Fire Fighters Get Set for First Bipartisan Presidential Candidate Forum

by Mike Hall, Mar 13, 2007

Fire Fighters (IAFF) Capt. Andy Arndt (top) and Perry Pace will listen closely when most of the major Democratic and Republican candidates appear at IAFF’s presidential forum on Wednesday.

Nearly 1,000 Fire Fighters (IAFF) are set to take part in the 2008 presidential campaign’s first bipartisan candidate forum Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

The six Democratic and four Republican White House hopefuls set to appear each will have 15 minutes to lay out their case and try to convince IAFF members at the union’s annual legislative conference they deserve the union’s endorsement. (Check back here Wednesday for our live blogging coverage of the event.)

Says IAFF President Harold Schaitberger:

“It is incumbent upon all of us to listen very carefully to what these candidates have to say. We must consider their track record and evaluate their support for the issues important to our profession and our members’ lives.”

Two of the Fire Figters who will be listening carefully are federal fire fighters from IAFF Local F37 at the Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago—Capt. Andy Arndt, the local’s president, and Local F37 member Perry Pace. Says Pace:

I want to hear how they relate to fire fighter issues and the several bills we consider important. I want to see what they can do for us.

Arndt says he also plans to listen carefully to the “overall ideas on labor issues” of the candidates, including collective bargaining.

He points out that most federal fire fighters are faced with losing their collective bargaining rights because as Department of Defense employees, they fall under the much-criticized National Security Personnel System (NSPS). The United DoD Workers Coalition is challenging the new personnel rules in court.

The new Democratic-controlled Congress is expected to take up legislation to restore the bargaining rights of the nearly 750,000 Defense Department workers who have seen their workplace rights eroded by the Bush administration’s NSPS. Says Schaitberger:

I don’t have to tell you that this union’s number one priority this week will be providing collective bargaining rights for all fire fighters and EMS [emergency medical service] workers. Nothing is more important to this union. Nothing is more important to our members in improving their standard of living and protecting their safety than their right to organize and bargain a contract.

The candidates scheduled to appear at the forum are: Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore (R), Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D). With the announcement by Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) that he has postponed a decision on whether he will run for president, it was unclear if he will speak as scheduled.

Schaitberger says the union decided to invite all major candidates of both political parties, even those “with whom we have substantial disagreements on policy issues” such as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani initially accepted the invitation to take part in the forum, but backed out last week. Click here to read a letter from Schaitbeger to IAFF locals about the Giuliani issue.

Check back with us Wednesday for updates from the forum.

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