Union Banning Members From Volunteering?

Specifically, volunteer firefighting!

Oh; I assume that you can still volunteer at the animal shelter, homeless shelter or the youth football league, but the days of you providing a vital volunteer service to your community as a volunteer firefighter are over, according to The Albany Times Union, N.Y. newspaper. See article: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=761517

It is highly suspicious that the union would single out members who also volunteer as firefighters where they reside. So, Albany, NY firefighters who belong to the IAFF and who live outside of Albany will no longer be allowed to volunteer without facing sanctions* by the union.

Apparently, the union feels that members cannot be injured while working their “side” jobs on their days off. I guess that you cannot get injured standing in traffic while filling the boot for Jerry’s kids. And perish the thought that members could be hurt playing softball, hockey, rugby, bicycling, motorcycling or rock climbing.

Does anyone else find it rather odd that the union would single out volunteering on a fire department as the only activity that could hurt firefighters; thus, costing taxpayers money?

So, it’s fine and dandy if their effort at a secondary activity is monetarily rewarded?

Without seeing the “decree”, does it specifically state “volunteering as a firefighter”?

What about POC (Paid On Call)? Can you volunteer for an AMBULANCE service? What about a “private” fire company or industrial fire brigade? Are any of these activities approved under the union rule?

If so, then the intent of the ban is more than obvious to me!

So, I find it reprehensible. Telling anyone what they can and can’t do during their OWN time is wrong and bordering on unconstitutional.

I can only say to the union: try as you might and wish all you want, but volunteer fire departments are here to stay. In fact; in these tough economic times, I wouldn’t be surprised to see an increase in volunteer fire companies.

Don’t get me wrong; I am not anti-union. I am grateful to the IAFF for their work on behalf of firefighter safety, but on this issue of forcing members to stop volunteering, I am deeply saddened and disappointed that they would attack the very fiber and foundation on which this great nation’s fire service was built.

Call me crazy, but I think that the union is missing a golden opportunity with the volunteers. I would be seeking their support, offering them services for a volunteer member’s rate and paving their way to full membership some day.

Sam Fresina, the local union representative said, “This is nothing against volunteers. This is simply us enforcing an international bylaw for the purpose of taking care of our residents. People in the city of Albany pay our salaries, and it’s incumbent upon us to give them the best possible service that we can”.

Sorry, Sam, but it has EVERYTHING to do with volunteers or more importantly, the union inserting themselves in the private/public lives of their members. Regardless of the motive, it is driving a wedge between career and volunteer.

And that’s too bad, because BOTH serve vital roles in the communities where they live and serve.

*Resolution 2 directs the IAFF to delete Article XV, Section 3 and insert a new subsection to the list of defined misconduct as “working a secondary job part-time, paid on call, volunteer or otherwise as a firefighter, emergency medical services worker, public safety or law enforcement officer, or as a worker in a related service, whether in the public or private sector,where such job is within the work jurisdiction of any affiliate or which adversely impacts the interests of any affiliate or the IAFF.

Upon a finding of guilt…it is recommended that the penalty include disqualification from holding office in any affiliate and/or expulsion from membership for the period that the misconduct persists. Charges filed for the misconduct described…shall be preferred by a member of the charged party’s local and/or member of an adversely affected affiliate.

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