotiate or vote on the contracts.The trends and actions of the IAFF at the state and federal level show, with out a doubt, that their intention is to grow their membership, expand their control over the member’s actions, and grow the larger labor movement coffers to support politics which are often at odds with a large percentage if not the majority of the members. They are attempting to shift control of the fire service to the state and federal level through legislation concerning minimum staffing and NFPA 1710. Fire Fighters are being put in the unfortunate position of fighting the very people who are supposed to be there to protect them. Fire Fighter’s First Amendment rights to freedom of affiliation are being violated solely for the growth and political interests of the IAFF. It’s time to stop sugar coating the situation we find ourselves in. When entities trample individual rights of Americans it leaves us no choice but to look for positive ways to influence legislation to protect our freedoms and to protect the future generations of fire fighters. We need to start educating career fire fighters and motivate them to demand that the union actually work as the representative democracy it claims to be. We need to create lobbying teams that represent existing and future organizations that truly represent the will of volunteer and career fire fighters. These organizations must put personal liberties before the interests of the Larger Labor Movement’s aggressive strategic agenda of growing their union and control of the fire service at the expense of the members. We must protect the ability of smaller communities to determine the level of protection as it relates to the tax base. When these issues we speak of are reduced to the lowest common denominator we are left with the question of individual freedom.I am a career fire fighter in Austin, TX. I was an IAFF member for ten years. We need to provide an avenue for career fire fighters to express their support of the volunteer fire service. Career fire fighters along with the volunteer fire service working together could create a legislative voice that would trump the will of the labor movement and protect our individual freedoms.

Adam Kinnon