Key word: Firefighters UNION.

lets see
Vison cuts fire dep’t budget
Union gives money to Vision
Union backs Vision
somethign smells odd here
could it be the leadership doesn’t reflect the rank & file wishes
Say it ain’t so!

@Peter Ladner:

Is someone using their own time and paycheck to take a position you don’t like? Too bad, so sad! You don’t like it, take it up with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms:

————-

Fundamental freedoms

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

(a) freedom of conscience and religion;

(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and

(d) freedom of association.

————

Notice, nothing in there defining “everyone” to not include people who earn their paychecks from the government – which is a good thing for, among others, the developers and other big corporations that suck at the teat of government contracts.

p.s. There is more than two “sides of the fence” in politics. Giving millions to each of two development-oriented parties in order to win favour and keep out all the parties and candidates less sympathetic and amenable to your wishes is not some kind of universal even-handedness.

Anyway, back to the point of the story: Yes, it is very interesting to see these endorsements by the firefighters, since if you went by the media echo-chamber you would have expected otherwise. There may be a lesson there. *heh*

So, Dan Cooper, you’d be perfectly happy for the VPD union to formally endorse Anton or for a future RCMP union to endorse Harper?

@Dan Cooper – not surprisingly you completely missed Peter Ladner’s point.

Peter’s Point #5 Is correct.
They should not endorse publicly anyone. Period. They are gambling. They are public employees sucking up to …their presumably bosses, Ha, Ha, imagine all of their endorsement list going to the loo, and a full NPA NSV Independents replacing it!
I will cut some more of their budget and ask them to own their trucks too… like the real truckers do!
BTW that ship have sailed. My vote didn’t go accordingly to their list ooooo, 🙁 !

@ Julian Christians, have to disagree, old boy.

Firefighters, as a group, are civil servants. They are city workers, in essence. They can excercise their opinions as individuals, on their own time, but it is inappropriate for them to try to insert themselves as supporters of anyone, during elections. can you imagine what would happen if people at City Hall so blatantly chose sides?

First, the “optics” are bad, to the their real bosses, we the taxpayers. The implication is that if the firefighters don’t get what they want, then they will what, strike?

The firefighters were handsomely rewarded by Vision after the last election for their political support including the “off election books” purchase of the many billboards around town that supported the Vision/COPE slate. Curious about where they got all that dough to mount that kind of campaign. Only from (taxpayer funded) union dues? Seems odd.

Yes, they threw a bone to Michael Geller, but that was within their strategy to appear “fair and balanced” as they chose the Vision/Cope slate. This was a complete joke.

By the way, did they register as 3rd party advertisers during the last election? How much did they spend, then? Were those rules in place in ’08?

Anyhoo, one of the first things that this council did after they were elected was to award Vancouver firefighters the highest jump in pay in Metro, ensuring that they were above the 6%+ from Surrey (still can’t figure out how Dianne manages to pay those bills!).

If only campaign signs were the only things that emanated from firetrucks. Also during the last election a female council candidate (not from Vision) was harassed, catcalled and firebombed with the eff word while campaigning on West Broadway. With her mother. You stay classy, Local 18!

The glow is beginning to rub off of some of our other institutions, like the RCMP with revelations about unacepptable behaviour from within. The rot starts at the top.

Most firefighters are good people. However I have to question what is happening at the leadership level, with this kind of nonsense.

While I don’t have a problem with individual firefighters or union leaders donating to political campaigns, what though needs to be called into question is that the Union which also has a charitable arm is getting involved in partisan politics and under the charities act this is a no no. Mr Ditchburn and his Local 18 should be way more careful then this. When they start their calender campaign for the burn unit this time I will not be buying a calender and I will encourage others not to do so as well. We can all help burn victims out by donating directly to hospital burn units who do not engage in partisan politicking. Shame on Mr Ditchburn and his crew.

Doesn’t the Langara J-School get all the suburban weeklies? The IAFF endorses all kinds of surburban councils that protect jobs.
Some firemen even become members of councils. One was mayor of Burnaby.

These recommendations adverts are quite common and in some areas, in other provinces without the RCMP, the police force also has recommendations.

Still the VFD is still 95 % male, They hired 22 new people out of 340 applicants in their last posted report.
Of the 800 staff, the minimum service is 130 on duty.
And in these days of RCMP revelations that ratio is old school.

Over the 128 square kilometres, that had about 27000 medical calls, but only 1630 fires, so they are really an inspection and education service providing emergency first aid services.

Well, I’m interested in where one draws the line. It seems to be accepted that this is OK for a union like CUPE, however most people would probably consider it entirely wrong for, say, the Chief of the Defence Staff to exercise his individual right to self expression and endorse a party or candidate. Equally, it seems like it is considered acceptable for some papers to do this but wrong for CBC and perhaps other broadcasters.

Personally I feel that the Firefighters are on the wrong side of the line. They are elevated to quasi sainthood in some quarters so what next? The churches start giving out lists?

@Lizzie 3
I’m really not sure what to make of your comment. If I was running for office I would take it as a veiled threat of some kind. Given that I am not, it just falls flat as a somewhat lame attempt to justify the Firefighters Union’s action. Peter Ladner and Silly Season have outlined why such an endorsement is problematic far more eloquently than I could.

As for your rather naive comment that a union executive is always in sync with their membership, I suggest you examine recent labour history. Start with Air Canada, and how two tentative agreements endorsed by their CUPE executive were rejected by the rank and file members.

The Gun Owners of America have the best model. They ask important questions to them, and then grade it. Even voting records of incumbents based on this. Well, anyway, this gives a better idea of the scope of candidates. They send it to everybody on the ballot too.

Gölök

david hadaway inquires, “So, Dan Cooper, you’d be perfectly happy for the VPD union to formally endorse Anton or for a future RCMP union to endorse Harper?”

Would I be “perfectly happy” they endorsed those specific people? No. Would I fully and absolutely support their right to do so? Definitely! Various labour unions have actually supported “right wing” candidates over the years, for a variety of reasons. And as I said before, this is their constitutional right. So, again, all y’all who are stamping your feet and gnashing your teeth over it, go ahead and knock yourselves out, but it won’t make one bit of difference.

Dan Cooper (6)
A Union isn’t a one or every. It is not an individual.
How does that apply? How does it apply to an endorsement?

Unions should not endorse any party – Municipally, Provincially, Federally. I just received a letter from CUPE BC indicating or suggesting who I should vote for in the Burnaby Municipal Election – Complete with a pamphlet of the list of the choosen Candidates ALL for an affiliated NDP Party. (In order to take a job with the School Board I had to become a CUPE member, I do not collect any benefits from the school board, I work 5 hours a week and with raising 4 children this worked for our busy schedule) so much for equal employment and no discrimination. Shame on CUPE for speaking on my behalf, as a member I do not agree with their endorsements. Was there a vote to see if the majority of the members felt this way or do the top executives at CUPE just make choices for the masses. Assuming we are in agreement with them. I have a voice and an opinion – no where in any union clause does it say I have to vote for any one party. Disgraceful. Remember when anyone works for a government job, they are a public SERVANT. Everyone who pays taxes, pays my cheque, that means every person, with different backgrounds, and political views.