It'd be a lot cooler if you did

Seemed like as good an excuse as any to use both this picture and the line from "Dazed and Confused"

And, before you go into this one any further, I need to tell you this is a departure from my regular bill of fare.  One of the roles I play IRL is as a member of the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois' Labor Orientation Committee and, as such, I spend a fair amount of time trying to educate our members, young and old, about the history of our union in Illinois and how we got the things many of us take for granted today.  It's part of a larger effort to get our members more active in both their home locals as well as the state and international union.  

Since the committee was formed, by resolution at the 2012 state convention, we've met as a group several times and put on maybe a dozen or so presentations around the state.  I don't believe we've got any quantifiable evidence of any impact, but, anecdotally we've heard of increased activity, so I guess we're at least moving in the right direction.  

One of the things I've tried to impart on our younger guys, and it's a part of what we do in our presentations, is to point out the differences between the benefits our firehouse forefathers fought for and obtained versus those in states that don't have collective bargaining laws.  Those laws btw were obtained in Illinois after a thirty year (that's not a typo, it took 30 years from the time the language was first proposed till it was signed in to law) battle (and I'm not using that word loosely, those guys fought like hell to accomplish passing the law) to require our employers (read the municipalities that employ us) to bargain with us over things like wages, hours of work, work conditions, etc. while mandating that, if impasse is reached during negotiations, an impartial arbitrator will examine both sides of the argument and issue a binding resolution by which both sides, win or lose, must abide.  

This is huge.  And it's something many states don't allow and, in fact, is illegal in a couple states.  That fact in and of itself boggles my mind.  But I can illustrate the impact of that fact pretty easily.  I can take time off whenever the calendar allows it.  If there's an opening and I've got enough accrued time built up, I can take the day off.  I can be recalled to work only in the event of some unforeseen catastrophe like a "major" fire, civil unrest, natural disaster or the like.  In 24+ years at the Deeg, that's never happened.  

Like, ever.

But a few years ago, while traveling the country with a previously mentioned merry band of fellow firefighters from across the country, including one from one of the states that makes collective bargaining illegal, my friend got a phone call from his Chief telling him his vacation day was cancelled.  Apparently a coworker had gotten an on-the-job injury and would be unavailable for his next shift.  My friends' day was unilaterally taken away from him.  He was roughly 1100 miles form home at the time.  He was also expected to report to work the next day.  

You know, this is a bit of a detour, but it's a brief one and not terribly far off course.  After September 11th a lot of America celebrated my profession and all we (occasionally) must endure as part of the job.  It didn't last long.  It never does, really.  People, many of them anyway, love us only in the moments they need us.  After that, we become a burden on society and frequent target for the things that are wrong with our economy or whatever else the "hot" (no pun intended) topic may be.  And I wish I was making that up or even exaggerating it.  

I'm not.  

Anyway, back to the example.  After a few frantic phone calls, my friend was able to make a couple trades to finish out his time out of town.  His time out of town, btw, doing nice things for people he'd never met and would never see again.  Because it was (is) the right thing to do.  

So, yeah, we've got it pretty good in Illinois but it didn't get handed to us out of the generosity of our employers.  It took guys going to jail, literally.  It took strikes, strikes that those guys very creatively put together wherein they would respond to house fires in their personal vehicles, take the hose lines from the scabs on the scene, put out the fire and then drop the hose in the front yard and go back to the picket lines.  This Silver Spanner strategy allowed them to protect the lives and property of the people they swore to protect while still getting their points across about the unfair work conditions they faced.  

So, to those of you that have made it this far, specifically those of you on the job, take the time to talk to your elders.  Ask them about the struggles our profession went through back in the day.  Next time one of your retirees stops by the firehouse for coffee quiz him on how it was.  If you or your station has a copy of the "Fiery Struggle" read it.  Take the time to understand how the benefits you have, here in 2017, came into being.  Ponder the size of the cajones those guys ad, to do what they did and ask yourself if you could do the same thing today?  Knowing you yourself may not see the benefit, but those that follow you will.  

Lastly but not leastly, do you know what collective bargaining does for you?  

Cause it'd be a whole lot cooler if you did.

Peace