Local 215 Exec Board 2005

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="047fd5a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Sean Duffey's Place</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     H</B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sean Duffeys Place"><U><B>ome</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Resume"><U>My Resume</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Local 215 President 2006"><U>Local 215 President 2006</U></A>   |   <B>Local 215 Exec Board 2005</B>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Why Doyle 2006?"><U>Why Doyle 2006?</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Why Not Bush 2004?"><U>Why Not Bush 2004?</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marine Corps Marathon 2006"><U>Marine Corps Marathon 2006</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photos"><U>Photos</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="048d2b03.jpg"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Local 215 Exec Board 2005</I></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Local 215 Elections</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The members of Local 215 will be voting on December 12 & 13 (1pm to 9pm) for President, Treasurer, Guide, Guardian, Executive Board, and IAFF Convention Delegates.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I am running for election to the Executive Board, a position I held in 2002, 2003 and 2004.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I believe there are 4 areas on which Local 215 should focus in the years ahead:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>1)  Political Endorsements</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The IAFF supports candidates of both parties, as long as they support the interests and goals of union firefighters.  Local 215 should do the same -- supporting candidates who support our interests, and opposing candidates who oppose our interests -- regardless of their party labels.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I opposed our endorsement of President George W. Bush in 2004, as he had a long history of opposing the interests of union firefighters.  President Gracz urged that we endorse President Bush.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Since President Bush's re-election, our endorsement did gain President Gracz some national TV coverage and a ticket to the inauguration, but it cost Local 215 by putting more strains on our relationship with the IAFF, the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin, and other labor organizations, all of which would usually be allies in our recent fight against staffing cuts.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>This week, the 9/11 Commission issued its report card on how well the Bush administration has implemented its recommendations.</B><B>  T</B><B>he panel gave the government an "F" on homeland security spending for cities most at risk, and on improving radio communication for emergency agencies.  As explained by Lee Hamilton, former Congressman and Commission member,</B><B> "</B><B>It is approaching the scandalous, I think, that our first responders four years after 9/11 are not able to communicate with one another when they reach the scene of a disaster."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I also urged an endorsement for Governor Jim Doyle, but President Gracz urged that we make no endorsement.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Since Governor Doyle's election, he vetoed a law which would have allowed Milwaukee to privatize any service without negotiating the effect with its employee unions.  He also vetoed part of a state limit on city spending, which gave Milwaukee an additional $10 Million for its 2006 budget.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In the future, I believe that the only litmus test for Local 215's political endorsement should be whether the politician supports or opposes union firefighter interests.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>2)  Management Relations</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Not too long ago, one of our members was arrested for drug possession.  The Milwaukee City Attorney's office initially advised Chief Wentlandt that he could not fire the member for this crime, so the Chief told Local 215 that the member would not be fired.  The Milwaukee City Attorney's office then reconsidered its advice, and advised Chief Wentlandt that he could fire the member for this crime.  Chief Wentlandt then fired the member.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>President Gracz accused Chief Wentlandt of lying, and urged members to support a vote of "No Confidence" in the Chief.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Since this dispute arose between our Union and our Chief, relations between Local 215 and the MFD Administration have been strained.  During this period, the MFD Administration imposed some unfavorable policies concerning Captain's training, Comp Time use, and Computer use.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Better communications between Local 215 and MFD Administration may not completely eliminate policies we oppose, but it would certainly help us work with management to arrive at reasonable policies to address new concerns.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In the future, I believe we should work with MFD Administration toward reasonable policies, instead of burning bridges with accusations, name-calling and "No Confidence" votes.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>3)  Political Action at State Level</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>President Gracz has said twice from the Union Hall podium that he has no idea why Mayor Barrett proposed the recent staffing cuts.  If one simply reads the Mayor's budget document, however, the reason is very clear.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Where his budget discusses the reduction of 36 firefighters, it lists the reason as follows:  "Budget reductions to meet state levy limits..."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>If you follow state political news, you already know that the leadership of the State Senate and Assembly want to impose strict limits on how much cities like Milwaukee can spend.  In fact, the legislature recently passed a measure which would have limited the increase in Milwaukee's 2006 budget to 2%.  Since paying police and firefighters costs Milwaukee 3% more each year, this would mean drastic cuts in our budgets and elsewhere.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Governor Doyle thought this limit was too brutal, so he used his veto to allow Milwaukee to increase its 2006 budget by 5% instead.  This gave the city an additional $10 Million to use in its 2006 budget, and meant less drastic cuts.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Since Local 215 chose not to endorse Governor Doyle, we can probably thank groups like the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin for convincing the Governor to protect city services.  In fact, Doyle defends his fiscal plan by pointing out that it "f</B><B>ully funds shared revenue for local governments to protect vital services like police and firefighters."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Doyle's position should be of great comfort to Local 215, as state shared revenue funds about one-half of Milwaukee's budget each year.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In contrast, Doyle's two main opponents in next year's gubernatorial race have both criticized Doyle's budget for allowing cities like Milwaukee to spend too much on services.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Mark Green has said…</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>“Wisconsin simply can't afford any more Jim Doyle budgets. I want to take our state in a different direction. I've pledged that as governor, I'll lower the tax burden in our state and each of my budgets will reduce Wisconsin's deficit or I won't run again.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Scott Walker has said…</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"Property taxes are going up faster than our ability to pay.  I challenge Governor Doyle to sign a real freeze. Not just make false promises that he knows aren't true to get a good photo op for his 2006 campaign ads."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Furthermore, when he was a State Legislator himself, Scott Walker sponsored a bill which would have completely eliminated state shared revenue to cities like Milwaukee.  Unless Scott Walker is a flip-flopper, we can expect him to continue his attack on shared revenue if he becomes Governor.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In light of these very different viewpoints, it seems clear that Governor Doyle is a union firefighter's only friend in Madison these days.  And yet, who was sitting at the head table at Local 215's Installation of Officers last January?  Scott Walker.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>When I asked President Gracz at two successive union meetings to rule out endorsing Green or Walker against Doyle, he refused to rule it out.  This worries me.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I also pointed out to President Gracz over a year ago that Local 215 has no registered lobbyist in Madison, despite the fact that the City of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Police Association, the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin, and Professional Ambulance Association of Wisconsin all have registered lobbyists.  President Gracz has still not registered himself or anyone else to lobby on Local 215's behalf.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Since it is illegal for anyone to have more than 5 contacts with State Government on behalf of an organization during any 6 month period, and since I assume President Gracz has not been breaking the law, then I have to conclude that President Gracz has not had more than 20 contacts with State Government officials during his current two-year term.  This also worries me.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In the future, I believe it will be vitally important for Local 215 to become more politically active on the State level.  We must endorse candidates who will protect shared revenue, and who will oppose brutal spending limits on cities like Milwaukee.  We must also stop depending upon the PFFW to fight our battles for us, and register our own lobbyist so we can effectively and legally communicate our concerns to State Government officials.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>4)  Repair Our Relationships With the IAFF and the PFFW</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The thing that outsiders admire most about firefighters is that they stick together, and look out for each other's safety and well-being.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>But, instead of standing together with other firefighter organizations, Local 215 has turned its back on the biggest firefighter organizations in the USA, and in the State of Wisconsin.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The IAFF:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>From the time I began attending meetings, the only thing I ever heard about Local 215 at the Union Hall was President Gracz saying "We send $100,000 to the IAFF every year, and get nothing back."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In a way, this is true.  The IAFF stands ready to assist its locals with political action, safety concerns, staffing cuts, or anything else that threatens the health, safety or jobs of its members.  All the local President has to do is ask.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>When firefighters' locals in Detroit , Atlanta and Pittsburgh were threatened with pay and staffing cuts, the IAFF gave them political and legal assistance.  The IAFF General President even stood with the Detroit firefighters as they staged a protest rally.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>So why didn't the IAFF help us with our recent staffing cuts?  Because our local President didn't ask.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>And why didn't our President ask?  You'll have to ask him...</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The PFFW:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>When I joined the Executive Board, I asked President Gracz why Local 215 didn't have any relationship with the State firefighters' organization - the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>President Gracz showed me a fundraising letter that the PFFW apparently sent to Milwaukee residents about a decade ago, and claimed that this was the reason we have nothing to do with the PFFW today.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>This didn't exactly make sense to me at the time.  I mean, we're all grown-ups, and this fundraising letter should have caused a few weeks or maybe months of hard feelings at the most.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Since then, I've heard a different explanation.  This one tied the split between our organizations to a personal dispute which arose between President Gracz and PFFW President Rick Gale during President Gracz's campaign for Mayor of Milwaukee.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>This seemed to make much more sense to me.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>But, whatever the reason, we should have a closer relationship with the PFFW.  We won't agree on everything but, especially in the important area of State-level political action, the PFFW is miles ahead of us.  They were one of the major labor groups supporting Governor Doyle, and he has earned that support by supporting the interests of union firefighters.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Bell Ambulance:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>When I walked into the Union Hall for my first Executive Board meeting, President Gracz personally greeted me and said we would sit down together soon for a talk.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>It so happened that an issue on the agenda of one of my first meetings was a dispute which had arisen between Bell Ambulance and the City of Milwaukee.  Bell Ambulance was claiming that the City was transporting too many BLS patients in its Fire Squads, and claimed this was a violation of the Ambulance Agreement.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>To my surprise, President Gracz urged that we take Bell's side in this dispute.  He claimed this was because contract rights are important to unions and, if we allowed the City to violate its contract with Bell, it might be violating our contract next.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>By that time, I had noticed the many events and programs which Local 215 jointly sponsored with Bell Ambulance.  I also was aware that President Gracz has a personal friendship with Jim Lombardo, a representative of Bell Ambulance.  So I asked President Gracz whether our close relationship with Bell Ambulance had something to do with his recommendation that we side with Bell in this dispute.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>President Gracz said the one thing had nothing to do with the other.  That was one of the few things he said to me during my first year on the Executive Board.  We never had that talk he promised, and he never appointed me to any committees.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>During my third year on the Executive Board, I attended a joint labor-management committee meeting to discuss the possibility of the MFD getting involved in BLS transports.  At that meeting, an MFD Administration representative confirmed that the MFD was ready to buy several BLS ambulances over 5 years ago, and to staff them with Local 215 members.  This plan was stopped when President Gracz said that firefighters shouldn't be driving ambulances.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>If we had allowed the MFD to purchase even 10 modular units, that would have meant 60 additional Local 215 members.  This would have almost balanced out the three rounds of staffing cuts on President Gracz's watch.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>More recently, President Gracz has stated from the Union Hall podium that Bell Ambulance does not want to take any ALS transport business away from the MFD and Local 215 members.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>But, at a recent meeting of the Milwaukee Common Council task force on BLS transport, a representative of Bell Ambulance said that his company was indeed interested in taking over some of the ALS transport services now performed by the MFD and Local 215 members, and that he believes that Bell Ambulance can provide this service more cheaply.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Bottom Line:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In my humble opinion, if we have to choose whether to have a closer relationship with an organization of fellow firefighters, or with a private non-union company which has stated that it wouldn't mind taking some work away from Local 215 members, I would stand with my fellow firefighters....</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>