Against our own best interests

While perusing social media this morning, I noticed today is the 25th anniversary of the organizing of Dolton's firefighters union.  So, first off, kudos to the brothers and sisters over there.  But, secondly, and of (hopefully) more relevance to many of the rest of you, it got me thinking again about our own Local 3234 union meeting last night.

As I was giving my regular spiel about what was happening politically; I recapped the events from the IAFF Legislative Conference last week in DC for starters, followed by a preview of the AFFI Legislative Conference next week in Springfield.  Quick photo detour from last week...

Anyway, as a part of my preview, I touched on pending legislation, both pro and con, that stands to affect our profession.

Off the top of my head, there are five bills that we, as a union, support.  They range from qualifications for a potential Fire Chief to logos on privately operated fire department vehicles to pension contributions for secondary employment.  None of these proposed bills have a fiscal impact on taxpayers yet each may make life, at least somewhat, better for our profession.

On the other side of the ledger there are no less than NINE bills we oppose.  These bills represent efforts by minions of our virulently anti-labor Governor C. Montgomery errr... I mean... Bruce Rauner.  And I can't describe to you how much it pains me to put his name in one of my quality productions.  But it needed to be done.

To the bills.  By taking a page out of Wisconsin's playbook, these bills attempt to weaken our profession by eliminating presumptive illnesses.  When compared to the general population we have a significantly higher statistical chance of contracting (multiple types of) cancer due to the chemicals we come in contact with fighting fires.  We have a significantly higher statistical chance of dying from heart disease or stroke due to the stresses of our job.  Those are just for starters.  Illinois was among the leaders in recognizing these risks and now are among 37 states the protect against heart disease and 32 states that protect against certain cancers among firefighters.  This bill removes all such protections.

So much for America's heroes.

Another two bills go after our pensions.  The money WE pay into our own pension funds so that we may (hopefully) retire with some security.  btw, statistically we tend to die about seven years after our retirement.  Seven.  Years.  That's not very long imho.

Another bill prevents payroll deduction for collecting dues, a very popular tactic to weaken organized labor and one that has no purpose other than that.

There's a bill that limits what we are allowed to bargain over.  To steal a line from The Princess Bride I don't think bargain means what you think it means.  Nothing happens until both sides say "yes" to it.  See, when we "bargain" a contract, there's no such thing as unilateral acceptance between the two sides.  They must "agree" on every issue or it doesn't work.  Perhaps you've heard of the phrase "give and take" or something similar.  It's what's known as "negotiating"  Look it up, sir.

I also (they've got to be tired of hearing me talk about this) restated my opinion that our members could make no better investment in their own future than to send money to our unions Political Action Committee to help facilitate the work our members to do for all of us.

Now, you may ask yourself "why do firefighters and paramedics need to worry about protecting their jobs?  I thought everyone liked them?"  My reply to you is to re-read the preceding few paragraphs.

Back to the meeting...  As always, when I finished, I wondered if I'd had any impact at all on our younger members.

I got the answer when we got back to the station.  My Lt. came up to me and told me Nate (you've been wondering if I was going to write about you, happy now?) mentioned to him that the things I'd spoken about "scared the shit out of him".

Nate, if you want to stay out of future posts, heed my advice and start working on your own future.  And if any of you other new guys (even if you're not from my local) are reading this; get up, get out, get on your feet, and get to work.  You have much to appreciate that was provided by the guys that came before you.  Repay that debt by continuing the effort to protect what you have.  Believe it or not there will be guys following you.  Lay solid foundations for them.  I promise you that time will come before you can possibly imagine now.  My 25 years has gone by in the blink of an eye.  Yours will too.  The work you do now will help to ensure you can retire one day too.

Lastly, remember, Democracy is not a spectator sport.  Be involved in your own future.