ATLANTA PROFESSIONAL FIRE FIGHTERS

Proposed FY09 Budget - Let me begin by apologizing for not getting an update out earlier on this issue. Quite frankly, since Mayor Franklin announced the staggering budget shortfall in late January, Local 134 has been struggling to get a clear understanding of the depth of the crisis and its impact on our members. We have been working with the Administration, City Council and the Fire Chief to minimize the budget’s negative effects on our member’s safety and careers, and we’ve been lobbying Atlanta’s elected representatives to ensure we have the necessary personnel to fulfill our duty to protect Atlanta’s citizen’s lives and property.

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Chairwoman Cleta Winslow
Members of Public Safety Committee
Atlanta City Council
55 Trinity Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30303

RE: Random Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy

Dear Chairwoman Winslow and Members of Public Safety Committee:

As you may know, the city’s program of randomly testing sworn fire, police and corrections officers for drugs and alcohol has been suspended because the authorizing code section was inadvertently omitted during the most recent revisions to the personnel code. It is my understanding that legislation re-authorizing the random testing program is soon to be introduced before the Public Safety Committee.

Due to the critical and dangerous nature of our jobs, the International Association of Fire Fighters supports, without reservation, a drug and alcohol free work place and a random testing policy to insure the same. However, we must insist that our member’s constitutional rights and rights to due process are protected. This is to insure that any disciplinary actions, including the loss of career, are based on sound evidence and established legal and scientific foundations.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jim Daws
Tel: 404/406-9913
Email: jdaws@atlantafirefighters.org

FISCAL CRISIS PUTS ATLANTA’S CITIZENS AND FIREFIGHTERS AT RISK

Deep Cuts in Atlanta Fire Rescue Budget Will Leave Fire Trucks Short-Staffed

In response to the dire fiscal crisis facing the city, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin is considering deep cuts in staffing at Atlanta Fire Rescue. These cuts would require a reduction in authorized strength of approximately ten percent and affect all ranks within AFR. This proposal would effectively wipe-out all the gains made toward fully staffing fire response during Franklin’s two terms as mayor and return Atlanta Fire Rescue to the worst days of the Campbell administration.

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You all did it! After what has been a very difficult two years, I wanted to take a minute to thank each and everyone of you from the bottom of my heart for all the care and support you have given throughout all of this. Russell’s death has been the most heartbreaking experience for me - and you all were right there. Emotionally I did not have the strength to do this on my own.

I am well aware of all those who acted on my behalf - and again, Thank You! However, Chief Dennis Rubin and Jim Daws (confused as to which name to list first) have been my rock through it all. These two men have shown that concern and love for another person is not just a feeling, but an action. They have been a shoulder to cry on and they have held my girls just as Russell would have.

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Public Safety Officer’s Benefit for Russell Schwantes - Local 134 is proud to announce, that after a 2-year struggle that took us from the U.S. Department of Justice, though the halls of Congress, all the way to the White House, the PSOB claim for the widow of our fallen Brother Russell Schwantes has been approved on appeal. This has been a tiring fight, but now we may rest in the knowledge that we have achieved justice for Brother Schwantes and his family, and that we have set a precedent that when a Fire Fighter is entitled to this benefit, that his family will in fact receive it.

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For almost a decade now, our IAFF Local 134 has been working within the budget process to increase staffing to levels that provide for safe and effective fire operations. Four firefighters on each truck, every day, has been our goal. Through effective political action, we have made full staffing a top public safety priority for the administration and for city council.

For the past few years the Franklin Administration has been moving toward the full staffing of firefighters by increasing the number of authorized personnel in each year’s budget. Although we have been short-staffed during this period, we were moving in the right direction and overtime was authorized to fill in the shortfall. There is reason to believe that our progress in this area is now in jeopardy.
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For immediate release:
From the office of President Jim Daws
International Association of Fire Fighters, Atlanta Local 134
Telephone: 404-406-9913
E-mail: jdaws@atlantafirefighters.org
Web site: www.atlantafirefighters.org

WGCL CBS46 News puts Atlanta’s Bravest at risk of identity theft

Atlanta, GA, February 22, 2008

As part of a news story on overtime costs contained in the City of Atlanta’s payroll, WGCL CBS46 News, obtained salary information on thousands of city employees, including firefighters, under a open records request. CBS46 then went on to publish on their web site the names, salaries, contact information, hire dates and position numbers of these employees. This act constitutes an irresponsible and reckless exercise of Freedom of the Press.

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The following is the text from a letter to Atanta’s Cheif Financial Officer regarding a 3-year vs. 5-year DROP:

Janice Davis
Chief Financial Officer
City of Atlanta

RE: Deferred Option Retirement Plan

Dear Ms. Davis:

Thank you for your support for the implementation of a Deferred Option Retirement Plan for Atlanta’s firefighters. We believe this will be a great benefit for our members by allowing them to improve their retirement savings in their last years of employment, and that it will benefit the city by reducing the costs of pension contributions for the available Fire Rescue workforce and forestalling the great number of retirements anticipated in the next few years.

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Rick Erbach
News Director
WGCL CBS46 Atlanta

RE: Atlanta Firefighters’ Payroll Data

Dear Mr. Erbach:

As a supplement to your investigative report on the overtime in City of Atlanta’s payroll, you posted on your website a pdf document containing the names, ranks, position numbers and salaries of all city employees, including Atlanta firefighters. As the president of the Atlanta Professional Fire Fighters Association, I’m writing to ask that you immediately remove this information, or in the alternative redact the names.
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Honorable Mayor Shirley Franklin
City of Atlanta
55 Trinity Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30303

RE: Firefighters’ Pay Discrepancies

Dear Mayor Franklin:

These are trying fiscal times for City of Atlanta government, and I know you and your administration are focused on leading our city through these challenges in the best and most responsible way. Our local affiliate of the International Association of Fire Fighters stands ready to assist in this effort by helping formulate and implement strategies that will provide best-in-class emergency services for Atlanta’s citizens and visitors, while protecting the safety and well-being of our firefighters.

I’m writing today to ask that, while your administration struggles to take on this new fiscal crisis on a macro level, that you also take immediate actions to address the financial hardships being suffered by firefighters on a micro level. As you know, for the past four pay cycles, discrepancies in firefighters’ paychecks have been widespread and ongoing.

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