Free Republic

Unions are supposed to protect the little guy, but we’ve allowed the bigwigs to start exploiting members for political interests, or for their own gain. With the announcement that the 20-year general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters will abruptly end his re-election bid, the organization’s reputation as a political force is in trouble. On Aug. 28, federal investigators served the IAFF a flurry of subpoenas, which the Wall Street Journal reports are part of a criminal probe focused on illicit payouts to Schaitberger from the firefighters’ pension fund. IAFF President Harold Schaitberger is, indeed, feeling the heat.The...

The Philadelphia Firefighters’ and Paramedics’ Union broke from the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and “proudly” endorsed President Trump for re-election, citing the overwhelming support for the president among members. “The Philadelphia Firefighters’ and Paramedics’ Union, Local 22 of the International Association of’ Fire Fighters proudly endorses President Trump for re-election,” the union announced on Tuesday, hours ahead of the first presidential debate. “The members of Local 22 respectfully break with the undemocratic IAFF endorsement of Joe Biden and pledge our full support to President Donald J. Trump,” President Mike Bresnan said in a statement, explaining that IAFF’s endorsement...

Joe Biden officially earned the endorsement of the firefighters union Monday, putting in his corner a powerful organizing force that stayed on the sidelines of the 2016 race. The executive board of the International Association of Firefighters met and voted to ratify its endorsement of the former vice president within hours of his formal entry into the race on Thursday. The union had warmly welcomed Biden to their annual Washington convention last month with signs of “Run, Joe, Run!” General President Harold Schaitberger made the endorsement official in an online video. “Joe’s a lot like our firefighters. He's a problem...

If you want to understand how badly Democrats lost the white working class in the 2016 election, your local fire station is not a bad place to start. Nearly 85 percent of professional firefighters are white, and more than 95 percent are men, making them look a lot like the other blue-collar voters who surged to Donald Trump this year. But firefighters are also heavily unionized, tend to live in cities or suburbs (rural areas often have volunteer fire companies) and are government employees — all factors generally associated with the Democratic Party. And all of those characteristics, along with...

The AFL-CIO needs to stick with representing workers and stop trying to take on social causes for the far left, said the union head for the International Association of Fire Fighters. Harold Schaitberger, who presides over the IAFF, said there is “great value” in aligning with political groups — but only as a secondary mission, he told The Hill. And the AFL-CIO’s recent push to bring in environmental groups and progressive-minded organizations to the union cause is leading the IAFF to express concerns about politics becoming the priority, over the representation of members. “To say that we are going to...

he AFL-CIO announced it has invested  more than $150 million in job-creating infrastructure projects and registered 8,000 more apprenticeships in clean energy training. During the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting in Chicago last June, the AFL-CIO outlined plans to work with member unions, pension funds, investment professionals and the government to invest at least $10 billion in job-creating infrastructure projects. The federation also committed to invest at least $20 million in specific energy retrofits over the next year, to retrofit our headquarters building, and to train tens of thousands of workers in the skills necessary to work on 21st century infrastructure.Here’s what has been...

On September 11, 2001, 2,977 people were killed by terrorists. The terrorists were indiscriminate in their slaughter of lives—while the attacks were an attack on America, the terrorists did not care whether those they killed were exclusively American or not, nor did they care whether or not the victims were carrying a union card. In New York, there were first responders killed on September 11th, 343 of them from the FDNY, many of them who happened to be members of a union, the IAFF. Yet, in Racine, Wisconsin, the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 321 has made this...

They will stop at nothing… The International Association of Firefighters is using tasteless images from the Oklahoma City Bombing to fight a state bill which changes how public safety labor unions and cities handle contract disputes. Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, March 24, 2011, 12:02 PM They will stop at nothing… The International Association of Firefighters is using tasteless images from the Oklahoma City Bombing to fight a state bill which changes how public safety labor unions and cities handle contract disputes. NewsOK reported: A state senator today blasted a firefighter union television advertisement as “horrific and tasteless” for...

Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 8:59 pm Biden, Fire fighters, and Mom-Mom From the Vice President's speech to the International Association of Fire Fighters at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington, DC: So I -- and I was in Philadelphia this morning.  I'm there a lot.  This morning my mom was operated on.  She's 92 years old, and God love her, she came through.  She broke her hip, and she came through the operation incredibly well.  I told her that -- (applause) -- those of you who've met my mom, you know she's fairly politically astute -- (laughter) -- and she still runs the...

Rudy Giuliani's plan to ride in a Miami-Dade firetruck in Sunday's Three Kings parade has outraged some firefighters who say the presidential candidate has ''lied'' about his 9/11 record because he did too little to equip and protect emergency workers. The controversy -- unwittingly set in motion by County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa -- has politically pitted firefighters against one another in Miami-Dade as well as in New York. To quiet the feud, the IAFF's local Miami-Dade chapter, 1403, will cover its numbers on the union-owned firetruck by draping it with an American flag. Giuliani's campaign said he will probably ride...

BOSTON — A Boston firefighter is mending from what could have been deadly stab wounds he suffered early yesterday morning when he was allegedly jumped in East Boston while off duty by a group of Hispanic males who told him they "don't want any gringo here." Though police are not classifying the incident as racially fueled, the Boston Police Department's Community Disorders Unit is investigating. The 32-year-old jake, whose name officials were not releasing, is white. Ironically, the firefighter's life was likely saved because he sought refuge from his alleged assailants at Engine 5 on Saratoga Street - the station...

A few words for those who care about American fire fighters, the fire fighter's union, fire fighter politics, and the Democrat Party. Career fire fighters are predominately conservative. The union leadership is predominately liberal. We are being misrepresented. Our money is pushing politics and politicians we don't believe in, and yes it's largely our own fault. The yellow signs stating fire fighter's for Kerry in the last election and fire fighter's for Dodd in this election stirs this fire fighter to provide you with some insight and some facts on this subject. International Association of Fire Fighters: Represents approximately 80%...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Democrat Chris Dodd has earned the backing of the International Association of Fire Fighters, a major coup for the presidential hopeful, while leading contender Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton secured the endorsement Tuesday of the United Transportation Union. The Dodd endorsement is the more surprising of the two, with the Connecticut senator lagging behind better-known rivals Clinton, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and John Edwards in the latest polls. The firefighters' executive board will officially vote and endorse Dodd on Wednesday. Dodd and the firefighters plan a three-state tour, visiting Iowa on Thursday, New Hampshire on Friday and Nevada...

Rudy Giuliani’s campaign is again under attack by The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) who last week released a video packed with claims against the presidential candidate. Urging citizens not to vote for Giuliani, IAFF purports to speak on behalf of some of 343 firefighters lost on 9/11 by featuring friends and family members in the video. Though IAFF says they are non-partisan, President Harold Schaitberger is a “longtime supporter of Kerry,” and the IAFF endorsed the Kerry campaign in 2004. Schaitberger introduces the video as “part of our ongoing political education process.” But it’s more than that. IAFF...

Possible GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson had two meetings on Rudolph Giuliani's home turf today. Thompson met with Michael Long, head of the state conservative party and with Steve Cassidy, president of the firefighters union. Yesterday, the International Association of Fire Fighters released a video, criticizing Giuliani's handling of 9/11. When asked about the controversy, the former Tennessee senator, a Republican, refused to weigh in and would not comment on Giuliani's record on 9/11. "I have the greatest respect for Steve and his organization and what they're doing,” said Thompson. “I've read about it but I don't have enough knowledge...

Possible GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson had two meetings on Rudolph Giuliani's home turf today. Thompson met with Michael Long, head of the state conservative party and with Steve Cassidy, president of the firefighters union. Yesterday, the International Association of Fire Fighters released a video, criticizing Giuliani's handling of 9/11. When asked about the controversy, the Tennessee Republican refused to weigh in and would not comment on Giuliani's record on 9/11. "I have the greatest respect for Steve and his organization and what they're doing,” said Thompson. “I've read about it but I don't have enough knowledge about it, and...

Ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani's campaign blasted back at the nation's largest firefighting union today, e-mailing reporters a quote from a firefighter who calls the IAFF's criticism of Giuliani "unfortunate" and "not surprising" for "union bosses." Here's the statement from Lee Ielpi, who served on Manhattan's Ladder 2. “It’s unfortunate but not surprising that the IAFF union bosses have once again taken the low road in a move clearly out of step with their membership. In 2008, I expect these same union bosses to endorse Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John Edwards, so today’s comments are just a first step in...

WASHINGTON — While he touts his leadership in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks as a key component of his 2008 presidential bid, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is facing bitter opposition from the union representing the 343 firefighters who died that day. FOX News has obtained a scathing letter prepared by the influential and politically active International Association of Fire Fighters union, written late last month but never released.

The Fire Fighter Union Movement and the Volunteer Fire Service (NOTE: This week's column is written by a career firefighter from Austin TX, Adam Kinnon. I know there have been many discussions on the issue of unions and volunteers, but I thought his point of view as a career firefighter was interesting.. -JZ) The career fire service in America is comprised of approximately 350,000 fire fighters. The volunteer fire service numbers over 800,000. The International Association of Fire Fighters boasts a membership of approximately 260,000 of the career fire fighters. As other sectors of the union movement dwindle to record...

Some firefighters were a little hot. Sometimes a column, once posted here on National Review Online, can make for some unusual caroms out there in cyberspace. I was browsing the latest campaign news this week, for example, when I came upon this headline on the Fire Fighters for Kerry website: "Cop Badmouths Fire Fighters in National Magazine." Hmm, I said, Who is this cop, and how can he be so brazen as to demean firefighters in a national magazine? Well, can you imagine my surprise when I discovered the item referred to...me? Yes, reprinted below the headline was my...