San Francisco Firefighters say

Letter From The President
Letter From
the President
Tom O’Connor, President
As we move toward the deadline of our
newsletter, many issues we face are still
unresolved. Our MOU re-opener must be
voted on, election day is just days away,
and our political enemies are striving to
find ways to thwart the Mayor’s budget.
Below you will find a brief overview of
these issues, although some of them will
already be resolved by the time this issue
of “The Mainline” is delivered.
MOU
The negotiation team of your Union
has just concluded bargaining with The
City in regards to the re-opening of the
MOU. It was a process we did not want
to go through because as many of you
stated, “we have a closed contract.” For
the most part, all of us agree with that
statement. However, in extraordinarily
difficult times like these, with the City of
San Francisco facing a $500 million dollar
deficit, it was impossible to take a raise.
The political costs would have been too
high, with firehouse closures hanging in
the balance.
What the bargaining team did was
structure our giveback in such a manner
that ensures Proposition F is adhered to.
The MOU has 4 “Compliance Periods”
lasting 6 months, and if at any point in
time a firehouse is closed or browned
out…you receive the raise that you have
deferred and the giveback is cancelled.
The MOU concessions simply roll back
each scheduled raise by one year, allow
previous givebacks to return as scheduled
and extends the contract for another
year until 2013. The extension protects
us in several ways, the most important of
which is preserving our workweek.
While most of us bridle at yet another
round of givebacks and concessions, we
can look fellow San Franciscans in the eye
and tell them we did our part when the
City asked for help…again. We can also
tell them something critically important
when certain politicians seek to demonize
us in the press… we care so much
about public safety we were willing to
reach into our own pockets to help pay
for it.
Politics
This issue of “The Mainline” will have
reached everyone after June 8th, but
that will have been a pivotal day for us.
Proposition B, the earthquake retrofit and
safety measure, will have already been
4 Main Line www.sffdlocal798.org
Citywide other
unions are amazed
at how involved
our members are,
how educated our
members are, and
how united we are
on the multitude of
issues we face.
voted on and hopefully have passed. The
threshold for victory is high, over 2/3
approval, but the rewards will be great
politically. If the measure passes, the
Board of Supervisors will be hard pressed
to go after the Fire Department budget…
after all, why fix a firehouse if no one is in
it? That would be difficult to explain to
your constituents.
We also have two firefighter candidates
running for the Democratic County
Central Committee, Dan Dunnigan and
Keith Barraka. This seemingly insignificant
committee actually holds great power
in setting policy in San Francisco and it
is critical for the fire department to get
a place at the table. Both Dunnigan and
Barraka have been campaigning hard and
regardless of the outcome of their races,
we need to thank both of them for their
efforts.
Lately our political efforts have also
been moving ahead full speed in City
Hall. Your Union has been engaging in an
attempt to educate the Supervisors as to
how efficient the SFFD is, and how little
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