(Charles Dharapak/Associated Press)
Growing anti-union sentiment in state governments and numerous legislative attempts to take unprecedented whacks at the very existence of organized labor has led one prominent labor union to take a dramatic step that could cost the Democratic Party deeply in upcoming elections.
The International Association of Fire Fighters has announced that it is going to suspend contributions to federal candidates for all of this year, instead concentrating its significant fundraising prowess and valuable endorsements on state-level candidates and campaigns. No mention was made of the firefighters’ plans for 2012, with a presidential election looming.
The president of the union said that part of the reason is that IAFF members are disappointed with the lack of support they are receiving over the slew of state assaults on labor rights from members of Congress – and even President Obama – that have previously received the backing of firefighters. International Association of Firefighters President Harold Schaitberger said his 300,000 member union feels Democrats in Congress and the president “don’t have our back.”
It’s the first serious consequence faced by congressional Democrats that basically stood by as states like Wisconsin and Ohio launched unprecedented bids to cripple unions and attack the rights of public employees.
The nation’s largest firefighters union — one of the Democrats’ most reliable sources of campaign money — announced Tuesday that it would quit donating to federal candidates this year because members of Congress aren’t sufficiently backing them in their fight against anti-union measures around the country.
International Association of Firefighters President Harold Schaitberger said there is a more urgent need to spend money defending the anti-union measures sweeping GOP-controlled statehouses.
“These state battles are devastating to our members’ future,” Schaitberger said. “You would think that we would have our friends in Congress stepping up and stepping out and leading and be willing to fight for us. But right now, we don’t feel they have our back.”
Schaitberger wants the move to end contributions to send a message that lawmakers shouldn’t take firefighters’ support for granted while lawmakers in dozens of states try to take away collective bargaining rights, reduce pension benefits and eliminate automatic union dues deductions in paychecks.
The firefighters’ union is spending millions to stop anti-union legislation in more than half a dozen states. It is working in Ohio to pass a referendum that would overturn the measure eliminating collective bargaining rights for public employees. In Oklahoma, the union is contesting a measure that would ban binding arbitration for firefighters and paramedics. In New Hampshire, firefighters are fighting a bill to make public workers at-will employees. The AFL-CIO has committed to spending about $30 million on fighting such state efforts.
The firefighter’s union, with nearly 300,000 members, is among the most influential and biggest-spending lobbying groups on Capitol Hill. It is also among the most sought-after endorsements.
While no other union has announced similar plans to withhold support from federal candidates, the impact of the IAFF’s decison alone could prove significant.
The popular union–holding rallies with a crowd of helmeted firefighters and IAFF signs is a staple of Democratic political candidates for their universal appeal–spent heavily in last year’s midterm elections supporting mainly Democratic candidates, although Republicans also received contributions.
Almost $20 million was spent on federal campaigns by the firefighters union and their political action committee. Now, as the IAFF president told POLITICO in an interview, the “spigot” of campaign money is “off.”
The union spent nearly $15 million in the 2010 midterms on behalf of federal candidates, both Democrats and Republicans. Its political action committee is ranked among the top 10 largest and the union was a major donor to some of the independent groups that waged an 11th hour effort to protect Democrats from attacks from business-backed groups.
The PAC donated more than $4 million in the 2010 midterms and a few checks were issued earlier this year.
“But until we see our friends in Congress be as committed to standing and fighting with us with the same level of intensity and ferocity as our enemies are trying to kill us, I’m turning the spigot off,” Schaitberger said in an interview.
Firefighters, police and other vital public employees are facing conservative-led efforts to curtail their rights and benefits across the country.
Most prominent of the legislation directly affecting public safety employees is in Ohio, where Republican Gov. John Kasich signed a bill that puts strict limits on collective bargaining for all public employees in the state, including firefighters and police. Lawmakers in the Ohio legislature say the bill strengthens “management rights,” but others worry about basic safety.
Unlike Wisconsin’s high-profile effort to limit collective bargaining rights for public workers, Ohio’s new law includes police officers and firefighters — who said it threatens the safety of them and the people they protect.
Opponents have vowed to put the issue on the November ballot, giving voters a chance to strike down the law. The firefighters’ union in Cleveland plans to hit the streets and help gather signatures.
Patrolman Michael Cox, a 15-year veteran of Cleveland’s police force, said Ohio overlooked the inherent risks of police and firefighting work when lawmakers included them in the bill, which passed the Legislature on Wednesday and was signed into law by Republican Gov. John Kasich on Thursday.
“We don’t run from the house fire; we don’t run from the gunshot,” Cox said. “We’re the guys that got to say, ‘OK, we’re going to go fix this problem real fast.’ ”
Under the Ohio plan, police and firefighters won’t be able to bargain with cities over the number of people required to be on duty. That means they can’t negotiate the number of staff in fire trucks or police cars, for instance.
Supporters of the bargaining limits said decisions on how to equip police and fire departments should be in the hands of city officials, not union members.
“Shouldn’t it be the employer who decides what’s safe and what’s not safe?” said state Rep. Joseph Uecker, who was a police officer in the Cincinnati area for 15 years. “Don’t you think they are the ones who should decide whether they should have one or two or three people in a car? That’s what we call management rights.”
Cleveland police Officer Anthony Sauto is recovering after a bullet pierced his leg a few months ago during a night shift on the west side of town. The wound will heal, but he worries that patrolling the streets will be even more dangerous when he returns to work.
“That’s my No. 1 concern,” Sauto said. “We put our lives on the line.”
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