ATLANTA PROFESSIONAL FIRE FIGHTERS

What: Final Vote on FY11 Budget
When: Tomorrow, Friday, June 25th at 0900
Where: City Hall Chambers, 55 Mitchell Street, SW

Final FY11 Budget Vote! - As you are probably aware by now, City Council passed an amendment to the FY11 budget last Monday granting a pay step to Firefighters and Police Officers. The amendment was sponsored by our stalwart advocate, C.T. Martin, and supported by Mayor Reed and his administration. The pay-step amendment passed with strong support of City Council, including: Carla Smith, Ivory Young, Cleta Winslow, Natgalyn Archibong, Alex Wan, Howard Shook, Michael Bond, Aaron Watson and H. Lamar Willis.

I’m writing today to make sure all members understand clearly that this is not a done-deal.

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CALL TO ACTION!!! - On Monday, June 21 at 1pm, the full City Council will take up the FY2011 budget at it’s regular meeting at City Hall. This is your opportunity to address the Councilmember’s as they consider pay raises. It’s very likely that police officers will turn out in large numbers to ask that their pay-step be funded. If we hope to receive a pay step, we need to do the same. If you want any chance at a pay raise this year, please make plans to attend. It’s likely to be a very long session, so plan accordingly. IAFF 134 will provide t-shirts identifying us a firefighters. If you don’t attend, don’t complain.

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Be sure to review the candidates’ resumes, questionnaires, and listen to their interviews, on the post below before casting your vote.

You must be an IAFF 134 member in good standing to vote. Your vote will be by electronic secret ballot which will be seperated from your name and member number.

You will need to enter your name and member number as it appears on your membership card. Your membership number also appears on your International Fire Fighter magazine mailing label. If you do not know your member number, you can get it by contacting VP Stephen Hill by clicking here.

IF YOUR MEMBERSHIP NUMBER BEGINS WITH ZEROS, LEAVE OFF THE LEADING ZEROS TO LOG IN TO VOTE

VOTING HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO NOON ON SUNDAY, JUNE 6TH, TO ALLOW THE SHIFT TO VOTE ON-DUTY.

The voting period starts on Friday June 04 2010 at 12:00AM (EDT)
and ends on Sunday June 06 2010 at 12:00PM (EDT).

CLICK HERE TO VOTE.

Below are the cover letters, resumes, IAFF candidate questionnaire, and interviews for the the three Fire Chief candidate finalists. Please review the materials and be prepared to vote for your preference beginning on Friday, June 4th. The results will be reported to Mayor Reed.

ATLANTA INTERIM FIRE CHIEF JOEL BAKER

Cover letter and resume

IAFF Candidate Questionnaire

Interview (may take a couple of minutes to download on your browser)

U.S. FIRE ADMINISTRATOR KELVIN COCHRAN

Cover letter

Resume

IAFF Candidate Questionnaire

Interview (may take a few minutes to download in your browser)

ATLANTA DEPUTY CHIEF BRENDA “NISH” WILLIS

Cover Letter

Resume

IAFF Candidate Questionnaire

Interview (may take a few minutes to download in your browser)

Dear IAFF Local 134 member:

Mayor Reed has chosen three finalists to be AFR’s next Fire Chief and has asked for IAFF Local 134’s recommendation / input. They are U.S. Fire Administrator Kelvin Cochran, Atlanta Fire Rescue Interim Fire Chief Joel Baker, and Atlanta Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Brenda Willis.

The executive board has decided on the following process to allow our members to express their preferences:

We will ask each candidate to submit their resume with cover letter and submit answers a questionnaire. Additionally, our executive board will conduct interviews of the 3 finalists.

We will then post the resumes, questionnaires and interviews (in MP3 format) on our web site so members can read and listen to the finalists responses. There will be a link so that members can cast a secret ballot for their preferred candidate.

The voting will be open for a relatively short time and in order to vote, you will be required to submit your first name, last name, and IAFF member ID. If you do not know your member ID, you should take steps NOW to learn it, so that you can vote when the polling begins.

Your 7 digit member ID can be found on your membership card, in the address label of your FIRE FIGHTER magazine or obtained from Local 134 Vice President, Stephen Hill by emailing him at the following address: shill@atlantafirefighters.org.

Please watch for future email announcements for when polling will open and close.

Fraternally,

Jim Daws
President

“FULTON COUNTY TAXPAYERS’ ASSOCIATION” SUES TO REVOKE FIREFIGHTERS’ PENSION IMPROVEMENT

A group called the “Fulton County Taxpayers’ Association”, made up of mostly wealthy north siders, has sued the city seeking to revoke the pension improvement that gave us a 3% multiplier. They want to take it away both from active and already retired members. This group is convinced that we have overly generous pensions and would prefer that we eat dog food… after we complete our career risking life and limb protecting them, their families and their property.

On Tuesday, March 9th at 12pm, this group is holding a luncheon at the upscale 103 West Restaurant, at 103 West Paces Ferry Road in Buckhead. As they nosh on a 3-course meal, their keynote speaker will be our new mayor, who is also considering plans to reduce our pensions.

IAFF 134 will also be present, but instead of enjoying this fine meal, we will be outside on the sidewalk, peacefully protesting this attack on our families’ retirement security by forming an informational picket line in front of the restaurant.

If you value your pensions, you should join IAFF 134 and attend this protest. We will meet in front of 103 West at 1100 on March 9th. Wear jeans, an IAFF t-shirt, and a fire helmet. WE NEED A BIG TURNOUT TO MAKE OUR POINT!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

Atlanta Fire Fighters to Protest Fulton County Taxpayers’ Foundation Mean-Spirited Pension Attack

Last week the a group calling itself the Fulton County Taxpayers’ Foundation filed a lawsuit in Fulton Superior Court seeking to overturn ordinances passed in 2001 and 2005 granting pension improvements to City of Atlanta firefighters, police and civil servants.

The ordinances were enacted after months of public hearings because actuarial studies found that, because Atlanta does not participate in Social Security and employee pay, which pensions it’s are based on, is so low, that most employees would be consigned to poverty during retirement.

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Brothers and Sisters,

Political and economic forces have taken a toll on IAFF Local 134. I urge all of you to work with us to rebuild Local 134, the union that has represented Atlanta’s firefighters since 1918.

We must restore our local to ensure that we continue to have a voice – on health and safety issues, on workplace issues, on budget issues and on a range of other issues that affect our lives and livelihoods. Our union has allowed us to have a voice for 92 years, and we owe it to ourselves and to future Atlanta firefighters to maintain that voice.

We cannot fall silent now.

We cannot fall silent because our pensions are under attack.

We cannot fall silent because we are on the verge of gaining federal collective bargaining rights.

Maintaining our voice requires boosting our membership to avoid decertification. If we are decertified, we will no longer be recognized as the labor representative of Atlanta’s firefighters and there will be no one to speak on our behalf.

This couldn’t happen at a worse time.

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Please see the announcement below and make plans now to attend.

For the last 8 years on City Council Mary Norwood has supported firefighters. While others have taken an interest during the election season, Mary has a consistently voting for competitive pay, staffing and benefits.

It is critical that the next mayor of Atlanta understand the crisis in Fire Rescue and take real actions to repair the damage.

Please commit now to helping elect Mary Norwood to be Atlanta’s next mayor.

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Mary Norwood campaign event -

We need fire fighters to attend a Mary Norwood for Mayor campaign event on Monday morning, August 31st at 9:45 at City Hall.

Mary will be certified as a candidate by the municipal clerk and hold a press conference to mark the event and detail her plans for restoring public safety in Atlanta.

We need firefighters to stand with Mary. Please bring your helmets and fire union t-shirts. A free t-shirt will be provided for those who don’t have one.

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