An Open Letter to the Membership of Local 1314 -- Fall River Fire Talk Boards

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Date Posted: 15:23:42 11/17/02 Sun
Author: FALLON
Subject: An Open Letter to the Membership of Local 1314

Why this election is so important�
CAN WE AFFORD ANOTHER 12 MONTHS?

Over the last 12 months we have seen many changes within our Local, our Fire Department, and our STAFFING LEVELS. Approximately one year ago, in a hotly contested election, the membership of Local 1314 opted for a change and elected a new group of officials to lead us through the ever changing landscape of labor relations. In a spirit of cooperation, our newly elected officials decided to try and �get along� with management and the administration.

In doing so they entered into a catastrophic agreement with management to temporarily cut staffing from 41 down to 39 members per shift. In addition, they also agreed not to challenge the depletion of fire fighter jobs publicly due to the �THREAT� that they would be lost permanently. They actively participated in a plan to run the same number of apparatus with less staffing by allowing the Tower Unit to run understaffed and the Heavy Rescue Unit understaffed as �one crew� setting a scary precedent for the membership of Local 1314.

Shortly thereafter it was determined that our staffing would not recover and the �threat� of dropping permanently from 41 personnel down to 39 personnel would become a reality. All of this happened for the first time in many years without a whisper in the newspapers except by President Camara who publicly condemned the drop in staffing despite the new �cooperative� spirit. Furthermore, our local was informed that we would be losing additional firefighters and our staffing would drop from 39 personnel down to 36.

We NOW began a campaign to notify the public of the safety hazards involved with the reduction in staffing levels throughout the city. We were down to 36 and a crew closure on a rotational basis. Flyers were developed with a �direct� message and despite some bickering and the controversial wording which flew in the face of �cooperation� it went forward.

We were now on the attack and the administration was on the defensive. We had laid down for long enough! Chief Dawson and Mayor Lambert were holding press conferences, speaking to the newspapers, mailing letters to the citizens of Fall River directly to spin their version of the cutbacks. Our campaign was working!

Approximately one week into our campaign the newspapers flashed about the looming city budget due to the loss of TIFF�s and the gap that the Mayor would have to make up fiscally. Not once was our Department mentioned in a manner that would lead us to believe more cutbacks were on the horizon. We had fought and made the Mayor listen! He would not approach Chief Dawson and require more cutbacks.

That is not the end�currently we are still experiencing the �get along� politics within our Union. Some of our leaders may not want to give up that attitude and fight for our safety and livelihood. The Lambert Administration is temporarily muffled on cutbacks, but in the near future they will try again�.this time an attempt to drop from 36 to 31. Can we afford another 12 months of this �get along� direction that has caused a rift within the membership of the Local and the current Executive Board and Chair Officers? Let�s elect union members who can standup to Management and the Administration when we most need to be heard. We�ve had twelve months of hard times in this department and this Local, lets not make it another 12.

By not fighting from the beginning some of our elected officials made the inexperienced mistake of bargaining away our jobs thereby causing our workload, health and safety hazards to increase. I urge each and every UNION MEMBER to ask each candidate for election if they were an advocate of support for this unprecedented agreement between management and the union.

At a time in our history when we needed TOUGH leadership for the future of this Local, we received a �let�s just get along� attitude that has set us back drastically. Can we really afford another 12 months of this leadership? It�s time to get back to the business of protecting our jobs, our safety, our benefits and our livelihood.

Fraternally,

Keith Fallon
Candidate for Secretary

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