Looks Like We're NOT the Only Ones
The Chicago Fire Department is going to court to attempt to enforce their contract with the city that states in part "The number of fire complanies shall be maintained." Evidently three engine companies have been shut down and not replaced in what the city is calling "coverage overlaps" over the past 20 months.
In the Police Department, we might call this "Re-Districting," something the city hasn't done since the Summerdale scandal in the 60's. Regardless, it's an attempt to do more jobs with less people.
So, is this the first shot being fired in a larger war? On one hand, the firefighters have a contract that appears to be being violated. On the other hand, we recall in Ron Howard film "Backdraft" a sign hung in the firehouse that read something like "150 years of tradition unimpeded by progress." Yeah, it's a cheap laugh, but it's rings true. And unfortunately for the Fire Department, "progress = money saved" and 150 years of tradition is about to come crashing down on their heads.
Every few years, police department redistricting comes up for discussion and the aldercreatures always beat it down. But we haven't heard a peep out of any of them concerning "coverage overlap" for firehouses. It would seem that if the city wins this fight, police redistricting is definitely on the table and with Daley possibly on the way out, he has nothing to lose his last year in office if he combines 25 districts into 20 and reduces manpower to 9,000 POs. He's almost there already.
In the Police Department, we might call this "Re-Districting," something the city hasn't done since the Summerdale scandal in the 60's. Regardless, it's an attempt to do more jobs with less people.
So, is this the first shot being fired in a larger war? On one hand, the firefighters have a contract that appears to be being violated. On the other hand, we recall in Ron Howard film "Backdraft" a sign hung in the firehouse that read something like "150 years of tradition unimpeded by progress." Yeah, it's a cheap laugh, but it's rings true. And unfortunately for the Fire Department, "progress = money saved" and 150 years of tradition is about to come crashing down on their heads.
Every few years, police department redistricting comes up for discussion and the aldercreatures always beat it down. But we haven't heard a peep out of any of them concerning "coverage overlap" for firehouses. It would seem that if the city wins this fight, police redistricting is definitely on the table and with Daley possibly on the way out, he has nothing to lose his last year in office if he combines 25 districts into 20 and reduces manpower to 9,000 POs. He's almost there already.
posted by SCC at 4:52 PM
60 Comments:
thank god for the firefighters....let's support them all of the way...they're one of the only city unions that have had the guts to stand up for what they believe in...
Fire Department gets away with standing up because no one can do their job - unlike P.O.'s who are a dime a dozen.
Brothers and Sisters, If we, CFD & CPD, force our unions to get together and stay together we can be the ultimate labor force in this anti-union city. We MUST get ALL the other trade and public unions on the same page. We, FOP-Local 2-Sgts.-Lts. and Capts, tried a coalition in 2000 and it sent shivers thru city hall. The only thing that gets the attention of the 5th floor is embarassment. And Pat Fitz too. Stick together and stay strong.
With the formation of UNIONS comes the Idea of hourly pay. Look at the auto industry! It looks like they are going to do more for less.
The UNION can recommend and sometimes force a change,but are not held accountable if change doesn't work. Only management is held accountable.
Smaller Police and Fire and Fire Depts. It has been coming for a long time. Who eats up the bigger share of the Budget? THEY.
Like the services, smaller but faster response with fewer personnel in the quiter Dists. and more in the fast Dists. To show or give the illusion of more police on the street.
Does it work? Who knows, only the Stats can tell and they can be played with.
A REMINDER TO ALL THOSE WHO ARE HAVING THEIR TIME DUE DENIED ! ! !(Because of the shortage of officers)
Remember there is a lawsuit in effect against the city for denying time due which is a federal/FLSA violation. Milwaukee, Cleveland and a number of other departments have won.
The depositions for these suits have still not occurred. The FOP and PBPA representing supervisors have separate lawsuits going.
IF YOU HAVE BEEN DENIED .. MAKE A NOTE OF WHICH WATCH COMMANDER DENIED YOU... THEN - CALL YOUR UNION!!!!
Kugie,
You've been hittin' the liquor locker lately haven't you? Why would you want to put two poorly organized and run organizations together? So we can be that much more f'ed up? No thanks. There's still a bit of bad blood from the strike days you pulled. Not to mention the "me too" clause bullshit you guys always seem to pull off. You clowns get a "uniform allowance" but then also get your uniforms from the commisary for free. Talk about a waste of money! Maybe they could put that cash to a better use like getting you goofs a bit of alcohol and dope counseling!
IF YOU HAVE BEEN DENIED .. MAKE A NOTE OF WHICH WATCH COMMANDER DENIED YOU... THEN - CALL YOUR UNION!!!!
For the millionth F-in time...Chicago Police have no UNION. FOP is not a union. They are a collective bargaining bunch of mayor daley owned do nothing for the police group.
I don't care what the REPORTED numbers are, I'm telling you as someone who knows that we are closer to 9,000 than we are to 10,000 sworn officers right now! Have been since the early summer.
Now take those approximately 9,300 sworn and factor out all the light duty, long term medical, daily medical, IOD, administrative/inside type jobs, POW's/stripped and supervisory personel. Also subtract all the units who may be on the streets ( somewhat ) but don't actually answer calls for service or directly ( and literally ) support the District Law Enforcemnet people. OCD, SOS, TRU, IAD, Intelligence, Detectives, etc... It's not hard to see why guys are getting time due denied, or regularly working -99 units on 3rd and 1st watch.
Let there be no doubt that the age of "DO MORE WITH LESS" is upon us. This Department will never be over 10,000 sworn again in my life time.
Ever notice that while Districts are literally begging for P.O.'s ( and sometimes sergeants and even lieutenants ) that the units and Command positions are always full to the point where they even actually create new spots to get "the blessed children" in?
What's the matter guys? Didn't Ron Huberman inform you all that our Chris/CLEAR system's make roughly half of you obsolete? Because I heard those exact words form his queer little lips about two years ago.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!
if you use the Seniority directory, you'll see that it's close to 9800 PO's in classification 9161. Total sworn is over 13,000. This is the number of people collecing a paycheck.
That Daley Guy sounds like a real ASSHOLE!!!!! Im taking my ball and going home!
5:55:35
Yeah, your right , it takes a real amount of brain power to stand in front of a burning build with a hose in your hand and point it at the fire. Did you ever talk to one of these guys? Try it some time. Think we got some idiots on this job? We do, but about 95% of the firemen are from another planet.I've got no particular beef with them but lets face it. What do they do? 80% of all calls for service are not even fire related. With the exception of a very few amount of firehouses, most of their time is spent sitting around, watching TV, polishing the fire truck, etc., etc. Thats OK, good for them. But don't try and tell me that these guys have a job that only a select group of men can do. I'd like to see some stats that would tell us, say on a monthly basis, what percentage of time they spend on the streets vs. the time they sit in a house. My ONLY regret in life is that I did not take the fire test. They have a much better job than we do. Better hours, better equipment and the public certainly views them in a better light than they do us. But thats because of the newsmedia and the fact that the average citizen really never sees a fireman outside the firehouse.
I'm a retired copper.
You disgust me. Take your mean-spirited drivel to the families of the THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-THREE (343) FDNY firefighters who perished on 9/11.
To the idiot above who thinks that the FD has better equipment then us stop by a house once. For one thing unless it is a new house, which there are few and far between, you are basically living in a gararge for 24 hours in buildings that probably average over 65 years old each. They spend their own money to furnish and up keep the places because the city will not.
And as far as an easy job and anyone can do it you are even dumber. You proved yourself as so when you said 80% of their calls are not fire related, that is true they are involving medical care which is slightly more involved than standing in front of a building with a hose.
I am sure if you did take the test you would be one of the guys who hangs outside of the building because you are afraid of fire and could not crawl through a building only seeing a inch in front of your face. Not to mention how many times you have to change your pants cause you shit your self being ascared of heights.
And no I am not a fireman, just someone who respects them more than a whining do nothing cop the you probably are.
Wow, a cop bitching about a fireman sitting down at the firehouse watching TV? There doing NOTHING DAMMIT!
I wonder what all those cops are doing at Tulsa?
Or at Bourbon Street?
Or at the numerous White Hen pantrys?
"Hold us down in the station squad"
Thats a cute one.
And whoever brought up the Strike in 1980. Get over it! It was over 25 years ago. They had the balls to strand up to Byrne.
For crying out loud, some Tac is asking what he should do about having to pay for a Christmas party, or he is afraid of getting dumped.
Have some conviction, have a set of balls.
We cant even decide were to go to lunch with each other!
People in glass houses should not throw stones.
I happen to like firemen. Especially the ones who showed up at my house once (all good looking, even the gray haired Lt), or the ones who handled the nastiest DOA I ever dealt with on the job. They got dinner out of me and my partner for than one.
However some of them think their shit doesn't stink. But, I tell you what. I'd rather bite the bullet than get burned to death (that scene in Backdraft when Kurt Russell plunged to his death made me change career paths).
We have two completely different jobs. Believe it or not I've talked to firemen and there are misperceptions they have of us and we have some misperception about them. True you never meet a guy that was a firemen and then became a copper but there are plenty of firemen that were the police.
I think with that a lot of firemen have respect for what we do. And I have the utmost respect for what they do. I am envious of the work schedule they have, however I have no desire to run into a burning building.
I have had a run in with one firemen and he was just a striaght up jag-off, by and far most the guys are pretty good guys who always invite you to stop in for a cup of coffee and even dinner.
So lets not sell ourselves short nor them because we are both on the same team.
All the unions need to stand up to this bastard before it's too late!!
firefighters are scabs plain and simple. lets not associate with the scum.
343 NY Firefighers RIP, lets not not use them as a petty retort, against a legitmate arguement that Chicago Firefighters got it easy. I agree with the guy above they are a bunch of scabs and whiners, maybe they will strike again and we can get some new scabs on the job.
Fireman are scabs???You must be the son of a copper who is a cop. Your daddy gave you some bullshit info , boy! You were not even old enough to commment on the strike. You were just a swolled blow job back then.
Dildo young copper
Typical Botherhood of the Barrel bullshit! Fire men going out on strike, starting fires, then trying to burn up their own fire houses with coppers in them. Yeah I want to be associated with that type of b.s. Don't even try to tell me that didn't happen. I can point you in the direction of several of our own who had to deal with these drunk bastards who did just that! Fuck these "me too" grabbing bastards.
any dumb bitch who says they would rather get shot over being burned.......i would rather not any of this happen to anyone but ur fatass desk bitch......stay behind the desk and quit watching movies whore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FIREMEN ARE SCABS...................WHENS THE LAST TIME YOU PAID YOUR UNION DUES CONSTRUCTION BOY, ENOUGH SAID...UNLESS YOU CARRY AN UPDATED UNION CARD THEN.....BASICALLY UR A FUCKIN SCAB!
TO ABOVE...GOOD POINT. IF YOU WORK A UNOIN SCALE SIDE JOB...(I.E. PLUMMERS,CONSTRUCTION,IRON WORKERS) AND YOU DO NOT HAVE A UNION CARD...THEN YOU ARE A SCAB..........DEAL WITH IT ASSHOLES!
Whens the last time you heard a fireman talk about mo.....tough job deal with people for like 20 minutes and then jet back to your boys club and call on the hookers......most firmen love leaving their families....a day of rest for all of them......enjoy!
To all you Brotherhood believin twats out there still. Go ahead and try to pull a strike now. Chances are you'd be replaced with some political flunky from the south or west sides. My fat ass will be laughing and watching the city burn.
Why do firemen wear such big boots?
To carry out all your valuables without getting noticed.!
These pricks work less thatn 90 days a year and cry worse than we do. Give then their department authorized sleep garments and a hose. I'll take my .45 and a west side beat car any day!
Policemen, of today are whiny bitchy little cranks. All you fags do is belittle each other and talk shit about nothing. You should step back and become men ,cop or fireman BE A MAN. How can you expect shit from the city when all you blow jobs do is argue and beat your chests "i'm a great copper, you are a desk bitch" "I am a one bag wonder" business should be lkept at work not strewn over the cyber waves.
friemen are thieves........just wonder why 9/11 there was a firetruck packed to the top with clothing from the gap and everywhere elese..........FIREMAN= THIEVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like firemen, even if they did fuck coppers during the strike, the strike that left innocent people helpless, and then they walk back in eating kibble out of Jessie Jacksons hand. This was after they realized that streets and san was doing thier job, and no unions would back them up. I like fireman
Explain how they "fucked" coppers?
Firemen dont compare to the theiving that I observed my police brothers do while at work.
Want to know how coppers got "fucked"? Each fire house during the strike had at least 3 coppers assigned to it during every shift. Each FD veh. had a copper assigned to ride on it to prevent the strikers from damaging it when it went out on the numerous bogus fire calls that were made by the fireman. During these several bogus fire runs, several coppers were injured by the striking firemen due to fists, feet, rocks, garbage cans, etc... The coppers left in the station were then assaulted by the striking firemen when the station was empty. I'm sure one of the Brotherhood could regale you in a story of how many coppers got beaten when the brotherhood tried to burn down their own stations. To add insult to injury this brotherhood of twats went and sued coppers who defended themselves. Some of the things done to my brothers in blue were close to unforgivable! They can keep their coffee and $6 meals. I'll get mine elsewhere.
I've always liked firefighters and gave them every break I could. Not too long ago one beefed on me when he was the one out of line. It's easy to say "fuck all firemen" but I won't. Fuck that asshole, but not all of them. When you paint everyone with the same brush like that, you're only being like the asshole citizens who paint us with the asshole brush when some cop does something stupid.
fuck fireman,worse than coppers on a domestic disturbance,especially if one is a boss.wouldnt go out of my way to fuck one over but they are no heros in my book.real heros of that department are the paramedics who work 24hr. watch and respond to calls the whole tour while the HEROS sleep,watch free cable,wash their cars,or have their mistresses come over for a quicky.I know a fireman is going to say who reponds to calls when a ambulance is already on a run, OK OK you do but all you do is a show until another ambulance is dispatched.
Forgive them, maybe. Forget what they did, never.
I never said I dislike them. I just extremely disliked what they did.
What the fuck??? we cant even get along with ourselves, more or less another department. "kugie" is right! WE have to stick together, UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL!!! You cnt put your bullshit rival away for the betterment of our departments (that means CFD &CPD!)? Getting the Teachers Union on board would be good, as well as the other "Civil Service" unions. As far as Streets & San, the majority of them kiss the ass of the political hack that gave them the job. And speaking of "the strike" how many of you were on the fucking job at that time??? I know the average time on CPD is 6 -7 years, age is somewhere in the early 30's, I cant speak for the fire dept, but our numbers speak for themselves. I feel sorry for the "Old Timers" who had to work during this time, it was some dark days. as for the "Firemen are thieves/scabs", I dont hear any of them talking about $50 traffic stops, and when was the last time you paied dues to anyone besides the FOP? True, there are probaly some thieves on CFD, like we dont have any on our side??? Can we stop with the US & Them mentality, and possibly get together; FOP, Local 2, Sgts-Lt's and make a fucking change so we can get just a little more? King Richard must love this shit! I can see him, and the aldermen now, looking at us as we fight each other for the little table scraps he tosses us. Ask yourselves the same question: will it be better, will we get more if we UNITE? If I can give a fireman, or fellow city worker a break, I will, cause the way I'm looking at it, we are all in the same boat, floating on the sea of typical chicago political bull shit!Can we make a change? If you can point out that Im wrong (outside of my spelling/grammatical errors), or that this wont work, please tell me!
Look at what has happened with the last series of negotiations with the city. The FOP joined with other city unions and attempted to bargain with the city as a whole. Once the police their contract, the rest were put on hold until the city felt like dealing with them. The CFD still doesn't have a contract the last I heard. The electricians got theirs but the folks that retired in between contracts got screwed on back pay. Plumbers and laborers still don't have a contract. Whats the sense of uniting with other unions if there is a no-strike clause in each and every labor contract the city bargains? It may look good in the papers but it gets you nowhere in the end.
Lazy fucks
The CFD:
True story. Fireman falls through roof during fire injuring himself.
Taken to hostpital and treated. Standard operating procedure to take blood/drug test. He is hot for Narcotics. Comes back to work months later and promoted to LT. They have a last chance policy. Only in America.
Boo Hoo, Waa Waa, Im a tough cop that got beat up by a striking fireman over 25 years ago. Maybe you ought to retire tough guy! Or do you have something against workers that have a backbone?
p.s. Scabs are workers that cross picket lines to work, which undermines the workers that are picketing.
Fuck'em cant stand them!!!!Paramedics on the other hand have my utmost respect.Fuck the water boys.In N.Y. the E.S.U. are police and practically fireman.Cross train us and let 80% of those do nothing go!!!the other 20% can stay and hold a hose to a fire when one actually occurs. P.S. its also a wonder that ffire engine drivers dont kill more innocent civilians the way they drive those trucks recklessly responding to all these false alarms,t/a,man down,etc... Oh i almost forgot my favorite call FIRE IS REFUSING.
During the fire strike after the third day the scabs/glorified laborers started vandalizing all our personal cars which were parked at the firehouses. You people forget so soon. Every time I see a BOB sticker(brotherhood of the barrel) I fuck them over. There are 300 strikers left but their off spring new generations are given the jobs. Due what Minnesota and Phoenix have done. Hire part-times. Remember when the beer truck and cement drivers walked out. The fire scabs replaced them. How about McCormack place? The furniture movers where out and replaced by scab fire labor. Go to one firehouse and all you see is their construction vehicles. Until 1998 they were not required to show proof of purchase of a city sticker. Our prick inspectors should harass them not the police. God rest those poor guys in NY, I pray for those and their families, but please do not compare them to the CFD, look at how the LaSalle Bank and County BUilding fires were handled.
Maybe they will let your house burn to the ground when they see your fop medallions.
Thats what they usually do anyway. Forced entry, break as many windows and things as you can, flood the house with water rendering it useless and then when it's burned down to the frame, call it struck and leave.
dont forget their contruction business card to rebuild your home!!!my brother inlaw is a fireman,Fuckem all icluding him!!!!!
With a fire raging inside of a building I dont think they have time to pry open your painted over windows. I dont think a fireman will tell you how to write up a search warrant, maybe you shouldnt be telling them how to fight a fire?
In '99 or so, a PPO working traffic control on the west side (uhm, yeah, that was great idea... thanks bosses) was struck by a car and knocked unconcious. I want to say Ogden and Kedzie or so.
The fire department was repeatedly called and the ambulance was just taking waaaay too long for something like this. Seriously, more than 5 minutes... and something along the lines of 10-15 minutes. I think someone from 010, SOS or 011 went to one of the local hospitals and grabbed an ambulance crew. At gunpoint for all I know.
I don't remember if a complaint was ever filed with the CFD and/or OEMC, but one should have been. Police operations on the zone were pretty much shut down for 15 minutes, a huge amount of badwill was unnecessarily created.
I agree that paramedics are the real workers in the FD, and I don't know if any particular crew or the dispatchers were to blame (or, e.g., if there were no ambulances available according to the computer within 10 miles or whatever).
Regardless, the idea that nobody stepped up to the plate, or that the organization is so inept and unbrotherly, left a very bad taste in my mouth.
I'd DUI them too. In any case, I hope a complaint was filed, as I doubt it was something wrong with the whole organization.
If you openly broadcasted anything this serious on a police radio, you'd get a rather overwhelming response. From them? 10-15 minutes and no ambulance on scene. Something seriously wrong there.
Woulda, coulda, shoulda. You sure don't remember, or checked it out, too much either.
Kinda dumb to critisize now tho. Punish the whole class for one numbskull.
Was involved in a pretty bad car wreck back in '91, conscious but incapacitated. CFD shows up gets me out of car, puts me in ambo, steals my watch.....awesome. Bags of shit (not all). Thanks fellas.
How about the SOS coppers that took the money out of the wallet of a copper that was shot. Priceless
WTF are you talking about? In my thirty plus years, I have never heard of your alleged "police ghoul" crap. Why do you make shit up like this? Either give verifiable names, locations, etc. or shut the fuck up.
Fireman, American heroes my ass! Who do they call when they need help? That’s right the police. If it wasn’t for the police this country would be in anarchy. Firemen sit around all day doing nothing and getting paid for it. Wait, they do do something, wash their cars, pay their bills, watch TV, workout, eat, and who knows what else all on the city’s dime. Maybe somebody should do some investigative reporting on them. Since they have all this free time why aren’t they the ones being called out to shut the hydrants off in the summer? They have the wrenches and the boots.
In twenty plus years on this job I have dealt with countless firemen on traffic stops, traffic accidents, disturbances, and on fire scenes and everyone has been an asshole! I don’t think I have ever had a positive experience while dealing with firemen. Even when they are dead wrong they still give the P/O a hard time. I have stopped giving them the benefit of the doubt. When I deal with firemen I give no breaks – none! You bring them in the station and they still rant and rave. “You can’t do nothing to me I’m a fireman”, yea, right, watch and learn. The only ones I have respect for in the fire stations are the paramedics. They are the real ones busting their asses.
I absolutely refuse to go into a fire station unless it is on official business. If I see a car illegally parked outside a fire station I make it a point to put a parker on it.
Well, in defense of a few...
I have a few friends whose fathers were officers in the CFD. I hesitate to name them because naming someone always draws an attack from somewhere. Nevertheless, the two fathers I'm thinking of are two of the nicest older people I know. I can drink a beer with them anytime... and they actually appreciate me, my brother and sister (all CPD or ex) because we all sort of know what they are talking about (none of their kids went to work for the city).
But for these two, I'd agree with the blanket attacks on the CFD. Like others are saying, I'll stand up for the paramedics anytime. They bust their hump doing like nobody's business. But firemen? Bwaa ha ha.
This was told to me by an old timer when I first cam on 16 yrs ago. "The problem with firemen is they all think they are the Police."
Haven't seen anything since then to change my mind about that statement.
Most of my experience with CFD has been positive. Back in '95, I had a gruesome DOA. CFD had to get me in (cut through burglar bars). After the scene was processed, the same company came back to the scene to bag the body. It was a mess, but they did it. I remember that when they picked her up, her scalp slid off her head!
westsside21,go play with your redfire engine truck!!! Hate C.F.D. had several and imeam several ecounter with them on jobs and they are bad news!!!!
Jagoff firemen are like jagoff coppers....a few can screw up the reputation of all the rest.
I've had a lot of good dealings with firemen, but also, a couple of bad ones. Don't judge all firemen by the actions of the jagoffs. Judge each on their own merits.
If you grab a decent firemen, give him the benefit of the doubt....if you grab a jagoff firemen, shove it up his ass! My opinion
11:22 am
Again, people in glass houses should not throw stones.
Replace the word fireman with the word police and your statement would still ring true.
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