Union Perspectives

It may be just me, but a lot of today’s union firefighters are thinking differently than they did in the old days about unions? Having spent 44 plus years in the industry, I can say without a doubt firefighters are heroes, brave, gutsy, tough, strong, a little nuts, but they pour their heart and soul into the job of saving others and their pets. So why don’t they do the same for themselves? In 44 years as a volunteer and district firefighter, the four words that still haunt me to this day are, “It’s all I got.” I’ve lost count of the times people begged us to protect their home because, “It’s all I got.” I was on a strike team and we were getting ready to start setting up on houses before the fire hit upon us and an old man came up to us and our fire engine and asked if we would protect his home. He said it wasn’t much, but “it’s all I got.” It wasn’t much, more of a ramshackle old place in the woods. The strike-team leader didn’t want us to spend time on the old place, but I promised

This new government administration has a lot of big and little things it can and must do to keep the voters on their side. First among them is that they must beat the virus and at the same time keep people sheltered and fed. This can be done by executive orders and pumping money into where it’s needed most. Yes, the Biden administration is doing a lot of good, but to reach the masses, it must go further. Start with helping unions by tightening up the National Labor Relations Board and its members and rules; and pass card check for unions, which would take the place of union elections and make it easier for workers to unionize. We need President Biden to declare a state of emergency and begin to address climate change to help save the planet while also creating new jobs in green energy, rebuilding our infrastructure with more eco-friendly products. There are a lot of products out there that can replace the old, more damaging products, like these few types recycled steel, using bamboo,