The Deal with Trump
Our Dear Leader
Since Harold Schaitberger and the IAFF executive board sat out the election and helped to ensure an anti-union US president as a result, it is time for them to tell the members what the plan is for the next four years.
Or, do they even have one?
Perhaps their plan is to keep on sitting.
Either way, they should reflect on what they have done.
During the campaign Trump repeatedly disparaged firefighters as they went about their duties; he also refused to try on a fire helmet as it might have been too dirty for his immaculate coiffure, surely an indication of what we thinks of us.
Under normal circumstances the IAFF might look to congress for solace if the wrong candidate prevails.
That won’t work this time as Schaitberger helped to put the friends of labor in the pickle they are in by being too cowardly to either take a position or protect his members.
Congress has the low-down on us: cut and run when the heat is on.
Both sides of the aisle now know definitively that the IAFF leadership doesn’t actually lead, they protect their cushy deal.
What House or Senate member would take a risky position on our behalf knowing that Schaitberger will disappear when the going gets tough?
Cut and run is just another version of disloyalty and Schaitberger has a long history of being disloyal.
That disloyalty typically manifests itself when he determines that he no longer needs someone and can safely dump them (former district vice presidents Louie Wright, Dominick Barbera, or Rich Duffy, etc.) or can crush someone to burnish his ego (Ricky Walsh, Pete Gorman, Darren Bates, etc.)
Sadly, at a critical moment we have a shrinking, shirking, defeated and cowardly president of the IAFF.
His inaction means that we will have great difficulty in even creating an effective defensive strategy, must less an offensive one.
Still, he owes it to the members to explain just what his intentions are for the next four years even if they are just more of the same.
Same as in protecting his fat-cat deal.
