The Boston Firefighters Union has put up a new website called “Fire Fight the Smears.” According to the introductory letter from union president Edward Kelly:
Just like our President Barack Obama, there has been much disinformation spread throughout the media and the web about Boston Firefighters, misrepresenting who we are and what we stand for. And just like President Obama, we’re fighting back through the power of the web.
I am not making this up. Here’s the introductory video, complete with a scary black and white shot of Tom Menino:
Please share widely!
farnkoff says
Only the Rendon Group and insurance companies should be allowed to launch PR offensives!
bob-neer says
The Boston firefighters union should accept mandatory random unannounced drug and alcohol tests before there are more awkward reports like this:
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p>The firefighters union is dragging down the good name of the awesome people it ostensibly represents. There is no good reason not to have drug and alcohol testing for on-duty firefighters.
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p>Silly ham handed efforts like this, that look like the product of some out of touch union official with too much time on their hands and a new laptop, just make them look even more silly and out of touch.
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bob-neer says
Firefighters are terrific, but they need new management in their union, which is committing public relations suicide in slow motion. It would be funny, if they weren’t dragging down so many wonderful actual firefighters with them:
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politicsfix says
I have friends who are Boston Firefighters. They feel that the public hasn’t been made aware of the fact that firefighters have had a drug testing policy in place for over 20 years.
My understanding from conversations with them is that the union supports random drug and alcohol testing, but like everything else it should be negotiated in good faith.
At the end of the day, this whole debate is about Menino’s disregard for collective bargaining, a process that has been supported enthusiastically by the Democratic party since it’s inception.
What caught my eye in this whole debate was when the mayor decided to “brownout” or shut down fire companies. It’s no secret that the relationship between the union and city hall is strained,however, this seemed like a decision that put the public at serious risk.
Based on the goodwill that firefighters have built up over the years, as well as the inept decision by Menino to shut down firehouses recently, I think the union deserves a chance to present their case here.
stomv says
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p>The random drug and alcohol testing is a safety procedure — one which protects both firefighters and civilians.
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p>As such, why should the firefighters expect it to be a part of negotiations? The single three people who stand the most to gain from this are the firefighters who’d otherwise be on a piece of equipment with an intoxicated colleague. It’s as if Boston offered the firefighters a safer helmet, and the union is demanding a raise as compensation. Get real, or make the case.
hrs-kevin says
And does anybody really believe that all those firefighters who called in sick around the holidays were actually sick? It is obvious that they are just giving themselves extra vacation while rewarding their coworkers with overtime pay for filling in for them.
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p>And what about all these people who just happen to become disabled while filling in for someone at a higher pay grade? Do you expect us to believe they are all legitimate as well?
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p>Until the firefighters clean up their act, any complaints about Menino or any other future mayor disrespecting them will fall on deaf ears.
politicsfix says
I completely agree with you. If I was a firefighter the last thing I’d want to worry about is whether or not I could count on the person next to me. I’m sure they feel the same way. I wish it was that easy and in a perfect world it would be.
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p>However,I would take that up with the AFL-CIO who represents the unions and helps elect progressive candidates every election cycle. They were instrumental in electing Governor Deval Patrick, as well as President Barack Obama, who users on this blog and myself passionately supported.
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p>Simply put, I’m of the opinion that if the men and women who risk their lives to protect the rest of us feel that the facts have not been accurately portrayed by the media or administration, I’m curious as to what they have to say. I fail to see the harm in listening to them.
stomv says
The firefighters have got to do better than to try and pull at heartstrings with emotional alternating photos of firemen-and-kids and firemen-in-smokenashes.
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p>I’m willing to be sympathetic, but they need to make a case based on facts and numbers. Why is their sick time so high, resulting in huge overtime which happens to correspond with summer vacation time periods? Why is drug testing a bad idea?
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p>My father-in-law is a volunteer firefighter in rural North Carolina. Totally different experience, to be sure — but it does mean I’m naturally sympathetic to firemen. Three on a truck instead of four is a nonstarter for me, for example.
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p>Still, my sense is that real analysis hasn’t been brought to managing a fire department in decades. What are efficient shifts? Where should equipment really be? How much training is the right amount? What infrastructure changes to the city itself have the right bang for the buck? Where can IT improve response time, decrease cost, or reduce risk? These are the things that we should be focused on, and yet we’re not… it’s unfortunately centered around a single fireman who was body building on sick time, or a single brake failure.
bostonfirefighter says
I was scanning the blog, and your comment about sick time caught my eye… You ask why our sick time is so high.
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p>Here is a PERFECT example of the City misrepresenting the FACTS!
The City supplies the information to the media, and calculates the sick leave in HOURS of sick leave used, not SHIFTS.
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p>The firefighters are charged 12 hours per sick tour.
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p>All other city workers Police/EMS etc. are charged 8 hours per tour.
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p>So even if the number of people who call out sick is exactly the same, the Fire Fighters numbers WILL ALWAYS BE HIGHER!
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p>Our numbers are even, and in some cases lower that the other agencies, however the report never shows that because of the way the City makes the report.
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p>This is not an oversight, this is by design.
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p>I completely agree with your analysis that a study about response times, training and such should be conducted. A head to toe analysis is on-going now. They are looking into all of the aspects of the Department as you suggested. We are told it will take almost a year, it is extremely complex.
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p>Also, in response to your comment about a “single brake failure”, did you forget that because of that “single brake failure” a good man, a father and husband lost his life? Lieutenant Kelley’s family, specifically his daughters speak passionately that they want the loss of their father to result in better equipment for the rest of us. He and his family are highly respected within our Department.
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p>In closing, you said your father-in-law is a firefighter, it IS the same experience. Fires burn just as hot in North Carolina as in Boston; sometimes rural communities have a harder time due to limited water supply and insufficient manpower.
civics101 says
Got to love the power of the web. This discussion has been pretty one-sided thus far so it’ll be interesting to hear what the Firefighters have to say. Btw, aren’t they already in favor of drug testing?
hrs-kevin says
If the firefighters were in favor of testing they would have it in place by now. They only say they are because it would sound bad if they didn’t.
civics101 says
If I’m not mistaken they were the first public safety department in boston to implement a drug testing program in the 80s. I’d be interested to hear that issue discussed in the fact vs. fiction section of the blog
hrs-kevin says
civics101 says
I believe it is still in place. Looks like they intend to discuss it on their blog. Until then, this jury is still out.
bostonfirefighter says
the policy is still in place, never changed. Only as recently as last month did Menino finally admit on NECN that we have a drug testing policy and that it was in place before he became Mayor.
johnd says
jhg says
bunkerhill3 says
I’m curious to read the fact vs. fiction section of their blog. The firefighters have been finding it difficult to get their side of the story told in the press and need to better defend themselves. I hope that they have a plan to clean up the mess caused by the abuses of a few in their ranks. The firefighters I know deserve to have their reputations defended.
noternie says
I watched the entire 1:43 and felt like my time was wasted. Waaaaaaay too long for the information included. If you want to do a nice piece to promote firefighters, great, bring out the fading alternating shots of firefighters with kids and on the job. But that’s not what this is supposed to be. They could’ve accomplished their goal in about 25 seconds.
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p>This has always been a tricky battle for the firefighters. They’re stuck between wanting their battle to be public, but wanting to employ tactics for battles that are fought out of public view. Sometimes you need to pick: win or look good.
noternie says
There’s nothing on the site. Why don’t they create some content, THEN publish the site?
bostonfan says
It looks as though this is an intro video. It is a blog, where content is developed over time, isn’t it?
noternie says
It says it’s a blog and it certainly appears it will have ongoing entries, like a blog. But it’s got tabs across the top of the page that only lead you to “what will be here” messages.
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p>At the very least you think they should’ve had something ready for the “Who we are” tab, no? “Fact vs Fiction” is blank, too. They don’t have copy points for that?
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p>The site–blog or web–shouldn’t be published until there’s some decent content on it.
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p>Here they are getting great exposure on BMG and they’ll have to hope visitors are willing to go back repeatedly until they get the jakes get their site together. Wasted opportunity, IMHO.
somervilletom says
An overly-long mishmash of trite, sentimental imagery — a long and overblown attack on Mayor Menino, lots of breathless promises about “Now hear the truth”, and then … nothing. End of clip. This is the epitome of all smoke and no substance.
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p>If the firefighter’s union wanted drug and alcohol testing, we’d have it. There’s nothing to “negotiate” or bargain over. It should be in the contract because it’s the right thing to do. Period.
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p>The overtime, pension, and disability abuses are not limited to “a few in their ranks” — they are rampant and totally out of control. The union should be fighting hard to put a stop to such abuse. It is not.
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p>The firefighters union, like the Boston police union, epitomizes what gives unions — and public service employees — such a terrible reputation. I utterly reject the argument that this is some kind of media or public relations problem. The media is, in this case, correctly and accurately reporting the corruption and abuse that permeates these cultures.
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p>Those firefighters and police who are not corrupt should be stepping forward, front and center, to emphatically and loudly bring their unions back into alignment with the values the rank and file claim to uphold.
billxi says
Yours, mine, anyboby’s. I support unions in their efforts to raise their members standards of living, but this is ludicrous!
farnkoff says
Would the random testing be designed to gauge whether firefighters are impaired on the job or to see if they smoked a joint on vacation? Because although pot remains illegal, I seem to remember quite a few posters here asserting its relative harmlessness and even arguing for legalization recently. Or perhaps even recreational marijuana use should be prohibited to public safety workers (but allowed for the rest of us)?
Of course, it is much harder to see how firefighters could possibly object to testing for on the job impairment- but the threat of termination for the occasional weekend indulgence seems crosses into territory that I’m not comfortable with, however comfortable many employers may have become with the concept.
kaj314 says
You post a video like this driving people to a site with no content? That makes no sense and shows how poorly organized these people are. I think Bob put it best above:
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p>They should at least have content on the site you are driving traffic towards. Very strange.
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p>Firefighters: Place urine in cup, test it, call it a day.
bostonfirefighter says
As a Boston Firefighter, I can assure you we sympathize with your frustration over drug and alcohol testing. We too want to ensure our safety, the safety of our brother and sister firefighters and the citizens we are sworn to protect. Our job is dangerous enough without the added burden of someone with a substance abuse problem.
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p>Our Union established the web site firefightthesmears.com (the advertisement for which you have seen on the web) as a way to get the rest of the story to the public. Until now, most media coverage has been one sided.
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p>Here are some facts you may find interesting:
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p>We have a drug testing policy.
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p>Our current policy has been in place longer than Mayor Menino has been Mayor. Supervisors can have a firefighter drug tested at their discretion for mere suspicious of use or being under the influence. We also boast one of the most successful Employee Assistance Programs (EAP). This program staff is tasked with grief counseling for firefighters and family members, as well as with substance abuse and help with stress and stress management. Our program has been so successful that it has been mirrored by other Fire Departments and major employers in the private sector.
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p>The Mayor and his staff of negotiators, want to change the current policy. That is fine. However, according to our contract, “any change in working conditions must be negotiated.” What that means is: we have the opportunity to sit down and work out the details of the change. For example: is the Cities intent to make it all punitive, or will there be an opportunity for treatment upon a positive test. Who will conduct the new tests, under what conditions (lowest bidder)? What about false positives. All fair questions, none of which the Menino administration wants to discuss.
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p>It should be noted that our collective bargained rights, work in both directions.
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p>For example, take our current contract language about vacations: we are assigned our vacations by the Chief. We don’t get to decide when we want to go on vacation. In January a calendar comes out with our vacations on it. That is when we go on vacation. That policy is a working condition. If we want to change the way that policy is executed, so we may go on vacation when WE want to, we would have to sit down and negotiate the change.
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p>I hope this information has helped to understand that much of the issues we wish to address require lengthy answers, not five second sound bites the media likes to throw out such as, “firefighter refuse drug testing.”
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p>In the coming days there will be more information available to you and other readers on our new web site. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
somervilletom says
If you want to persuade me that the current drug and alcohol testing program is working, then offer me some statistics — collected by an objective third party — that allows me to compare actual drug and alcohol abuse within the Boston Fire Department to its counterparts in other US cities. Show me some data about how supervisors have exercised their discretion and what the outcomes were. Supervisors are just as capable of showing bias in their “discretion” as is the city.
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p>Your persistent whining that the media are being “one sided” is infantile and self-serving. All of us understand the biases and motivations of the media. We also understand the biases and motivations of the firefighters union.
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p>Finally, all of us (at least here on this blog) understand collective bargaining and how it works. Your union is, after all, a group of workers whose performance directly affects public safety. As such, I don’t care whether the city’s intent is punitive or not. Men and women who drive massive vehicles at high speeds through crowded city streets need to be not drunk and not stoned. Period.
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p>When the firefighter’s union starts putting out some high-profile media campaigns about its own efforts to curb pension and disability abuse, then I’ll start showing a bit more sympathy. For now — grow up and stop your whining.
bostonfirefighter says
I appreciate your response. My intent was in no way suggesting the current drug and alcohol process is sufficient. The need for a random test is both practical and necessary. The intent was to give a bit of insight into the collective bargaining process which the City refuses to participate in. As you indicated, you are familiar with the process. However only about 13% of the United States population are members of labor Unions and my intent was to explain to the rest who may not understand the process.
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p>As far as one-sided media, we are not whining. We are pointing out a fact that today’s media is more about sensationalism than about reporting the whole story. There are over 1500 active and retired Boston Fire Fighters. The percentage of troublemakers is less than 1%, not exactly a true representation of us all.
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p>In regards to pensions, the current contribution rate is 9% + 2%. Which when you figure that out, is fully funding a pension around the 10th year. Boston Firefighters have to have 32 years of service and a minimum of 55 years of age to collect a pension.
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p>With those figures, I came on the job at 30 years of age, I will be 62 when I am eligible to retire, and will have been fully funding my pension since my 10th year.
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p>It should be noted that the vast majority of our new hires are Veterans, who served at least 4 years in the military out of high school. Which puts them around 25 when they are hired.
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p>As far as pension abuse, I can only assume you are referring to disability pensions. The Firefighters Union does not make the decision for a disability pension. That is determined by 3 independent doctors selected at random, who then give their recommendation to the retirement board (yes there is 1 union member on the board – but that is hardly enough to manipulate the vote). New pension laws that just took effect now calculate disability pensions on the last 12 months of service eliminating the higher pay grade calculations for acting out of grade.
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p>I hope this explains in a little more detail your concerns, and I appreciate your input.
noternie says
perhaps the one-sided media coverage is due to a poor effort by the firefighters? your online effort to put out your story launched this week? in 2009? both the internet and your issues have co-existed a long time before they met this week.
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p>and when your site launched, there was less information on it than you’ve provided in your post.
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p>DON’T BLAME THE MEDIA.
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p>You can win public support. You just haven’t. Blame/Credit the Mayor for fighting a better fight thus far.
bostonfirefighter says
I can not answer for the Union, and why they chose 2009 to release this web site. Perhaps they, like most of us, assumed that the Mayor and his staff were using their influence to help their side of negotiations. That has happened before, and believe me when I say they are good at it.. However, when this continued for the better part of 2 years, it became clear that Menino had a personal axe to grind, and was unleashing his assault on the personal character of all of the Fire Fighters. I have never done any of the garbage that the select group of undesirables has, however I am being judged based on their actions.
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p>I have contacted the Union, and they have assured me in the coming weeks they will be filling in their blog with more information. They wanted to get the message out about their new web site. I look forward to reading the content myself, as do most of the Firefighters I have spoken with. Thanks for your interest and for keeping an open mind.
noternie says
you’re doing much better here than your union has done to this point.
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p>few more thoughts:
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p>stalking the mayor and his wife didn’t go over well. not blaming you individually, but the union represents all of you. and that looked a little bit like a personal axe being ground. and not in a good way.
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p>why does the mayor have a personal axe to grind against firefighters? if you don’t know, how should we know? and if we don’t know any reason why he does, why should we believe that he actually does or that it’s his fault alone? could it be each side has antagonized the situation, making it a bit too personal for both?
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p>stick to business and facts. the “he hates us” thing doesn’t sell very well, even with a guy most will concede has a vindictive streak.
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p>this has been going on a loooong time in the media. the union has been extremely slow to respond effectively. you should not be answering for the union, but you should be asking them to answer to you as to why it has taken so long. and perhaps considering whether a change in leadership might be as necessary as a change in strategy. don’t retreat on the points, but maybe send in a new face.
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p>i’m with you on the pension abuse angle. bad management should not be put off as a union created problem. if management has the tools to do something, but doesn’t want to for fear of defending its actions to the union that’s their fault. they should grow a spine and do their jobs.
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p>i hate to say it, but you guys have an uphill battle. you’re right, the mayor controls valuable information that properly used hurts your cause. but when they are facts and the facts are that two firefighters died while doing their jobs under the influence, it doesn’t much matter whether that information should or should not have gotten out. and those two bad apples–forgive me for speaking ill of the dead, they have paid the ultimate price–did spoil the bunch.
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p>i’m rooting for you guys. i really am. good luck.