Fund Balances ........................................................................................................................................ 10
Less than 3 Member Local ..................................................................................................................... 11
Locals Placed on Hold ............................................................................................................................ 11
Reinstatements ...................................................................................................................................... 11
Mergers .................................................................................................................................................. 12
Technical Assistance and First Contract Policies .................................................................................... 14
New Locals ............................................................................................................................................. 15
IAFF Financial Corporation ......................................................................................................................... 39
Education and Training .......................................................................................................................... 49
Emergency Disputes Fund ..................................................................................................................... 50
Grants Administration/HazMat/WMD .................................................................................................. 57
Health & Safety ...................................................................................................................................... 57
Human Relations .................................................................................................................................... 58
Legal Services ......................................................................................................................................... 58
Pre-Trial Review ..................................................................................................................................... 60
NEW BUSINESS .......................................................................................................................................... 62
Denominational Voting .......................................................................................................................... 62
Trustees Report ..................................................................................................................................... 62
Auditors Report ..................................................................................................................................... 63
DISTRICT REPORTS ..................................................................................................................................... 64
Executive Board Meeting Held at Hilton Diplomat Hollywood, Florida
February 11-12, 2016 The following members of the IAFF Executive Board were present during February 2016 meeting:
Harold Schaitberger, General President Thomas H. Miller, General Secretary-Treasurer William Romaka, 1st District Vice President
Mark S. Woolbright, 2nd District Vice President Jay Colbert, 3rd District Vice President
William Taylor, 4th District Vice President Thomas Thornberg, 5th District Vice President
Lorne West, 6th District Vice President Kelly Fox, 7th District Vice President
Paul Hufnagel, 8th District Vice President Ray R. Rahne, 9th District Vice President
James T. Ferguson, 10th District Vice President Roy L. McGhee, 11th District Vice President Larry F. Osborne, 12th District Vice President Fred LeBlanc, 13th District Vice President Danny Todd, 14th District Vice President David Burry, 15th District Vice President
James B. Johnson, 16th District Vice President Also present at the meeting were: General Counsel Thomas Woodley; Legal Counsel Doug Steele; Jim Lee, Chief of Staff to the General President; Warren May, Interim Chief of Operations; Lori Moore- Merrill, Assistant to the General President for Technical Assistance and Information Resources; Scott Marks, Assistant to the General President for Canadian Operations; Patrick Morrison, Assistant to the General President, Health, Safety and Medicine; Jim Ridley, Assistant to the General President, Education and Training; Jeff Zack, Assistant to the General President, Communications, Public Relations, IT Systems and Alumni; Kevin O’Connor, Assistant to the General President for Government Affairs; Elizabeth Harman, Assistant to the General President for Grants Administration and HazMat; Carrie Tucker, IAFF-Financial Corporation; Marty Sonnenberg, Executive Producer and General Manager, E-18 Media; David Bernard, Director, Information Services; Dawn Iacino, Director, Meeting/Conference Planning; Teresa Valenzuela and Cynthia Rezetko, General President’s office; and Teri Byrnes, General Secretary-Treasurer’s office recording and reporting the minutes of the meeting.
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MEMBERS AND GUESTS Board Members of Hollywood Professional Firefighters, Local 1375
William Huddleston, President Chuck Tullio, Vice President Alexandra Jonker, Treasurer Mitch Li, Trustee Armando Sanchez, Trustee Mike Saffran, Trustee Peter Falk, Trustee
Trustees: Mark Ouellette, Eastern Region Tony Mejia, Western Region Alex Forrest, Canada
Peter Carozza, President, Federation of State and Provincial Fire Fighters Auditors:
Joan Renner, Principal, Renner & Company CPA John Renner, Principal, Renner & Company CPA Andrew Young, Partner, Renner & Company CPA
Mary Beth Braitman, Partner, IceMiller Rich Merrill, Local 2068, Fairfax, VA
MOMENT OF SILENCE General President Schaitberger requested the Board to stand in a moment of silence in memory of those departed brothers and sisters who died in the line of duty. This list also includes those deaths that have recently been determined to be job related:
Name Local City/State Died Age Cause Robert C. Kennedy 411 York, ON 3/31/80 51 Lung Cancer Clifford G. Reed 1582 Oakville, ON 4/21/92 Lung Cancer James Potter 353 Dubuque, IA 3/31/93 43 Heart Attack Harvey Bellinger 162 Ottawa, ON 10/25/93 Kidney Cancer Thomas Timmins 1137 Etobicoke, ON 12/10/95 67 Prostate Cancer Bruce G. Bamlett 1595 Vaughan, ON 3/21/97 41 Brain Cancer James F. Horton 1014 Los Angeles Co., CA 8/22/97 Esophageal Cancer Darnell Brown 1908 Clark Co., NV 2/16/99 Cancer Joseph A. Ary 341 Houston, TX 5/5/02 56 Pancreatic Cancer Arthur G. Laslett, Sr. 455 Windsor, ON 1/20/05 68 Cancer John P. Elliff 2881 Cal Fire–Sacramento, CA 3/2/05 55 Hodgkin’s Shawn M. Thurman 2928 Palm Beach Co., FL 11/26/05 Heart Cancer J. Edward Tremblay 162 Ottawa, ON 12/11/08 Prostate Cancer Grant G. Young 1301 Kern Co., CA 6/4/09 58 Skin Cancer Gary M. Stameisen 112 Los Angeles, CA 12/4/10 63 Cancer Thomas M. Johnson 58 Dallas, TX 5/6/11 59 Pancreatic Cancer Dennis M. Walker 2081 Hackensack, NJ 6/15/11 51 Bladder Cancer Virginia Culkin-Spinelli 94 New York, NY 12/19/11 57 Lung Cancer-WTC Robert Torres 2602 McAllen, TX 11/9/12 48 Stomach Cancer
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Ronald F. McMinimy 1465 Costa Mesa, CA 12/20/12 70 Bladder Cancer James G. Kittleson 858 Denver, CO 5/30/13 60 Leukemia Gavin L. Wright 34 Little Rock, AR 8/9/13 33 Stomach Cancer Peter J. Chambers 626 Scarborough, ON 10/10/13 Prostate Cancer Thomas J. Greaney 854 New York, NY 1/5/14 61 WTC-related Illness Donald Cooper 113 Toronto, ON 1/25/14 Lung Cancer William M. Thompson 440 Fort Worth, TX 4/28/14 56 Smoke Inhalation Stephen G. Lloyd 2881 Cal Fire – Sacramento, CA 5/26/14 63 Leukemia Terry M. Thompson 3888 Toronto, ON 8/16/14 65 Esophageal Cancer Daniel Heglund 94 New York, NY 9/22/14 58 Cancer-WTC Cornell L. Horne 94 New York, NY 10/5/14 Cancer-WTC Patrick J. Hollern 1664 Montgomery Co., MD 2/1/15 64 Heart Disease Daniel Corrigan 525 Santa Barbera, CA 3/4/15 35 Cardiac Arrest Gregory A. Chevalley 94 New York, NY 4/24/15 43 Cancer-WTC Gilbert D. Pohl 244 Albuquerque, NM 5/2/15 49 Colon Cancer Wayne C. Douglas 2143 Fort Saint John, BC 5/21/15 68 Colon Cancer Thomas R. Brandon, Jr. 995 Richmond, VA 5/29/15 68 Heart Attack Edward P. Toomey 2 Chicago, IL 6/5/15 51 Colon Cancer George D. Eysser 854 New York, NY 6/13/15 75 Lung Cancer John R. O’Grady 411 York, ON 7/19/15 78 Esophageal Cancer John Gallagher 854 New York, NY 7/26/15 70 WTC-related Illness Ludovick L. Geni 181 Regina, SK 7/26/15 87 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Earl F. Smith 288 Hamilton, ON 8/1/15 81 Brain Cancer Steven L. Robinson 112 Los Angeles, CA 8/9/15 50 Head Trauma Francois J. Rivest 255 Calgary, AB 8/17/15 62 Esophageal Cancer Thomas J. Thompson 854 New York, NY 8/17/15 70 WTC-related Illness Shane Clifton 21 Saint Paul, MN 8/31/15 38 Heart Attack Wayne Hartness 4016 Conway, AR 9/7/15 52 Colon Cancer Jake Jongkind 1068 Brampton, ON 9/9/15 67 Prostate Cancer Dennis E. Rodeman 421 Lansing, MI 9/9/15 35 Struck by Vehicle Michael R. Vandenbergh 2878 Eastside Fire & Rescue -
Issaquah, WA 9/14/15 47 Cancer
Andrew D. Boa 181 Regina, SK 9/15/15 76 Colon Cancer Hector M. Magallanes 1014 Los Angeles Co., CA 9/18/15 55 Pancreatic Cancer Brent A. Strong 3825 Thurston Co., WA 9/20/15 47 Brain Cancer Joseph P. Savas 1014 Los Angeles Co., CA 9/22/15 46 Skin Cancer Gary J. Gates, Jr. 854 New York, NY 9/29/15 72 WTC-related Illness Robert F. Quinn 76 Somerville, MA 10/4/15 57 Heart Attack Antonio A. Smith 1784 Memphis, TN 10/7/15 46 Cardiac Arrest Craig J. Moilanen 2203 North Metro, CO 10/8/15 36 Leukemia Larry J. Leggio 42 Kansas City, MO 10/12/15 43 Structural Collapse John V. Mesh 42 Kansas City, MO 10/12/15 39 Structural Collapse Richard B. Faust 798 San Francisco, CA 10/14/15 53 Brain Cancer Rick Zeni 1014 Los Angeles Co., CA 10/17/15 49 Heart Attack Anthony T. Colarusso 1768 Plymouth, MA 10/20/15 39 Esophageal Cancer Nicholas Demasi 94 New York, NY 10/21/15 Cancer-WTC
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Lawrence Berenz 752 North York, ON 10/25/15 84 Prostate Cancer Jesse D. Clingenpeel 1132 Roanoke, VA 11/5/15 25 Vehicle Accident Norman L. Grant 162 Ottawa, ON 11/11/15 Leukemia Vincent H. Smith 344 Detroit, MI 11/19/15 49 Unknown—Pending
Investigation Walter R. Szelag 344 Detroit, MI 11/20/15 65 Heart Attack James Costello 854 New York, NY 11/25/15 52 Pancreatic Cancer Richard E. Saunders 786 Stamford, CT 11/28/15 52 Pancreatic Cancer Scott Carroll 1684 Oxnard, CA 11/30/15 48 Aneurysm Karl Lewis 411 York, ON 11/30/15 85 Lung Cancer Mark Zielinski, Sr. 3086 Matteson, IL 12/4/15 49 Cardiac Arrest Michael C. Stewart F-282 Puget Sound-Keyport, WA 12/7/15 59 Cancer James O. Rogers 2612 Sedgwick Co., KS 12/10/15 61 Brain Cancer Daniel V. Capuano 2 Chicago, IL 12/14/15 42 Fall Daniel D. Rapp 42 Kansas City, MO 12/16/15 56 PTSD Paul M. Sullivan 76 Somerville, MA 12/19/15 48 Pancreatic Cancer Randy T. Piticco 1271 Surrey, BC 12/22/15 61 Lung Cancer Patrick Wolterman 20 Hamilton, OH 12/28/15 28 Floor Collapse Kenneth K. Harris 95 Oak Park, IL 1/11/16 56 Heart Attack Scott D. Bruggeman 336 Middletown, OH 1/18/16 45 Heart Attack Marlon D. Coutee, Sr. 359 Gary, IN 1/21/16 58 Pancreatic Cancer
WELCOME ADDRESS William Huddleston, President, Local 1375, Hollywood Professional Firefighters welcomed the Board to Hollywood and introduced his executive board. He updated the board on the various issues affecting the local since last year. President Huddleston reflected on how financial urgency and the downturn of the economy was particularly tough on his local. At that same time, the current board was elected and had only experienced great benefits during their careers so they had no prior experience on how to deal with the tough times. Local 1375 relied heavily on the resources of the IAFF and President Huddleston expressed his gratitude to the IAFF for their assistance, including EDF, marketing, and education resources. He stated that all their salary cuts have been restored, a very competitive pension benefit and their workweek is now the best in South Florida. He again thanked the IAFF for their assistance and expressed his pride in being part of such a great organization.
ADOPTION OF MINUTES Motion was made by General Secretary-Treasurer Miller that the September 2015 Executive Board minutes be adopted. Motion was Seconded and adopted unanimously.
PER CAPITA VOTING ALLOCATIONS
1st District 18,513 2nd District 11,343 3rd District 21,289 4th District excused
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5th District 6,329 6th District excused 7th District 10,480 8th District 39,702 9th District 12,111 10th District 43,588 11th District excused 12th District 30,710 13th District 12,807 14th District 14,774 15th District 1,247 16th District 3,514
TOTAL 226,407
Majority 113,204 3/5 135,844 2/3 150,938 3/4 169,805
GENERAL PRESIDENT’S REPORT The following is an overview of ongoing major activities and projects since the September 2015 Executive Board meeting. Flint, MI In Flint, Michigan, we have been working with our local there to determine the best ways we can assist members deal with the lead contamination in the city’s water system. The solutions we are fully investigating and are prepared to implement are helping our members with drinking water solutions for their homes and for the stations in which they work. At the same time, we are working to ensure that we make the resources available to ensure that all members there have access to receive a full medical to establish baseline health levels at this point, in order to help them if in the future a related health event occurs, similar to what we did following hurricane Katrina. Resolutions Sixteen resolutions were brought to the Ad Hoc Resolutions Committee of the Executive Board for discussion and action. One additional resolution that was brought forward from the Canadian Policy Conference was also put before the committee as an FYI. June 24 is the deadline to receive additional resolutions. The Committee will give a full report on their actions regarding these resolutions. Legislative In 2015, the year ended with a long overdue victory – the passage in Congress of the reauthorization of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. For more than a year, we worked with the Uniformed Fire Officers Association Local 854, Uniformed Firefighters Association Local 94 and 1st District Vice President Bill Romaka to lead the charge to renew Zadroga – from holding rallies and lobbying members of Congress to working with the media to generate support. The bill passed as part of
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the omnibus spending bill to fund the federal government for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2016 and was signed into law by President Obama. The final bill reauthorizes the 9/11 Health Program through 2090 and provides another five years for the compensation program. Throughout the process, our Communications and Governmental Affairs departments worked closely with Locals 94 and 854 to keep members informed about our efforts in the fight to renew Zadroga – using social media, the IAFF web site, email blasts and our magazine. In addition, we placed online ads to raise the issue and apply pressure on lawmakers in targeted areas. In another big win for the International, Congress approved a two-year delay of the Cadillac Tax – a 40 percent excise tax on high-cost health care plans that would have taken effect in 2018. We have long opposed this onerous tax – dating back to 2010 when Congress first debated the provision when writing the Affordable Care Act. The tax is nothing more than a scheme to shift health care costs from the employer to the worker. Our members who collectively bargain are already seeing employers threaten to cut costs. While we succeeded in watering down the original proposal by delaying implementation until 2018, in 2015 our efforts focused on repealing the Cadillac tax altogether. Along with other labor advocacy groups, we met with Representative Joe Courtney (D-CT), the congressional champion for repealing the tax. In just 10 short months, our union and its allies helped secure more than 65 co- sponsors – the number needed to introduce the bill. While the hurdles to completely repeal the tax by the end of the year were too many to overcome, the two-year delay passed, which defers this battle until a new administration is in office and gives us more time to build the strongest argument for full repeal. In another last-minute win, we were able to prevent the SAFE Act – legislation that would turn public pension plans into non-guaranteed annuity payouts and at the same time reduce benefits – from inclusion in the omnibus spending bill. We expect the assault on defined benefit pension plans to continue in 2016, and will continue to work to protect our members’ retirement. Finally, we were also successful in increasing the funding for our two signature grant programs, SAFER and AFG, increasing each by $5 million for a total of $10 million. The extra money was made available because of the bipartisan budget agreement negotiated by out-going Speaker John Boehner just before his resignation in October. Political In Canada, the federal election on October 19 is proof that our political action efforts pay off. After nearly 10 years of Conservative government and anti-union policies and attacks, our Canadian affiliates helped push the Liberals to victory, electing Justin Trudeau Prime Minister. Trudeau has promised to act on a number of legislative issues, including the establishment of a national Public Safety Officers Compensation (PSOC) benefit for families of fallen IAFF members and the repeal of Bill C-377 – which would have forced the IAFF and other unions in Canada to publicly reveal their spending through onerous financial reports. Our Canadian district vice presidents, communications staff and Canadian office worked in partnership on a focused political action campaign strategy – including a “Fire Fighters for Change” social media push – to help affiliates with local efforts to elect a new Liberal government. This is a big win for our members in Canada and could potentially pay huge dividends for years to come. The Canadian victory follows a number of wins our union has experienced at the local level over the last two election cycles, where in city after city, Boston, Houston, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, just to name a few our locals have been heavily engaged and winning elections for friendly mayors and councils
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U.S. Elections 2016 As discussed over the past year among our Executive Board, we have an incredibly important election season ahead of us. We will see the election of a new Commander-in-Chief, 34 U.S. Senators, 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 18 governors, and multiple major elections in state legislative bodies, city/county councils and mayors. The race for President of the United States continues to be the focal point nationally. The Iowa caucuses (Feb. 1) and the New Hampshire primary (Feb. 9) have taken place, with the Nevada caucuses (D – Feb. 20 and R – Feb. 23), South Carolina primary (Feb. 24) and Super Tuesday (March 1) just around the corner. We have continued to keep our leaders and members apprised of the status of our decision to not endorse a candidate in the race until after the primaries. The focus of those messages has centered on us listening to our members in this process and waiting until the field narrows and the choices become clearer for the general election. We have also begun educating our members on the issues that a President (and Congress) control that directly affect the profession and our members’ jobs, and we will roll that plan out to the Board in the coming weeks. In this election cycle, we will also continue our recent pattern of moving more and more resources out to the state level (and at the provincial level in Canada). Last cycle, 53% of FIREPAC funds went out to state/provincial and municipal races. Friedrichs As a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in the Friedrich’s case gets closer, we have been ramping up our messaging, education and resources that we will make available to affiliates and leaders to ensure the case has minimal impact on our union. While we know our membership and union historically have a much higher rate of unionization than other public employee unions in areas without strong collective bargaining laws and in those with right to work laws, Friedrich’s throws another potential hurdle at us because it will mean our affiliates who have strong labor rights laws and protections may possibly be thrown into a less stable labor environment where members may be able to quit the union and still require representation. I have been working with staff to create the necessary education, communication and training programs that will be necessary to alert and train leaders to operate in this new environment, including establishing a special project line for the effort that will necessarily become a topic for consideration by the full Board for funding in the next budget year. FireCares Our big data project, FireCARES, has taken another major step in its development. In December, we hosted the top 10 U.S. jurisdictions at a 2-day meeting in D.C to educate and demonstrate the new FireCARES application and NFORS system. The purpose of the event was to get buy-in from the largest jurisdiction by giving them a deeper understanding of what we have been building, why the data is so critical and how it will help all of us
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make this profession more effective in our response and in keeping our members safe as they do their dangerous work. I’m happy to report that all 10 of the jurisdictions are now working to implement both systems over the coming months. We are continuously following up with them and will have more to report at the next Board meeting. ALTS Once again, we had a very successful ALTS Conference. This year we had 1,421 attendees – making it the largest East Coast ALTS to date – providing 131 workshops, 5 preconference courses and 23 information sessions. We also webcast two high profile topics, Fire Safety Standards and Codes and Surviving the Fireground. Both webcasts were promoted as “Safety Stand Downs” to our affiliates, and the result was larger audiences for our webcasts than last year. Human Relations Conference Our Human Relations Conference was a success, as well. Three hundred and thirty-three attendees attended 29 workshops, with four special interest sessions. Our guest speaker at this year’s Conference was the President of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Terence Melvin, who very effectively communicated the need to keep moving forward when it comes to including and diversity in the trade union movement. As a result, our scheduled elections, we have two newly elected members to the Elected Human Relations Committee: Barbara Sellers L514, Shreveport-District 14 (women category) and Anita Paratley L798, San Francisco-District 10 (other than already represented category). We welcome Barbara and Anita and look forward to their contributions as part of this important Committee. E-18 MEDIA Our production team at E-18 Media continues to expand its value to our union. In addition to assisting in our lobbying efforts on Zadroga by producing over $100,000 worth of media (free of charge to us and our allies in the Zadroga fight), they produced and posted the 3rd Edition of Dispatch and the first episode of the new show we are calling the Kitchen Table. Our goal with these different productions is to continue to expand the ways we deliver messages to our leaders and members to make sure we are connecting with them in every way they are looking to receive their news about our union. Communications Social media continues to play a big part in our communications efforts. Our Facebook and Twitter accounts are growing steadily with nearly 200,000 followers on Facebook and 30,000 on Twitter. In a report released late last year measuring social media efforts for 352 associations, the IAFF is ranked is #4 among 32 unions and employment organizations (the AFL-CIO is #3). In Canada, we are effectively using social media to raise the IAFF’s profile and improve the image of professional fire fighters and the role our members play in their communities. Our following on our Canadian Twitter account has reached 3,600 and our IAFF Canada Facebook page has 3,000 likes. We’re also raising awareness about EMS issues in Canada through a separate Twitter account (@SendFFs) and Facebook page (Send Firefighters) by distributing media stories and other information that highlights our members’ EMS role. The IAFF has partnered with Nationwide and its Make Safe Happen program to develop new public safety campaigns for affiliates to use in their communities. In October, we launched a Halloween safety
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campaign focused on pedestrian safety, providing numerous resources – including reflective trick-or- treat bags featuring safety tips. In February, we’ll be launching another co-branded Make Safe Happen campaign on TV and furniture tip-over safety. The Make Safe Happen campaign is designed to raise awareness and help reduce accidental injuries and deaths among children under 12. Another new campaign – It Can Happen in A Flash With A Splash – was launched in conjunction with Burn Awareness Week February 1-8. The Scald Awareness Education Campaign, developed by our Charitable Foundation, the IAFC, the Federation of Burn Foundations and Safe Kids Worldwide, was designed for our locals to use to reach out to families and caregivers during Burn Awareness Week. We also continued promoting our Breast Cancer Awareness Month and holiday safety campaigns in October, November and December 2015. At the Affiliate Leadership Training Summit, we conducted an Information Session on our community outreach and issue toolkits and heard repeatedly how much our affiliates appreciate and use these resources. Behavioral Health Our online behavioral health awareness program – which includes testimonials from fire fighters on common behavioral health problems – is complete and under final review. In addition, our Peer Support Train-the-Trainer Course has been developed and the first beta test was held in January with subject matter experts and instructors. We’ll conduct two more beta tests before launching the program to all members. We have also hired a behavioral health specialist to assist in the growing need for education and training in this area and to oversee the behavioral health program. In Canada, the IAFF and the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs held a Firefighter Mental Wellness advisory group meeting to help identify resources needed for a national firefighter health and wellness educational campaign. We are also partnering with the Tema Conter Memorial Trust (TEMA), a leading organization for first responders and post-traumatic stress resources. New Programs/Staff I want to welcome both Jay Colbert and Kelly Fox to the Executive Board as well as Jim Lee as my new Chief of Staff. I want to conclude my report for this meeting by welcoming our new Director for Wildland Firefighting Safety and Response, Rick Swan. Rick is an important new addition to our staff and will be an invaluable asset as we work to get our affiliates up to speed on the growing issues surrounding the Wildland Urban Interface. I also want to welcome our new Health and Safety Assistant for Behavioral Health, Elaine Viccora. Elaine has an extensive background of over 20 years working in the behavioral health field and will be a significant new addition for us as we continue to ramp up our efforts to support our affiliates and members with post-traumatic stress. Finally, I want to mention the retirement of Michele Shaffer. Michele has served our affiliates as an incredibly important resources for over 30 years, and we will miss her contributions as our Director of Collective Bargaining and Labor Issues.
GENERAL SECRETARY-TREASURER’S REPORT Before I begin my report, I too would like to recognize A. Michael Mullane and his extensive contributions over 32 years to this Board, the 3rd District, and the entire membership of this IAFF. Michael was extraordinarily dedicated to the health and safety of fire fighters and worked tirelessly on
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their behalf in both the US and Canada. Barb and I extend our condolences to Elaine and the rest of his family as they go through this very difficult time. I’d also like to welcome our new District Vice Presidents – Jay Colbert in the 3rd District and Kelly Fox in the 7th District. My staff and I are ready to assist you in whatever way we can. When Jim Lee accepted the General President’s appointment to be his Chief of Staff I was sorry to lose him as my Chief of Operations, but the IAFF staff, affiliate leaders and members have not lost his considerable talent, experience and leadership. In the past six years, Jim has done an extraordinary job implementing the many enhancements and advancements made in the office of the General Secretary-Treasurer. Our successes could not have been accomplished without his outstanding leadership. With Jim’s transition to his new position, I appointed Warren May as the interim Chief of Operations for the remainder of my term as GST. Warren will continue to serve as the IAFF Comptroller and will also oversee General Administration and serve as my chief advisor. I have complete faith that he is well equipped to take on these new, temporary responsibilities. You will hear from the Trustees and our auditors, that we have once again received an unqualified opinion with no findings. I won’t steal their thunder, but will say that the IAFF is in strong financial shape. Work on the 2016 Convention in Las Vegas, is moving full steam ahead. Credentials 2.0 is in the final phases and will provide us with stronger internal reporting capabilities. Convention Call will go out in mid- February and credentials will open the first week in April. As you are all aware, there are a number of states and jurisdictions where locals are losing the ability to collect their dues via payroll deduction, which has put the burden of collection on the local. We have been researching possible options to assist our affiliates with this issue and have teamed with a company called UnionTrack (www.uniontrack.com) who has developed a complete local union management system. My office, UnionTrack, and one of our locals are working to design and test a prototype that is both economical and easy to use for both our affiliates and their members. There will be more information at the June Board meeting.
Fund Balances General Secretary-Treasurer Miller reported the various balances as of December 2016.
Voluntary Forfeiture of Charter Motion was made by General Secretary-Treasurer Miller that the following locals be dissolved by voluntary forfeiture in accordance with the provisions of Article XII, Section 2, of the IAFF Constitution: For the record, the following locals have been voluntarily dissolved per Article 12, Section 2 of the Constitution & By-Laws:
• Local 2972, Hillsboro, OH (5 members) • Local 3108, Hopkinsville Professional Fire Fighters, KY (23 members) • Local 4725, Brainerd Fire Fighters, MN (5 members)
• Local 4726, East Niceville, FL (3 members) • Local 4849, St. Landry Parish, LA (7 members) • Total of 43 members
Motion was Seconded and adopted unanimously.
Involuntary Forfeiture of Charter Motion was made by General Secretary-Treasurer Miller that the following locals be dissolved by involuntary forfeiture in accordance with the provisions of Article XII, Section 3, of the IAFF Constitution:
• Local 4527, Gaffney Professional Fire Fighters Association, SC (7 members) • Local 4960, Harleysville Area Professional Emergency Services, PA (17 members) • Local 3937, Marble Falls, TX (4 members) • This is a total of 28 members.
Motion was Seconded and adopted unanimously.
Less than 3 Member Local Motion was made by General Secretary-Treasurer Miller that the following local be dissolved as per Article XIII, Section 1, having less than three members:
• Local 3181, Fayetteville, TN Motion was Seconded and adopted unanimously. These locals were put on Hold so that they have an opportunity to increase membership.
• Local 3993, Highwood Fire Fighters Union, IL (they are in the process of a merger.) • Local 5033, Columbia Country Career Fire Fighters, WA
Motion was Seconded and adopted unanimously.
Locals Placed on Hold At the request of their respective District Vice Presidents, the following locals were placed on Hold due to delinquent per capita until the next Board meeting:
• Local 4975, Howe, TX (4 members) • Local 3920, Fulton, GA (39 members) • Local 4510, Springfield, TN (14 members) • This is a total of 57 members.
Motion was Seconded and adopted unanimously.
Reinstatements The Executive Board has already approved the following reinstatements, therefore, no motion is required. For the record those locals are:
• Local 968, Williamson, WV (5 members) • Local 2671, Moberly Fire Fighters, MO (22 members) • Local 3951, North Hudson Fire Officers, NJ (95 members)
Reissue of Old Local Number The Executive Board has already approved the following locals’ request for their original local number. For the record:
• Local 552, Ogden, UT
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Mergers Pursuant to Article 12, Section 2, the Board has already approved the following mergers, but for the record:
• Local 2502, Oakridge, OR merged into successor Local 851, Lane Professional Firefighters Association, OR
• Local 3315, Monroe, WA merged with Local 2781, Snohomish County Fire District 7, WA. The successor is Local 2781, Union Fire Fighters of Snohomish County.
Income Status Report General Secretary-Miller reported on the Income Status report for the period ending September and December 2015, as follows:
Income Status Report For the month ended September 2015
ANNUAL BUDGET
NON PCT INCOME General Non-PCT Revenue Initiation, Reinstatement, & Charter $167,000 $167,000 160,515 $( 6,485 ) Interest 290,100 290,100 397,840 107,740 Financial Corporation (note 1) 1,030,000 1,030,000 1,047,842 17,842 MDA/MDAC 1,400,000 1,400,000 1,248,000 (152,000) Advertising 260,000 260,000 255,545 (4,455) Other Income 5,000 5,000 5,191 191 IAFF Foundation 65,500 65,500 0 (65,500) Balance From Prior Year 457,600 457,600 457,600 0 Sub-Total General Non-PCT Revenue (Non- allocated) $3,675,200 $3,675,200 $3,572,533 $(102,667) Indirect Administrative Overhead 574,810 574,810 766,036 191,226 Personnel Reimbursement 880,670 880,670 874,913 (5,757) Sub-Total Grants/Cooperative Agreements/Contracts (Non-allocated) $1,455,480 $1,455,480 $1,640,949 $185,469 FIREPAC Revenue Allocated 164,075 164,075 100,000 (64,075) Legislative Conference Registration 297,000 297,000 351,400 54,400 Legislative Other Income 575,000 575,000 469,000 (106,000) ALTS Conference Registration 561,250 561,250 720,425 159,175 Conference/Event Direct Non-PCT Allocated 1,182,375 1,182,375 1,535,974 353,599 Grant Direct Non-PCT Revenue Allocated 1,354,572 1,354,572 1,507,828 153,256 HAZMAT Grants (note 2) 4,177,218 4,177,218 4,300,452 123,234 Misc Direct Non-PCT Revenue Allocated 5,670,340 5,670,340 5,751,300 80,960 Sub-Total Grants/Coop Agreements/ Contracts (Allocated Non-PCT revenue) $13,981,830 $13,981,830 $14,736,379 $754,549
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Total Non PCT Revenue $19,112,510 $19,112,510 $19,949,861 $837,351 ANNUAL YEAR TO DATE
BUDGET BUDGET ACTUAL VARIANCE
PER CAPITA TAX Total Per Capita Tax $44,161,200 $44,161,200 $44,321,003 $159,803 Less Restricted PCT (FIREPAC, EDF, REDMOND) (7,856,580) (7,856,580) (8,130,679) (274,099) General Per Capita Tax 36,304,620 36,304,620 36,190,323 (114,297) Less PCT Allocated by Prior Board Approval 0 0 (34,355) (34,355) General Per Capita Tax - Adjusted $36,304,620 $36,304,620 $36,155,968 $ (148,652) Note 1: Peer Fitness Training & CPAT Audit programs significantly exceeded registration fees budgeted.
Income Status Report For the month ended December 2015
ANNUAL BUDGET
NON PCT INCOME General Non-PCT Revenue Initiation, Reinstatement, & Charter $165,000 $41,250 44,120 $2,870 Interest 304,000 76,000 37,352 (38,648) Financial Corporation 1,109,269 277,317 149,635 (127,682) MDA/MDAC 1,400,000 254,500 254,500 0 Advertising 275,000 68,750 135,337 66,587 Other Income 35,000 8,750 1,365 (7,385) Balance From Prior Year 59,073 14,768 14,768 (0) Sub-Total General Non-PCT Revenue (Non- allocated) $3,347,342 $741,336 $637,077 $(104,259) Indirect Administrative Overhead 555,281 138,820 220,000 81,180 Personnel Reimbursement 788,577 197,144 114,565 (82,580) Sub-Total Grants/Cooperative Agreements/Contracts (Non-allocated) $1,343,858 $335,965 $334,565 $( 1,400 ) FIREPAC Revenue Allocated 287,050 0 0 0 Legislative Conference Registration (note 1) 346,500 0 0 0 ALTS Conference Registration (note 1) 678,750 0 100 100 Conference/Event Direct Non-PCT Allocated 1,368,000 342,000 328,727 (13,273) Grant Direct Non-PCT Revenue Allocated 2,247,599 561,900 476,495 (85,405) HAZMAT Grants 6,474,992 1,618,748 1,091,420 (527,328) Misc Direct Non-PCT Revenue Allocated 3,314,388 828,597 632,173 (196,424) Sub-Total Grants/Coop Agreements/Contracts (Allocated Non-PCT $14,717,279 $3,351,245 $2,528,916 $ (822,329)
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revenue)
ANNUAL BUDGET
YEAR TO DATE BUDGET ACTUAL VARIANCE
PER CAPITA TAX Total Per Capita Tax $44,623,440 $11,155,860 $11,252,626 $96,766 Less Restricted PCT (FIREPAC, EDF, REDMOND) (7,912,680) (1,978,170) (2,050,240) (72,070) General Per Capita Tax 36,710,760 9,177,690 9,202,385 24,695 Less PCT Allocated by Prior Board Approval 0 0 0 0 General Per Capita Tax - Adjusted $36,710,760 $9,177,690 $9,202,385 $24,695 Note 1: Event is scheduled subsequent to this reporting date. Note 2: Grant revenue is not earned evenly throughout the fiscal year. Majority of funds are earned later in the grant cycle. Motion was made to accept the September and December 2015, Income Status Reports. Motion was Seconded and adopted unanimously.
Financial and Membership Reports The following reports were presented to the Executive Board members for their review: Department Reports, Membership Report, District Budget, Grant Status Report, Technical Assistance Report, and New Local Report. Motion was made by General Secretary-Treasurer Miller that these reports be accepted. Motion was Seconded and adopted unanimously.
Technical Assistance and First Contract Policies The following are the expenditures from August 1, 2015 through January 16, 2016:
Local# City/State Amount Approved
to Date Outstanding Commitment
Consultant services for presentation/testimony with interest arbitration. 0206 Shawnee, OK $3,500.00 Apr-10 $0.00 $0.00 $3,500.00 2173 Sand Springs, OK $3,500.00 Apr-10 $356.00 $356.00 $3,144.00 0194 Sapulpa, OK $3,500.00 Aug-11 $1,196.00 $1,196.00 $2,304.00 986 Skiatook, OK $3,500.00 Apr-10 $0.00 $0.00 $3,500.00 2041 Chickasha, OK $3,500.00 Aug-11 $0.00 $0.00 $3,500.00 2067 Norman, OK $3,500.00 Aug-10 $0.00 $0.00 $3,500.00 2581 Seminole, OK $3,500.00 Apr-10 $0.00 $0.00 $3,500.00 3199 Hugo, OK $3,500.00 Jun-10 $0.00 $0.00 $3,500.00 3483 Coweta, OK $ ,500.00 Jul-10 $3,500.00
1431-B Medford Officers (Medford, OR) (5) $3,500.00 Apr-11 $0.00 $0.00 $3,500.00
Financial assistance with first contract. 0851 Eugene, OR (Lane PFFA) $3,500.00 May-11 $0.00 $0.00 $3,500.00
1660 Lake Oswego, OR (Banks Firefighters) (3) $3,500.00 Mar-11 $3,335.00 $0.00 $165.00
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2045 Greater Hanover PFFA (Hanover, PA) $3,500.00 Oct-11 $3,500.00 $3,500.00 $0.00
2921 PFF of Lebanon, MO (St. Roberts) (2) $3,500.00 Dec-10 $0.00 $0.00 $3,500.00
4104 Portsmouth, NH (Newington) (1) $3,500.00 Sep-10 $0.00 $0.00 $3,500.00 4619 Oregon Coast Fire Rescue (4) $3,500.00 Apr-11 $0.00 $0.00 $3,500.00 4881 Wheat Ridge, CO $3,500.00 Dec-11 $3,500.00 $3,500.00 $0.00 4952 Morton, IL $3,500.00 Jan-11 $0.00 $1,080.00 $2,420.00 4956 Hamilton County EMS Assoc (NE) $3,500.00 Aug-11 $0.00 $0.00 $3,500.00
4963 Wernersville, PA (Western Berks PFF) $3,500.00 Mar-11 $0.00 $2,793.00 $707.00
5004 Emmaus, PA $3,500.00 Aug-11 $1,566.00 $1,566.00 $1,934.00 5011 Lincoln, IL $3,500.00 Jan-11 $2,955.00 $2,955.00 $545.00
5022 Drexel Hill, PA (Upper Darby Para Assoc) $3,500.00 Nov-11 $3,500.00 $3,500.00 $0.00
5023 Macomb, IL $3,500.00 Jan-11 $506.00 $3,119.00 $381.00 5056 Northport, MI (Leelanau FF) $3,500.00 Apr-11 $0.00 $0.00 $3,500.00
1431-B Medford Officers (Medford, OR) (5) $3,500.00 Apr-11 $0.00 $0.00 $3,500.00
(1) Per request of Local President via DFSR Lang local is still in negotiations. Request case to remain open. (2) St. Roberts, new unit under umbrella of PFF of Lebanon, MO. (3) Banks Firefighters, new unit under umbrella of Tualatin Valley Fire Fighters Union, Lake Oswego, OR. (4) New unit under umbrella of Local 4619-Newport, OR. (5) New unit under umbrella of Local 1431-Medford, Oregon. Local requested both First Contract Only assistance and Technical Assistance.
New Locals The following is a list of new locals organized since the last meeting: District Local # Name Members Charter date
1 3951 North Hudson Fire Officers, NJ 94 11/2/2015 2 2671 Moberly Fire Fighters, MO 22 12/1/2015 4 5083 Isle of Wight Prof. Fire Fighters and Medics, VA 17 12/1/2015 7 5072 Cascade Prof. Fire Fighters, ID 5 11/1/2015 7 5085 Okanogan County Fire Fighters, WA 3 1/5/2016 8 355 Highland Park Fire Fighters Union, MI 9 9/9/2015 8 5036 Warrenville Prof. Fire Fighters, IL 6 9/16/2015 9 5073 Boulder City Prof. Fire Fighters Assoc. NV 15 11/2/2015 9 5077 North View Professional Fire Fighters, UT 7 11/2/2015 9 5080 Golden Prof. Fire Fighters, CO 5 12/1/2015 11 5068 Lampasas Prof. Fire Fighters Assoc., TX 5 12/1/2015 11 5069 Prof. Fire Fighters of Mt. Pleasant, TX 17 12/1/2015 11 5075 Tecumseh Prof. Fire Fighters, OK 3 12/3/2015 14 5071 Harahan Fire Fighters Association, LA 12 11/1/2015 14 5079 Alexander Fire Fighters Assoc., AR 9 12/1/2015 14 5081 Byram Prof. Fire Fighters Assoc., MS 13 12/1/2015
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16 New Locals with 242_ members
Royalties The IAFF received from the AFL-CIO, HSBC, and Union Privilege, for the credit card program a total of $177,540 since the September 2015 Board meeting. Pursuant to policy, these funds will be placed in the convention line to offset convention costs.
GENERAL COUNSEL’S REPORT The following is a brief summary of significant developments that have occurred in cases and matters being handled under the direction of IAFF General Counsel Tom Woodley.
Cases Under the International’s Guardian Policy Jennifer Stuhlman, et. al. v. City of University City, Missouri: A favorable settlement has been reached in this Guardian Policy case which provides full back pay with an additional amount of compensatory damages to five Local union activists who were suspended for 90 days in 2014 for political activity and campaigning on behalf of candidates endorsed by IAFF Local 2665 in local, municipal elections. In addition, Union members will be free to engage in legitimate political action in the future. In August 2013, a new state law was passed in Missouri that prohibited political subdivisions from preventing first responders from engaging in political activity while off duty and out of uniform. Prior to the law going into effect, University City followed an internal regulation which stated that employees could not engage in any political activities related to local elections and discipline for a first offense was termination. Following the passage of the new state law, the City failed to change its regulation and disciplinary rules to allow first responders to engage in political activities while off duty and out of uniform. Local 2665 supported four candidates in the April, 2014 municipal elections. Each of the four candidates was running against either an incumbent or a candidate supported by the incumbent majority. Prior to the election, six active Local members scheduled a photo shoot with candidates in front of a fire truck with the fire fighters who were wearing a variety of attire designed to make them recognizable as first responders. Some of the fire fighters were wearing turnout gear owned by University City. None of the fire fighters attire identified them as University City fire fighters. The truck was not a University City truck and was shown as belonging to a different community in the photo. The advertisements identified the source of the advertisement as the Local's political action committee. The six fire fighters featured in the ads were: Shop Steward Stuhlman, Assistant Steward Jeffrey Barlage, Shift Rep Nicholas Robben, Nicholas Werner, Lucas Andert, and Chris Jones. Stuhlman, Barlage, and Robben were the top three Local union representatives in University City at the time. The day before the election, the City Fire Chief told one of the fire fighters pictured in the ads that all six would be terminated by the end of the week for appearing in the ads. All four candidates supported by the Local were defeated in the election. The following day, the six fire fighters were told by human resources that the City would determine their discipline within two weeks.
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On April 24, 2014, five of the six fire fighters were called to a meeting with City Manager Lehman Walker. They received identical letters giving them all immediate 30-shift suspensions. All five were escorted from City property and were locked out of their City email accounts. Because the fire fighters work 24 hours on-duty followed by 48 hours off-duty, the suspension was for 90 days. The sixth fire fighter, was on light duty and later received the same discipline after returning to full duty. After the suspensions were issued one of the fire fighters, Chris Jones, got a higher paying job at another area fire department. The other five fire fighters, appealed the suspension to the City’s Civil Service Board. In June 2014, the Civil Service Board issued an excellent decision finding that the City did not have cause to suspend the fire fighters and that the suspensions violated the fire fighters’ First Amendment rights. The Board recommended that the suspensions be reversed and that the fire fighters receive full backpay. The Board’s ruling, however, was only advisory and the anti-union City Manager issued a decision shortly thereafter refusing to follow the Civil Service Board. Subsequently, IAFF General Counsel Tom Woodley initiated a lawsuit in federal court in St. Louis alleging that the City, the City Manager, and the Fire Chief violated the fire fighters’ free speech and free association rights under the U.S. and Missouri Constitutions. The parties engaged in extensive discovery, exchanging thousands of documents. All five plaintiffs were deposed, as were the City Manager, Fire Chief, and Mayor. Since the lawsuit was filed, four of the five plaintiffs have voluntarily left their employment with the City and accepted fire fighting jobs at other area fire departments. All remain active members of Local 2665. One plaintiff, Shop Steward Jennifer Stuhlman, remains employed by the City as a fire fighter. Favorable Settlement: A settlement was recently consummated in this hard-fought litigation, on very favorable terms. Although the parties attended court-ordered mediation in mid-October, the mediation was unsuccessful. In mid-November, the defendants filed a lengthy motion for summary judgment seeking to have the case dismissed. Just after General Counsel filed the union’s brief and other papers opposing the City’s motion, highlighting the wrongful behavior of the City’s officials and their clear targeting of the plaintiffs due to their political speech and associational activities, the City’s attorneys asked to re-engage in settlement negotiations. In the settlement, the City and its officials agreed to pay all the plaintiffs their full backpay for the 90 days they were suspended. Each plaintiff will also receive about $19,000 in additional compensatory damages for pain and suffering. Further, as noted, because of the tactics used by the City and its lawyers during the pendency of this case, this matter has been heavily litigated. However, the settlement provides that the City will pay $200,000 in recovered attorneys’ fees and expenses—approximately 95 percent of the fees and expenses incurred by the IAFF in this Guardian case. In addition, the City will remove references to the suspensions from all of the plaintiffs’ personnel files. In the future, Union members will be free to engage in legitimate political action. These plaintiff union members, and Local 2665, are grateful to the IAFF, and Vice President Mark Woolbright, for the support and representation provided in this case.
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David Seager v. City of Milwaukee, WI: This new Guardian Policy case concerned the failure to promote David Seager, the President of IAFF Local 215 (Milwaukee, WI), who has actively spoken out and acted on behalf of the Local. Officials of the City of Milwaukee have generated a long-time, strained relationship with Local 215 and President Seager. For example, contrary to the position of the City, Seager lobbied hard to remove Milwaukee’s residency requirements. In February 2013, at a public hearing on the state’s budget, which included the lifting of residency requirements, President Seager approached Milwaukee Mayor Barrett, who shook his hand. However, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff Patrick Curley stated “David, there are four people in this world that I hate, and you are one of them!” and turned away. In addition, Local 215 and President Seager have battled on numerous other issues, including the potential inclusion of police and fire unions in the anti-union legislation Act 10 (which unions had previously been carved out), the mayor’s control over the pension board, and insurance issues. The Local has been without a collective bargaining agreement since the previous agreement expired in December 2012. The parties remain in contentious negotiations, but Local 215 has held firm on its refusal to increase the work week of its members. Furthermore, the city has refused to participate in the grievance process. According to Fire and Police Commission rules, promotions within the City of Milwaukee Fire Department are made strictly based on an eligibility list and approval by the Finance and Personnel Committee. President Seager participated in the promotional process in 2013, placing at No. 20 on the Fire Captain list. On October 31, 2015, a battalion chief retired. The promotion of a Captain to this battalion chief position created a vacancy at the Fire Captain spot, and Seager was next on the list for that position. A meeting of the City’s Finance and Personnel Committee was scheduled for November 18, but no vacancy and promotional requests from the Fire Department were included on the agenda (although other City departments’ vacancy requests were addressed at that meeting). President Seager contacted Fire Chief Mark Rohlfing to ascertain what was happening, and Rohlfing informed him that he had properly submitted the promotional paperwork. Chief Rohlfing investigated and informed Seager that the City was holding the vacancy requests in order to review salary schedules within the fire department. This reason seemed specious, as the City Council passed the FY2016 budget in early November, which included no cuts to the Fire Department’s budget, and salaries in the Department have not changed in the previous three years. In response to President Seager’s comment that it appeared that he was being retaliated against as a result of his union activity, Chief Rohlfing stated “this is big boy politics.” The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution restrains a local government from retaliating against a public employee based on the employee’s speech or association (which includes union associational activities). In addition, pursuant to Wisconsin’s Municipal Employment Relations Act (MERA), municipal employees have the right of self-organization, and “to engage in lawful, concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” Wis. Stat. § 111.70(2). It is an unlawful prohibited practice for a municipal employer to: “encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization by discrimination in regard to hiring, tenure, or other terms or conditions of employment…” Failure to promote an employee because of his or her protected activity is unlawful under MERA.
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After this case was approved by General President Harold Schaitberger for Guardian Policy coverage, more information was uncovered, which provided further evidence of the City’s anti-union animus. On November 30, Fire Chief Mark Rohlfing was pulled into an emergency meeting with Mayor Tom Barrett, his Chief of Staff, the City’s Labor Negotiator, and the Fire and Police Commission’s Executive Director. At this meeting, the Mayor was angry with the Fire Chief for submitting President Seager’s name for a promotion. The Mayor stated that he had the authority to cancel the promotions, and it appeared to Chief Rohlfing that the City was attempting to fabricate a reason or cover story why Seager would not be promoted. However, the IAFF’s Guardian Policy approval gave President Seager the ability to credibly threaten certain legal action against the City and its officials if he was not promoted. With this negotiating tool, President Seager and the Local’s attorney worked with the City Attorney to counteract the Mayor’s discriminatory efforts and to move President Seager’s promotion forward before the list expired. On December 18, President Seager was sworn in as a Captain in the Milwaukee Fire Department. Thus, in this situation, the Guardian Policy was able to provide necessary assistance without requiring the filing of a lawsuit. Local 215 President Seager expressed his gratitude for the IAFF’s assistance and representation, and the support he received from the International and Vice President Tom Thornberg. This case is closed. Local 2201 and John Wallace v. Indian River County, Florida: This Arbitration case has been settled on terms that are very favorable to Local 2201 and the grievant, John Wallace. Wallace was an active Local representative, particularly with respect to health and safety issues affecting the membership. Because of his advocacy on these important issues, County and Fire Department officials were looking for a reason—any reason—to terminate him. On April 6, 2015, the County fired Wallace for allegedly failing to perform station maintenance during a shift nine months earlier. The facts showed that Wallace was terminated because of his union activities and without "just cause" in violation of the collective bargaining agreement. Wallace was employed as a fire-medic by the County for seven years. Prior to 2014, he had never been disciplined. In February 2013, Wallace formed a Health and Safety Committee for the Local. He was the head of the committee and he publicly spoke out on several safety issues including: inadequate training provided to department personnel, problems with the County's mask fit testing, nonexistent decontamination procedures, and infectious disease control problems. In May and July 2014, Wallace sent emails to the Florida State Fire Marshal's Office to notify the agency of health and safety concerns in the fire department. Issues raised by Wallace included: no clearly defined respiratory protection program; no plainly defined hearing protection program; no decontamination procedures; vehicles not being properly maintained; no significant injury protocol; stations in ill-repair; and outdated standard operating procedures. Shortly after he reported health and safety issues to the State Fire Marshal, the County denied a request from Wallace for workers' compensation due to an on-the-job injury. Around the time that he applied
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for workers' compensation benefits, a battalion chief told Wallace that he could find reasons to "write him up". In March 2015, representing Local 2201, Wallace spoke about health and safety issues in the department at a contract impasse hearing. On July 4, 2014, Wallace was working, assigned to the busiest unit in the department. After returning to the station from a call, Engineer Justin Forget (assigned to a less busy unit) asked Wallace to help mow the lawn at the station. Wallace responded that the employee should jump on the med unit and start running calls. This type of sarcastic banter is common at the stations. Wallace subsequently mowed the lawn with Forget. Later in July 2014, Engineer Forget was approached by a battalion chief who demanded a statement from him that Wallace had refused an assignment to mow the lawn at the station. Around the same time, a captain in the department told Wallace that the administration was planning on firing him over the July 4, 2014 incident. On January 27, 2015, there was a disciplinary hearing for Wallace regarding the July 4, 2014 mowing incident. On April 6, 2015 — nine months after the incident— the County terminated Wallace because he allegedly "failed, without valid justification, to participate in the station work of the day, lawn maintenance, on July 4, 2014." In the memorandum given to Wallace, the County cited provisions of the Department's regulations regarding insubordination, neglect of duty, and failure to meet work standards. The Local filed a contractual grievance asserting that Wallace was terminated without just cause and because of his union leadership activities on behalf of the members. Arbitration was invoked, and the hearing before the Arbitrator was scheduled in early December, 2015. One week before the hearing, the County and its attorneys apparently recognized that they were in a weak position on the merits; consequently, they indicated an interest in the settlement terms IAFF General Counsel had proposed months earlier on behalf of John Wallace and Local 2201. Favorable Settlement: A positive settlement was achieved on December 1, 2015. Specifically, Wallace received the sum of $43,000 which is 30 percent more than all of his lost wages and benefits. In addition, the County’s personnel records have been expunged with regard to any reference to his termination. After John Wallace was separated, he obtained two desirable teaching jobs: one at the Florida Eastern State College, and the second one at a vocational technical school. In both of these positions, he concentrates on instruction with respect to fire science, fire ops, etc. He preferred to keep these jobs, rather than be reinstated to his former position with the County. As a result, he chose to waive his right to reinstatement. Therefore, as part of the settlement, his termination has been converted to a voluntary resignation. In addition, if anyone should inquire about his employment with the County, it will provide only a neutral reference indicating solely his hiring date and voluntary resignation date. The County also agreed in the settlement to pay the Union’s one-half share of the Arbitration-related fees and expenses.
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John Wallace and Local 2201 expressed their gratitude to the IAFF and Vice President Larry Osborne for standing by them. This Guardian case is concluded. Village of North Riverside v. IAFF Local 2714: The Circuit Court in Illinois issued a favorable ruling by dismissing the Village’s lawsuit against IAFF Local 2714, in this Guardian Policy case, which involved the Village of North Riverside’s efforts to privatize the fire department and eliminate the Local. General President Schaitberger approved Guardian Policy coverage because of the potentially precedent-setting impact of the Mayor’s anti-union efforts to terminate its collective bargaining agreement with this Local and privatize the provision of fire services with a for-profit company. This Court ruling demonstrates that Illinois municipalities cannot unilaterally privatize their fire departments, contrary to the protective provisions outlined in the Illinois Labor Relations Act. On June 19, 2014, the Mayor of North Riverside announced that he intended to privatize the Fire Department by seeking a contract with Paramedic Services of Illinois, Inc. (PSI), a private company. The Mayor's alleged justification for the privatization was a budgetary deficit brought on by its failure to pay required pension contributions for the fire fighters' pensions for approximately five years. On September 12, 2014, the Village filed suit against IAFF Local 2714 in the Circuit Court of Cook County and requested that the Court issue a ruling stating that the Village is permitted by law to unilaterally privatize the department, effectively voiding the Local's labor agreement, and that it has taken the proper and necessary steps to do so. In addition to the suit filed by the Village, Local 2714 filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Illinois Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) asserting that the Village had negotiated in bad faith during the contract negotiations, and made a demand that the parties proceed to interest arbitration on the terms of the new contract. The Local opposed the Village’s lawsuit with representation and assistance authorized under the Guardian Policy. The Local also filed a counterclaim against the Village, arguing that the Illinois Constitution’s Pension Protection Clause prohibited the Village from privatizing the department for the sole purpose of reducing its pension costs. On October 15, 2015, based on a motion and brief prepared by the IAFF General Counsel, the Court determined that the Village’s claims should be dismissed with prejudice (meaning the Village cannot refile the suit) as it did not have jurisdiction over the case and because the Village failed to exhaust its administrative remedies. In essence, the Court determined that any issues regarding termination of the CBA and privatization of the fire department should be heard first before the Illinois PERB, and then, if necessary, appealed to the Court of Appeals (and not the Circuit Court). The Village has already filed its notice of appeal regarding the dismissal, despite warnings from the Circuit Court Judge that such an appeal is likely futile. At this stage, it appears that the Village has little or no chance of success on its appeal. This outcome of this court action is favorable for the Local, as it is unlikely that the interest arbitrator will reach the conclusion that the Village is permitted to unilaterally terminate its relationship with a longstanding bargaining unit and privatize the department. It is also likely that the state PERB will find that the Village acted in bad faith when "negotiating" with the Local. The purposes of the Guardian Policy have been fulfilled in this case as the court proceedings garnered coverage in the local press, and
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other local governments should be reluctant to attempt to break the union and privatize now that they have observed how difficult it will be to eliminate the fire fighters’ union and its labor contract. Local 181, Regina, SK: In this new Guardian case, Local 181 is pursuing grievances challenging the employer’s removal of shift trade privileges from five members of the Regina Local’s Executive Board because of their union activities. The Chief suspended the shift trade privileges of the Executive Board members for the sole reason that the quantum of shift trades for business has been, in the Chief’s view, excessive. There is no suggestion however, that the Executive Board members have been using shift trades for anything other than legitimate union business. Not only did the Local’s leaders lose the shift trading privilege for performing union business, those leaders also lost the right to engage in a shift trade for personal reasons (a right available to all other members of the bargaining unit) simply because the use of shift trades for union business has been high. As a result, they suffered discrimination in relation to their use of shift trade privileges for personal reasons for the sole reason that they have also used shift trades for union business. The Local can argue that a finding of "abuse" by the Chief requires an analysis of the reason for the shift- trade, not simply the quantity of shift trades. If the reason for the use is legitimate, it cannot be abusive. In this case, the reason for the use by all of the Executive Board members was legitimate. Past practice can also be relied on to assist in winning this grievance on its merits. The employer has always known that the Local’s leaders used shift trades for Local business. Since the employer has never objected, the past practice can be relied on as evidence that the parties did not contemplate that use of shift trades for legitimate Local business could be deemed abusive. Alternatively, the Local can argue that the employer is estopped as a result of past practice from relying on the strict language of the labor agreement. Local 498, Kingston, Ontario: The new Guardian Policy case involved the discriminatory decision of the City of Kingston to not allow IAFF Vice President Fred LeBlanc access to the Early Retirement Incentive Plan, claiming he is ineligible by age. The evidence indicated that this decision by the City is a reprisal for DVP LeBlanc’s union activities. DVP LeBlanc has been a long-time member of the Kingston Professional Firefighters’ Association, Local 498, including holding the position of President for many years. In his role as a union representative, DVP LeBlanc has had a long history of hard-fought issues with his employer, the City of Kingston. Most recently, he has sought to ensure that the employer take reasonable steps to accommodate his disability. The entitlement to an Early Retirement Incentive is addressed in Appendix B to the collective agreement, which requires only that members be within four months of qualifying for an unreduced pension under the OMERS [provincial pension plan] Regulations. DVP LeBlanc satisfied this requirement. There is no mention of a minimum age requirement. Past practice also supported this interpretation. DVP LeBlanc signed Minutes of Settlement with the employer on August 3, 2013 which confirmed the parties’ understanding that he would be eligible to receive an Early Retirement Incentive in 2016, despite his not reaching age 55 by that time. Apart from the language of Appendix B to the labor
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agreement, the City must comply with the Minutes of Settlement entered into, which were also signed by the Local. A grievance was filed by the Local. At stage two of the grievance process, the City Commissioner granted the grievance clearing the way for DVP LeBlanc to receive the Early Retirement Incentive. As a result, this matter is closed. Tim McDermott, et al v. Worley Fire District, et al., Idaho: A favorable settlement was recently reached in this case. The Worley Fire District (“District”) in Idaho terminated the President of Local 5005, Tim McDermott, by eliminating his position during the parties’ negotiations of the Local’s first contract. The District failed to offer the Local any opportunity to negotiate over its “restructuring” and subsequently engaged in regressive bargaining tactics by refusing to finalize and implement the contract it had tentatively agreed to with the Local’s bargaining team. After Local 5005 was organized, it began the process of negotiating its first contract with the District. Tim McDermott was elected as the Local’s first president, a role he continues to serve in today. Prior to his termination, McDermott was the District’s Division Chief for Education/Public Information which essentially was a front-line shift officer. On November 11, 2014, McDermott attended a meeting with the District Board and the Chief with the understanding that the parties were going to finalize the tentative agreement the parties had reached on their first collective bargaining agreement. At that meeting, however, the Chief read McDermott a letter notifying him that his employment with the District was terminated. McDermott later received a letter dated November 19, 2014, informing him that the Board had unanimously voted on November 7, 2014, to restructure the District and eliminate the Division Chief for Education/Public Information position. This elimination was purported to be necessary to allow the District to hire a Division Chief/Medical Services Officer as well as two additional fire fighter/EMTs. The letter did not offer McDermott the opportunity to assume any of the newly planned positions. The Local was not provided any advance notice of the District’s restructuring plans, and was not given the opportunity to bargain over the impact and effect of the District’s decision. At the time of McDermott’s termination, the parties had tentatively agreed to each of the proposed articles in the parties’ initial contract. Following McDermott’s termination, the District’s attorney took the position that no tentative agreement existed and that there continued to be substantial differences in the parties’ proposals. Additionally, the District took unilateral action altering employee schedules and mandating overtime without any opportunity for the Local to bargain over the effects or procedures that would be used in mandating overtime. Notably, following the filing of the lawsuit, the District decided to engage in further negotiations. As a result of the resumed negotiations, the Local and District reached a final contract which provided greater benefits to the Local’s members, particularly in the area of pay, than had been previously provided in the tentative agreement that had been reached prior to McDermott’s termination. In the court action, the parties engaged in extensive discovery submitting both written requests and taking the depositions of multiple potential witnesses. While discovery strengthened the position on the bad faith bargaining claim, the deposition testimony of potential witnesses did not provide significant additional support for the claim that McDermott’s termination was based on anti-union animus.
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The parties participated in mediation on January 18, 2016. The experienced mediator provided helpful insight into how receptive juries in the area are to the type of claims to be presented at trial. He made clear that it is a very anti-union demographic in this area of Idaho and that most families had very modest incomes and would not necessarily be inclined to award a large payday to a plaintiff. While the mediation proved to be difficult, it was ultimately successful, to the satisfaction of Tim McDermott and the Local. The settlement terms include the following: (1) a monetary payment by the District in the sum of $75,000 (including $39,000 in back pay to McDermott, and $36,000 in attorney fees to the IAFF); (2) granting McDermott the ability to re-test for a different position as the District actually followed through with its restructure and has eliminated the Division Chief position entirely; (3) granting McDermott a clean personnel file; (4) providing McDermott a neutral reference if asked; and (5) submitting the settlement agreement for court approval. Based on the facts that came to light through discovery, the monetary relief obtained in this settlement was positive for both McDermott and the IAFF. By obtaining $39,000, McDermott will recover what equates to a full back-pay award. In recovering $36,000 in fees, the IAFF will be reimbursed in an amount that is about a 50% recovery of the fees expended in this case. Furthermore, as noted above, following the filing of this court action, the District decided to return to contract negotiations which produced a final collective bargaining agreement that contained better terms than the earlier tentative agreement reached before the District walked away from the negotiating process. Aaron Ditter v. City of Hays, KS: This Guardian Policy case is being pursued on behalf of former Kansas State Council of Fire Fighters Vice President Aaron Ditter, who was forced by the City of Hays, Kansas to step down from his position with the state association because he is a captain in its fire Department. Aaron Ditter was one of four Vice Presidents for the Kansas State Council of Fire Fighters (“KSCFF”). Fire fighters below the rank of captain in the Hays Fire Department are represented by Local 2119; as a captain, Ditter is not a member the bargaining unit represented by Local 2119. In January 2014, the Fire Chief and Assistant City Manager informed Ditter that unless he resigned his position and ended his involvement with the KSCFF, he would face demotion and potentially other discipline. The Fire Chief stated that his union position with the KSCFF created a conflict of interest with his supervisory duties as captain. In response to the threat of demotion and additional discipline, Ditter resigned his leadership position with the KSCFF. He remains a captain in the Hays Fire Department. In March 2014, local counsel for the KSCFF sent a letter to the Hays City Attorney, informing the city that the KSCFF is a separate and autonomous legal entity from Local 2119, and that Ditter’s First Amendment rights were being violated. The First Amendment protects the right of a citizen to associate with other citizens for any lawful purpose free from government interference. Using a balancing-of-interests test, federal courts have previously held that the interests of a public employer outweigh those of supervisors who wish to belong to the same local union as rank and file fire fighters. However, here, Captain Ditter was not threatened due to his membership or participation in Local 2119, which is the local union that represents the rank and file fire fighters of the Hays Fire Department. Instead, Ditter was an officer in the KSCFF, a separate and autonomous organization from both the IAFF and Local 2119.
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This federal court action was instituted on behalf of Aaron Ditter and the Kansas State Council of Fire Fighters on May 22, 2015. Monarch Fire Protection District v. Professional Fire Fighters of Eastern Missouri, IAFF Local 2665, Missouri: IAFF Local 2665 is being represented and defended in this suit brought by the Monarch Fire Protection District to break the union. The primary issue in this case involves the ongoing validity of the evergreen clause in Local 2665's labor agreement—a precedent-setting issue because many agreements in the state contain the same evergreen clause. The entire contract, including the evergreen provision, was agreed to by the earlier members of the District's Board and adopted as a District ordinance. Since the parties reached an agreement on the current contract, the composition of the Board has changed and now the majority (with a Tea Party Chairman) is openly anti-union. The parties began negotiations on a successor contract, and after multiple negotiation sessions, it became apparent that the new Board was intent on effectively eliminating the role of the union by denying Local 2665 a successor agreement. In addition to its stance in negotiations, the District Board instituted this suit in state court seeking a ruling that the evergreen provision in the parties’ existing contract is void and unenforceable as against public policy. As written, the portion of the evergreen clause at issue states: “This Agreement shall remain in effect during the good faith negotiations and shall continue to remain in full force and effect until such time as a new Agreement is agreed upon.” Although the Missouri courts have not previously ruled on the validity and negotiability of evergreen clauses in labor agreements, the District relied heavily on certain decisions of other courts and the Federal Labor Relations Authority (the federal agency that governs labor-management issues in the federal sector) to support its argument that contracts of indefinite duration, without the parties having the opportunity to terminate the agreement, are considered invalid and unenforceable. However, IAFF General Counsel has asserted in this case that Missouri law provides that a fire district Board is a perpetual entity whose obligations do not change because its members have changed. Such Boards have been granted the power under state law to enter into contracts. The Monarch Fire Protection Board knowingly entered into a contract with Local 2665 that included an evergreen provision. Simply put, because the Board’s composition changed from pro-union to anti-union is not cause to allow the Board to ignore its contractual obligations. On July 31, 2014, the Circuit Court of St. Louis County issued a favorable decision denying the District's motion for summary judgment. If the Fire District had prevailed, it would have enabled the District to refuse to enter into a new agreement and undermined the representative status of Local 2665. It was feared that an adverse court decision would snowball elsewhere, severely undercutting Local 2665 and other affiliates in representing IAFF members. After the Court denied the District's motion for summary judgment, finding that the collective bargaining agreement did not contain an unlawful "evergreen" clause, the parties engaged in discovery with both sides having taken numerous depositions and exchanged hundreds of pages of documents. All three Fire Board members were deposed, as well as the former Fire Chief, and the Board has deposed four of the lead union negotiators. The Court scheduled an evidentiary hearing on the question of whether either of the parties negotiated in "bad faith", thus permitting the District to terminate the evergreen clause and the existing contract.
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The hearing was postponed pending the resolution of numerous discovery disputes, which are ongoing. In the interim, the parties participated in mediation as to a new collective bargaining agreement with the Judge acting as the mediator. Unfortunately, the Board would not agree to anything even remotely acceptable. However, following that session the parties have been in negotiations about how to move forward and appear to be close to coming to an agreement on a proposal to put before the Court. Under the proposal, the Union filed what is essentially a motion to dismiss, asking the Court to issue a final decision finding that the current labor agreement is enforceable and continuing (given that neither party has acted in bad faith). The Trial court issued its favorable decision in late October 2015, finding that the contract between the parties did not contain an unlawful evergreen clause and was not void. The Fire District filed its notice of appeal. The appellate court should set a briefing schedule in January of 2016, with briefing expected to take approximately three months. Local 3249, Camden County, NJ: This recently approved Guardian case involves the Local’s claim that the private employer, Gloucester Township EMS Alliance, terminated Walt Woodard, Randy Ballinger, Paul Loudner, Chris Smith, Virginia Welcome and Ryan Meehl because of their union activities in violation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The applicable process is filing an Unfair Labor Practice (“ULP”) charge with the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”). In October 2014, the NLRB held an election to determine if Local 3249 would be selected as the employees bargaining representative. Eligible voters included the EMTs, Lieutenants, and Captains, per the joint stipulation between management and the union. On November 5, 2014, the NLRB announced that the eligible workers had voted against unionization by a margin of 2 votes. Local 3249 challenged these results and filed an ULP charge against Alliance for intimidating employees in exercising their rights under the NLRA, as well as for the retaliatory terminations of two EMTs. Other ULP charges were also filed as a result of the NLRB’s investigation. In addition, the NLRB's Regional office determined that the election process was tainted by the employer’s unlawful actions, and it directed the holding of a second election. The Alliance’s management then began making threats against Lieutenant Chris Smith and others that they would face reprisals – including demotion and/or dismissal – if the workers voted for unionization. Specifically, management stated that the employer "...would have to get rid of the supervisors if the union was voted in." This threat was repeated on multiple occasions before the election. Management also stated that, because the Lieutenants and Captains could not lawfully be included in the bargaining unit, they would be demoted and replaced by non-union supervisors—despite the fact that the Alliance had agreed to a bargaining unit which included the Lieutenants and Captains. Notwithstanding the threatening atmosphere created by the employer, in that second election, the employees voted in favor of representation by Local 3249. The NLRA provides that it shall be an unfair labor practice for an employer “by discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization.” 29 USCA § 158. It is settled law that demoting or terminating employees for union activities is an unfair labor practice, even if the employer can conjure up a reason
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for the adverse actions. The NLRB’s Regional office is investigating the ULP charges, including the termination of the six union members. Local 527, Sudbury, Ontario: This new Guardian matter will challenge a disciplinary suspension imposed on Rob Hyndman, President of Local 527, the Sudbury Professional Fire Fighters Association. President Hyndman has had an acrimonious relationship with the employer based on his representation of the Local and its members, including: (i) advocating in the media against the elimination of a Public Educator’s position; (ii) initiating a bad faith bargaining complaint in relation to the removal of the rescue truck; and (iii) using social media exchanges with CLAC representatives with respect to an article in the Washington Post extolling the virtues of volunteer fire fighters (the IAFF has declared CLAC a Rival Organization representing local volunteer fire fighters). The Chief told Hyndman the employer had seriously discussed dismissing him due to his union activities as set out above. Recently, President Hyndman was issued a disciplinary suspension allegedly because he harassed a new recruit. Because the discipline imposed was a reprisal for union activities, grievances have been filed. Chris Frazier v. City of Kokomo, Indiana: This case was recently authorized for representation under the IAFF’s Guardian Policy. It concerns the suspension of Chris Frazier, the president of IAFF Local 396 (Kokomo, IN), who wrote a letter to the editor regarding numerous public safety issues in the run up to the town’s mayoral election. Local 396 has had a contentious relationship with Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight, including a history of layoffs and difficult contract negotiations. As a result of this strained relationship, there have been several attempts to discipline President Frazier for alleged violations of the social media policy, none of which have been justified or implemented. Mayor Goodnight was up for re-election for his third term in November 2015. A week before the election, President Frazier submitted a letter to the editor to both local newspapers, on behalf of his membership, regarding public safety issues in the fire department. He also posted the same letter on Local 396’s Facebook page. The letter was published in the Kokomo Tribune on November 1, 2015. Chris Frazier’s letter identified himself as the President of Local 396 and stated that it was a fire fighter’s view of public safety in the City of Kokomo. The letter explained that its purpose was to “educate the public prior to the November election of what has happened to the Kokomo Fire Department during the Goodnight administration,” noting that “public safety is not a priority with this administration.” In the letter, President Frazier listed eight public safety concerns:
− The reduction in total staffing of the Fire Department – Goodnight’s administration laid off 16 fire fighters and the total staffing has dropped from 121 to 94 during his time in office;
− The elimination of two ambulances which provided basic life support; − A ladder truck owned by the City is currently unstaffed; − A rescue apparatus (Rescue 2) has been removed from service, which affects the response time
for the other rescue apparatus (Frazier stated that this was to reduce overtime call-ins); − A tanker truck intended to provide service to an area without hydrants is taken out of service
when staffing levels are low; − The Fire Inspection division has been restructured, the result of which cut total inspection hours
in half;
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− The City’s plans to annex a certain area included hiring 15 new fire fighters and the addition of two new fire stations, which have not occurred; and
− Fire department administration is tasked with beautification issues rather than administering to the Department and the public.
Frazier concluded the letter with a paragraph detailing the contentious negotiating relationship between Local 396 and Mayor Goodnight. After the election was over and Mayor Goodnight was re-elected, on November 5, 2015, Fire Chief Nicholas Glover filed a professional standards complaint against President Frazier, accusing him of making false statements and disparaging the Kokomo Fire Department. He was also charged with violating the City’s social media policy, conduct unbecoming, and discussing Department business outside the Department. After a hearing before the Board of Chiefs (an investigatory panel of chief-level officers which can make recommendations regarding discipline), the Board determined that President Frazier had violated two of the Department’s rules: Article 3.01 (Conduct Unbecoming) and Article 3.18 (unauthorized discussion of Department business). The Board recommended that Frazier receive a written reprimand, corrective training, one day off, and the loss of promotion for one year. After consulting with the City’s corporation counsel to determine the harshest punishment available without an automatic right of appeal under Indiana law, Chief Glover issued a disciplinary memorandum finding President Frazier in violation of the same two regulations as the Board of Chiefs. However, Chief Glover increased the discipline to suspension without pay for five days (the highest penalty with no automatic right of appeal). President Frazier requested an appeal by the Board of Public Works (which has the discretion to hold a hearing for lesser discipline), which was denied on December 23, 2015. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution restrains a local government from retaliating against a public employee based on the employee’s free speech or associations. President Frazier’s discipline was a direct result of his letter to the editor expressing concerns about public safety. In the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal Circuit that encompasses Indiana, employees bringing First Amendment claims must show that their speech is related to a matter of public concern and that the employee’s interests, as well as the public interest, outweigh the local government’s interest in efficient operations of its services. In general, matters of public safety, such as the fire department staffing and equipment issues raised by President Frazier in his letter to the editor, are matters of public concern. The government’s interest in eff