January 14, 2010 - The first major influx of international aid to Haiti, which was devastated by an earthquake on Tuesday afternoon, began today. Organized labor is at the forefront of the relief efforts: unions are contributing the skilled labor of their members, organizational know-how, and fundraising. 

The situation is still too chaotic to compile an official death toll, but authorities are bracing for tens of thousands of casualties. An untold number of Haitians were trapped when buildings collapsed. (The mayor of capital city of Port-au-Prince estimated in 2008 that 60% of buildings in his city were structurally unsound and shoddily built.)

The International Association of Fire Fighters is dispatching state of the art Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams. The rescuers will use high-tech scanning equipment and dogs to find survivors buried in the rubble. The first rescuers shipped out within 3 hours of the quake. A 72-member IAF team from Virginia reached the island last night. More teams are expected to follow.

IAFF's relationship with Haitian firefighters predates the quake. Last June, 13 Haitian firefighters travelled to Montgomery County, MD, for two weeks of training. The program was organized by Local 1664 fire fighters Lee Silverman and Rick Steer who have been volunteering with Haitian fire fighters for a decade. (Read More...)

IAFF on Possibilities of Healthcare Tax on Union Benefits
January 12, 2010 - by Harold A. Schaitberger - General President

Brothers and Sisters,

The core political principle of this union is we support those who support us. If you make promises to us, we will hold you accountable. We held President Bush accountable when he made decisions that had a negative impact on our members' jobs and lives. We will do the same with this president and any future president.

Throughout the debate on health care reform, even before the proposed excise tax on so-called high cost health plans was proposed, our union has made it clear to Congress and President Obama that our goal is reducing health care costs while preserving the benefits our members already have without piling more taxes on the backs of hardworking Americans.

In 2008, then-candidate Obama promised three things. First, he would not raise taxes on folks making less than $250,000 a year. Second, he vowed not to tax your health insurance benefits. Third, he promised that under his health reform plan that people would be able to keep their existing coverage.

Now the administration is supporting a misguided excise tax on the premiums of some health plans that is in the bill passed by the Senate. This excise tax will affect many of the health plans covering our members. The Senate bill will either impose a tax on health care premiums provided to thousands of America's fire fighters, or to avoid the tax those benefits will be slashed.

I want to make sure every leader and member in this union knows the truth, which is that under this bill every special interest seemed to get something good – the insurance companies, the doctors, the drug companies all get something. But, in the Senate bill, many of our members who have sacrificed for years to build solid health plans to protect their families will get screwed.

The deal isn't done, yet. The health care reform bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives does not contain this unacceptable tax and the leadership in the House, to date, is standing strong with us -- with 190 members of the Democratic Caucus signing a letter opposing the excise tax.

We applaud our House allies for their courage in waging this battle. And your union is continuing to fight to keep the excise tax out of the final bill.

We have made it clear to every senator and representative on Capitol Hill and to the president that we are fully and completely opposed to this tax and we will not compromise on it.
Rest assured that we are prepared to hold every elected official accountable on this issue, including the president. I will update you again soon on the progress of this bill.