International Association of Fire Fighters

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) is a labor union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

representing professional firefighter

Firefighter

Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...

s in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The IAFF was formed in 1918 and is affiliated with the AFL-CIO

AFL-CIO

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...

in the United States and the Canadian Labour Congress

Canadian Labour Congress

The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in English Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.- Formation :...

in Canada. The IAFF is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

and has some 298,000 members in more than 3,200 locals

Local union

A local union, often shortened to local, in North America, or a union branch in the United Kingdom and other countries is a locally-based trade union organization which forms part of a larger, usually national, union.Local branches are organized to represent the union's members from a particular...

and affiliates in every U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

and in Canada.

According to the U.S. Fire Administration professional fire fighters protect about 62 percent of the United States' population. (The remaining 38 percent are served by volunteer fire department

Volunteer fire department

See also the Firefighter article and its respective sections regarding VFDs in other countries.A volunteer fire department is a fire department composed of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction.The first organized force of...

s).

The IAFF is one of the most active lobbying organizations in Washington. Its Political Action Committee, FIREPAC, is among the top 25 federal PACs among the more than 4,000 in the country. The IAFF recently began talks with the Fire Brigades Union

Fire Brigades Union

The Fire Brigades Union is a trade union in the United Kingdom for wholetime Firefighters , Retained Duty System and Emergency Control Room staff...

(FBU) of the United Kingdom, the United Firefighters Union of Australia

United Firefighters Union of Australia

The United Firefighters Union of Australia is the trade union which represents professional firefighters in Australia. Formed 1 August 1990, the union has branches in every state and the ACT and is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions....

(UFUA), and the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union

New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union

The New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union is a trade union which represents Fire Service employees in New Zealand.The NZPFU is affiliated with the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions...

(NZPFU) that could eventually result in a global alliance of fire fighting unions to further the cause of their members around the world.

IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial

The mission of the IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial, located in the shadow of Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is to honor the sacrifice made by IAFF members as professional fire fighters and emergency medical personnel who have given their lives in the line of duty. Their names are etched on this Wall of Honor and tribute is paid each year to those who died between June 1 and May 31.

IAFF and Muscular Dystrophy Association

Fire fighters across the nation collect millions of dollars each year in hopes of finding a cure to defeat muscular dystrophy

Muscular dystrophy

Muscular dystrophy is a group of muscle diseases that weaken the musculoskeletal system and hamper locomotion. Muscular dystrophies are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue.In the 1860s, descriptions of boys who...

.

What has become a nationwide effort by fire fighters to collect donations started in Boston, Mass.

In 1954 a South Boston fire fighter named George Graney convinced the International Association of Fire Fighters to embrace the Muscular Dystrophy Association

Muscular Dystrophy Association

The Muscular Dystrophy Association is an American organization which combats muscular dystrophy and diseases of the nervous system and muscular system in general by funding research, providing medical and community services, and educating health professionals and the general public...

.

The IAFF began raising money for research in hopes of eliminating neuromuscular diseases and has collected more than $270 million to date. The IAFF is the largest national sponsor of the MDA.

Partisan questions

The organization is non-partisan. While it endorsed Chris Dodd for President of the United States in the 2008 Democratic Primary and Barack Obama in the general election, it has a strong reputation of being a bi-partisan organization and has endorsed numerous Republicans over the years. It endorsed the successful gubernatorial candidacies of Rick Perry (Texas) and Mitch Daniels (Indiana), and has endorsed several Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Examples of the IAFF’s endorsement of Republican in 2010 include Senators Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Chuck Grassley (Iowa); and Representatives Sam Graves (MO/6), John Shimkus (IL/19), Geoff Davis (KY/4) and Peter King (NY/3).

Relations with Rudy Giuliani

In February 2007, the International Association of Fire Fighters issued a letter accusing Giuliani of "egregious acts" against the 343 New York City firemen who had died in the September 11, 2001 attacks

September 11, 2001 attacks

The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

. The letter asserted that Giuliani rushed to conclude the recovery effort once gold and silver had been recovered from World Trade Center vaults and thereby prevented the remains of many victims from being recovered: "Mayor Giuliani's actions meant that fire fighters and citizens who perished would either remain buried at Ground Zero

World Trade Center

The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

forever, with no closure for families, or be removed like garbage and deposited at the Fresh Kills Landfill

Fresh Kills Landfill

The Fresh Kills Landfill was a landfill covering in the New York City borough of Staten Island in the United States. The name comes from the landfill's location along the banks of the Fresh Kills estuary in western Staten Island...

," it said, adding: "Hundreds remained entombed in Ground Zero when Giuliani gave up on them." Lawyers for the International Association of Fire Fighters seek to interview Giuliani under oath as part of a federal legal action alleging that New York City negligently dumped body parts and other human remains in the Fresh Kills Landfill.

2008 presidential campaign

After Giuliani agreed, and then declined to attend the IAFF's March 2007 presidential forum, union president Harold Schaitberger, distributed a biting three-page letter laying out what he termed Giuliani's "disgraceful" treatment of firefighters following Sept. 11.

The union announced that they will criticize decisions Giuliani made as mayor before and after the September 11, 2001 attacks, according to an April 9, 2007 report in "firefightingnews.com."
The article added, "Among other complaints, they say that Giuliani failed to support modernized radios that might have spared the lives of more firefighters at the World Trade Center and that he located the city's main emergency command center in the complex even though it had been targeted by terrorists eight years earlier."

Members with the association have been organizing protests against Giuliani during his appearances. Deputy Chief Jim Riches, who lost his firefighter son during September 11, disagrees that Giuliani deserves hero status. “He’s making a million dollars a month with his speeches.” Referring to the money that he makes from speeches on 9/11, Riches said June 16, 2007, “It’s blood money.” "If we have to go to California, to Des Moines, Iowa, or wherever we have to go to let the American people know how arrogant he is and how he distorts the truth --yes, we will," said Riches, on July 12, 2007.

Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend

On July 11, 2007, the union released a 13 minute video, Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend
Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend
Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend is a video produced by the International Association of Firefighters . On July 11, 2007, the IAFF released the 13-minute video in DVD format to fire departments across the U.S. The DVD outlines its complaints against Rudy Giuliani. It is critical of the 2008...

to fire departments across the U.S. The DVD outlines its complaints against Giuliani. The video rebroadcasts images of the collapsing Twin Towers. In the video, New York City Uniformed Firefighters Association

Uniformed Firefighters Association

The Uniformed Firefighters Association is the main union of firefighters in the Fire Department of New York .Its president is Stephen J. Cassidy, a vocal critic of mayor Rudy Giuliani's decisions during the Rescue and recovery effort after the September 11, 2001 attacks.The union has made several...

president Stephen Cassidy

Stephen Cassidy

Stephen Cassidy is the President of the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Fire Department of New York firefighters.Cassidy is a vocal critic of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's record of response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks....

said, "The things that we needed to do our jobs even better, we didn't have, because of his administration." He added, "On the heroic memory of 343 dead firefighters, he wants to run for president of the United States. It's a disgrace." Deputy Chief Riches added, “We have the remains of dead heroes at the garbage dump because of Giuliani and his administration and they’re still there today and they won’t remove them." Several other present and former IAFF leaders and firefighters from New York City appear in the video. As the video has been issued on a website, and not just DVD, it is classifiable as a viral video

Viral video

A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...

2008 Presidential election

On March 14, 2007, the IAFF held a bipartisan presidential forum in Washington, D.C., that included all major Republican and Democratic candidates for president except former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani

Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....

. Giuliani was invited March 5, accepted the invitation and subsequently declined to appear before the IAFF.

Each year the IAFF hosts a national legislative conference in Washington, DC that is open to any IAFF member who wishes to register. The IAFF legislative conference is the largest legislative conference of any union in the country. Over the years attendees have heard from President Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, members of the Cabinet of both Republican and Democratic administrations and numerous members of Congress, including the Leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives and key congressional staff.

It was the only forum in the 2008 Election Cycle in which both President-then Senator Obama, Vice President-then Senator Biden and Senator McCain all participate and was highlighted in David Plouffe

David Plouffe

David Plouffe is an American political strategist best known as the chief campaign manager for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign in the United States...

’s chronicle of the Obama Campaign, The Audacity to Win.

Democrats who attended were Sen. Joe Biden

Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...

(DE), Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.), Sen. Chris Dodd (CT), former Sen. John Edwards

John Edwards

Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...

, Sen. Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

(IL) and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

Republicans who attended were Sen. Sam Brownback

Sam Brownback

Samuel Dale "Sam" Brownback is the 46th and current Governor of Kansas. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1996 to 2011, and as a U.S. Representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district from 1995 to 1996...

(KS), Sen. Chuck Hagel

Chuck Hagel

Charles Timothy "Chuck" Hagel is a former United States Senator from Nebraska. A member of the Republican Party, he was first elected in 1996 and was reelected in 2002...

(NE), former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore

Jim Gilmore

James Stuart "Jim" Gilmore III is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia, former 68th Governor of Virginia, and a member of the Republican Party. A native Virginian, Gilmore studied at the University of Virginia, and then served in the U.S. Army as a counterintelligence agent...

, Rep. Duncan Hunter

Duncan Hunter

Duncan Lee Hunter is an American politician. He was a Republican member of the House of Representatives from California's 52nd, 45th and 42nd districts from 1981 to 2009....

(CA) and Sen. John McCain

John McCain

John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....

(AZ).

On Monday, August 27, 2007, the IAFF decided to endorse Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) for president in 2008. On January 3, 2008, the evening of the Iowa Democratic caucuses, 2008

Iowa Democratic caucuses, 2008

The Iowa Democratic Presidential Caucus occurred on January 3, 2008, and was the state caucuses of the Iowa Democratic Party. It was the first election for the Democrats of the 2008 presidential election. Also referred to as "the First in the Nation Caucus," it was the first election of the primary...

, Sen. Dodd withdrew from the Presidential contest. At its convention in August 2008 the delegates unanimously endorsed Barack Obama (D-IL) for President.

IAFF FIREPAC

FIREPAC (Fire Fighters Interested in Registration and Education Political Action Committee) is the federally registered political action committee of the IAFF. FIREPAC was established in 1978 and has grown into the top one percent of all federally registered PACs. During the 2009 – 2010 election cycle FIREPAC raised $5.3 million dollars and was the tenth largest PAC in terms of donations to federal candidates. Within organized labor, FIREPAC has been the most bi-partisan PAC during the last decade, contributing a larger percent of its donations to Republican candidates than any other union. The IAFF follows a simple philosophy when it supporting candidates – they support those who support them, regardless of party affiliation or one’s political leanings.

IAFF Political Training Academy

The IAFF hosts an annual Political Training Academy (PTA) for any member who either aspires to run for public elective office, serve as their local’s political director or become a campaign activists. The PTA is a week-long program that is taught by nationally recognized campaign operatives who cover all aspects of a political campaign. During the past sixteen years the PTA has trained nearly 800 members. Today, throughout the United States and Canada the IAFF has nearly 350 members or family members who hold public elective office at all levels of federal, state and local office. From a Member of Parliament in Canada, to numerous state legislators, county and municipal officers in both the United States and Canada, the IAFF has been successful in helping to elect many of its own to office.

IAFF Legislative Conference

Each year the IAFF hosts a national legislative conference in Washington, DC that is open to any IAFF member who wishes to register. The IAFF legislative conference is the largest legislative conference of any union in the country. Over the years attendees have heard from President Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, members of the Cabinet of both Republican and Democratic administrations and numerous members of Congress, including the Leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives and key congressional staff.

IAFF Freezes Federal FIREPAC Contributions

In April 2011, the IAFF shut off FIREPAC contributions to federal candidates and federal parties, party committees and the super PACs that support them. This bold move is part of the IAFF's Fighting Back campaign to help its members wage political and legislative battles in state houses across the country. These efforts, which have included assisting IAFF affiliates in Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio, Oklahoma, Michigan, Nebraska, Alabama, Tennessee, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, require the IAFF to be on the offensive at the state and local level for as long as and wherever the political and legislative fights continue.

IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger says, “We’re tired that our friends have not been willing to stand up and fight back on our behalf with the same ferocity, the same commitment that our enemies have in trying to destroy our members’ rights. Quite frankly, our enemies are trying to kill us as a labor movement and union trying to represent workers and help the middle class.”

In the last election cycle, FIREPAC was in the top 1.1 percent of the more than 7,100 federally registered PACs in terms of dollars raised and was the 10th largest PAC in candidate contributions. The IAFF spent close to $15 million in the last election cycle on behalf of federal candidates and both political parties, helping to elect those who support fire fighters and paramedics and defeat those who don't.

External links

Firefighters flex their political power, Teddy Davis, ABCnews.com, March 12, 2007 *http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2943257&page=1

LETTER FROM WASHINGTON Giuliani won't have support of firefighters' union, by Steven Thomma, March 12, 2007, McClatchy News Service *http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1052831.html

Firefighters gain favored spot with 2008 hopefuls, by Dan Balz and Zachary A. Goldfarb, Washington Post, March 15, 2007, *http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402341.html

Firefighters group in rift with Giuliani, by Richard Perez-Pena, New York Times, March 14, 2007 *http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/us/politics/14rudy.html?ex=1331524800&en=8522c24b194ad18b&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Firefighters slam Giuliani, by John Riley, Newsday, March 9, 2007 *http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usrudy0309,0,3411632.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-print

Firefighters union blasts Giuliani on post-Sept. 11 cleanup, Fox News, March 8, 2007 *http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,257901,00.html

Firefighters unsent letter blasts Giuliani, by Sam Youngman, The Hill, March 9, 2007 *http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/firefighters-unsent-letter-blasts-rudy-2007-03-08.html

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