IAFF 293

Online Voting now open

The 2010 election of the contested directors positions and By-Laws amendments are now occuring online and will conclude at noon on February 22, 2010. If you are having trouble signing in, please contact an Executive Board member. Go to "Online Voting" in the Member Resources section on the left side of this page.

2010 National Fallen Fire Fighter Golf Tournament

The 2010 Erie Regional of the NFFF Golf Tournament will be held on July 9, 2010. We are pleased to be returning to Green Meadows with a 0900 hrs shotgun start. As details are announced, they will be posted here and in the fire houses.

Staffing and Dual Company issue

Another month has gone by with the Mayor and the Chief remaining outside the law.

They refuse to comply with a Common Pleas Court Judge's ruling that the Staffing Provisions of the Interest Arbitration Award are within the the Arbitrator's jurisdiction.

They feel that they have the managerial right to understaff the Erie Fire Dept. and compromise the safety of us as well as the citizens.

We are doing everything within our power to enforce this significant safety issue and will continue to do so.

Random Drug Testing

Fallen Firefighter update in the What's new section

Nomination of Officers

Download:

Nomination Announcement 2010.pdf

IAFF General Secretary-Treasurer Retiring

Local 293 joins with the rest of the IAFF in wishing General Secretary-Treasurer Vincent Bollon all the best in his retirement.

Arbitration Award Decision

The City of Erie filed 2 exceptions to the Act 111 Interest Arbitration Award. The case went before the Erie County Common Pleas Court and a mixed decision was issued.

The Court ruled in favor of the City on the PLSDO (Reverse DROP) provision and in favor of Local 293 on the Staffing provision.

"This is a very good as apparatus manning has a direct relationship to the safety of firefighters." IAFF Local 293 President Dave Chiaramonte was quoted as saying.

This ruling is available in the Downloads page of the website.

Retirees' Page

The Retirees' Page is now available without Login.

Excise Tax on Health Care

Everyone;

Please contact our Senators today and ask them to VOTE NO on the Senate's plan to tax our healthcare benefits. We are fortunate to have health insurance, but we have also sacrificed wages and other benefits in the past to keep this reasonable benefit and now the U.S. Senate wants to penalize us.

This is from the IAFF:

The IAFF has been lobbying against a plan in the U.S. Senate to tax so-called "Cadillac" health insurance plans. This excise tax would assess a tax on high-value insurance plans and would likely affect many IAFF members' plans that cost more -- not because they offer more generous benefits but because of the dangers of the job or other factors that are more costly.

The IAFF is working to ensure that this excise tax will not be enacted when a final health care bill is signed into law.

Contact Senator Specter (202) 224-4254 or 453-3010 and Senator Casey (202) 224-6324 or 874-5080.

Thank you,

Dave

HB 1828

Pennsylvania State Representative:

I am asking for your support and solidarity on an issue that has become a rallying point for fire fighters, police officers, public sector employees and municipalities.

House Bill 1828, which was originally intended to give much needed relief to the City of Philadelphia, has mutated into a piece of legislation that provides no relief to municipalities and harms workers and their families.

The membership of the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association (PPFFA) stands shoulder to shoulder with tens of thousands of other police officers and municipal employees whose futures hang in the balance.

HB 1828 is an offense to the men and women of this Commonwealth who put their lives on the line everyday protecting Pennsylvania's residents. HB 1828 is a disgrace to the men and women who provide essential, core services to every person in the state.

The issue of pension reform is not falling on deaf ears with the PPFFA membership. We encourage honest and open discourse and look forward to meaningful reform.

HB 1828 is not the vehicle for that reform, it is a punitive, Kafkaesque menagerie of little value to any worker or employer.

Economically, HB 1828 is a lose/lose for municipalities. Big government will remove all local control.

If pension investments are mismanaged by the state, then municipalities will receive increased monetary obligations without the right of representation in the process.

The bureaucratic white elephant that will be created if this piece of legislation is enacted will place the state in an unfavorable position for litigation for decades to follow. This will cost Pennsylvania tax payers even more money.

We need time to confer on this issue, three days is not enough.

Please vote no on concurrence with HB 1828

Respectfully:

Art Martynuska

President

Pennsylvania Professional

Fire Fighters Association

Corporate Offices

2048 Derry Street

Harrisburg, PA 17104

717-221-8800 Phone

814-525-0536 Mobile

814-619-3087 Fax

amartynuska@ppffa.org

www.ppffa.org

HB 1231

I am pleased to report that the PPFFA sponsored cancer presumption bill (HB 1231) passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives today. The measure passed with a vote of 186 for and 3 against. I commend PPFFA Political Director Rich Gawlik, Legislative Directors Carey Eggert and Marty Harsh for all their work. The legislation will now move to the Pennsylvania Senate for consideration. Unlike last years' effort, the PPFFA and our allies will have months instead of days to move the legislation through the Senate. The PPFFA will be calling upon our membership to contact their Senators at the appropriate time. To have this bill come this far so quickly after last years initiative speaks volumes about the PPFFA's increasing political clout in Harrisburg. Much of the success of our political program comes from the support we get from our members across the state. The increased support of the PPFFA PAC program has demonstrated proven results. Local Presidents are encouraged to discuss the importance of both Local and state-wide PAC's with their members. The involvement of our members and affiliates is clearly felt in Harrisburg. The PPFFA will be coordinating with local affiliates for future action on this important piece.

Again, thank you for all the help and support: it is appreciated by your PPFFA Officers and staff.

Sometimes Technology Is Not the Answer

A disturbing trend has emerged as many American cities have consolidated their dispatching and communications functions and invested in new technologies. Namely, the primary understanding of the role of communications in the fire service is being diminished and, in some cities, lost. Several key factors are involved: persons not knowledgeable about fire department needs making decisions about fire department communications systems; new technology that doesn’t put the customer (the fire department) first; and fire department leadership that does not stand up for the needs of the department, firefighters, and dispatchers

http://www.fireengineering.com/display_article/361523/25/none/none/Depar/Sometimes-Technology-Is-Not-the-Answer

Attention!!!
December 12, 2008..............Erie Fire Fighters Local 293 and the Erie Fire Department are NOT engaged in telephone solicitations. If you have been solicited and have concerns, please contact the Erie Police Department at (814) 870-1120

Pay Stubs

The pay stubs now reflect accumulated sick time and vacation time, unfortunately, there is an error in some of these numbers. Both the City and Union are aware of this and are working to correct it. Please do not call payroll or HR with complaints. Thank you, Dave

DROP ruling

The Commonwealth Court has ruled against the PLRB concerning the PLSDO (reverse DROP). The Court ruled that the City was correct in the ability to rescind the City Ordinances that provided our PLSDO. This is not the current PLSDO that was awarded to us by the arbitration panel. It is my understanding that the City is challenging this provision. Check back for updates.

Unit Clarification update

On May 28th the City drug us to Pittsburgh for a hearing to forcibly remove our Electricians from our Bargaining Unit. After postponements requested by both sides, the closing briefs must be sumitted to the PLRB by October 24th.

The City was granted another postponement, the briefs now have to be submitted by November 21, 2008.

A mutual postponement was agreed to prior to 11/21/08, briefs are now due in December.

PLSDO Hearing

When City Council "rescinded" the PLSDO ordinances, we filed an Unfair Labor Practice suit with the PA Labor Relations Board, had a hearing before a hearing examiner and won.

The City appealed the hearing examiner's ruling to the PLRB and we had a second hearing before the 3 member panel and again won.

The City has appealed this decision to the Commonwealth and the hearing date has been set for October 14th.

First Alert Injury Reporting Program

The First Alert Injury Reporting Program is a statewide initiative to protect the health and safety of all Firefighters and Paramedics. This is a totally confidential, no cost reporting system that has been established "To protect Firefighters and Paramedics and to collect and organize information on health, safety and occupational disease Read More...

April 1, 2009

This is not an April Fool's prank.

I want to warn everyone of you to be extremely careful. The County dispatchers haven't impressed me with their abilities and this causes me to worry that one of us may be killed because they don't have our backs. Pay attention, don't get in too deep and please don't get separated from your crew, if at all possible.

This may seem to be a redundant warning, but I deem it necessary.

If, God forbid, something tragic were to happen to you, the Chief will not support you, in fact, he will go out of his way to focus the blame on you or your Officer. He's done this repeatedly, to the point that we (the Board) know the song and dance by heart.

Dave

City Lies to Firefighters (again)

The City of Erie has once again lied to its firefighters.

We were assured that our employee contribution to our healthcare and our raise would appear in the same paycheck. This didn't happen. It seems the mayor, chief, and cronies have decided to deduct the healthcare but didn't bother to pay us as directed by the Arbitrator.

Maybe the mayor wants to bolster the mid year report (election year and all).

This, I'm sure will be produced in a timely fashion, not like the 2007 CAFR (audit), which wasn't presented until January 2009. There was an allegation by the Finance department that the Auditors did not want to produce the audit when it was ready as the Firefighters were arbitrating a contract. Right!

Fire Communications folks are being laid off with severence in lieu of 2 weeks notice, the lay offs are going through, but not the severence, again as promised.

Calls have gone unanswered.

You Get What You Give

Lately, it seems like more people are complaining about their taxes than ever before. Why is that? Are taxes really too high? Do you pay too much for taxes Read More...

Key Provisions Provide Aid to Struggling Communities

February 13th, 2009.........Congressional leaders and the Obama administration have agreed on a compromise economic stimulus package that will provide more than $200 billion to states and localities facing budget shortfalls. This critically needed funding will help alleviate the pressure on fire department budgets in communities across the nation Read More...