the fire lines - october 2013
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The Official Publication of The Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York - UFANYC.orgTRANSCRIPT
For many of us we begin each day with a prayer for ourbrothers lost 9-11. On this 12th Anniversary we againassembled at the Fireman’s Memorial to remember
their sacrifice and to “Never Forget.” Each year the toll con-tinues to mount as 76 members of this great Departmentsuccumbed to 9-11 related illnesses post 9-11-01. OnSaturday September 21, 2013, several Executive Boardmembers and I attended the IAFF Fallen FirefighterMemorial service with family members in BoulderColorado to honor our fallen members. Please keep them inyour prayers.
Every City employee is working with an expiredcontract. Teachers have been working without a contract forover four years. Over the last two years, the UFA has metwith the Bloomberg Administration to no avail trying tonegotiate a new contract. We look forward to sitting down
with the next Mayor and negotiating. If negotiating does notbring us a fair contract, we will exercise our right to go toPERB for Binding Arbitration.
On July 10th LeRoy McGinnis and I traveled toIAFF headquarters in Washington, D.C. to make GeneralPresident Schaitberger aware how displeased we are withimpending Obamacare implementation. I strongly urgedhim and the AFL-CIO to confront the White House withhow Obamacare will impact our members negatively. TheAFL-CIO Convention ended September 13th and conclud-ed with a resolution critical of Obamacare. The Resolutionfalls far short of what our members need to preserve ourhard fought benefits. The UFA will continue to fight theObama administration’s assault on our benefits. As it standsnow, the Obamacare Excise Tax, Reinsurance Fee, andother fees will severely impact the Security Benefit Fundand our health benefits with unnecessary costs that willdiminish our hard fought for benefits.
The Municipal Labor Coalition (MLC) has been
The Bravest OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THEUNIFORMED FIREFIGHTERS ASSOCIATION OF GREATER NEW YORK
WWW.UFANYC.ORG VOL. XLIX NO. 1/2, 2013
Photo Credit: Stephen N. Symbolik III
President’s Messageby Stephen J. Cassidy
Continued on page 2
On Wednesday, September 11th, 2012, at the Firemen’s Monument on Riverside Drive and 100th Street,members of B-18, E-45/L-58, E-48/L-56, E-88/L-38 hosted the 12th annual 9-11 memorial service for allthose lost in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
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granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to stop CityHall from proceeding with an Request for Proposal (RFP)for new health care providers. The TRO is based on theCity’s plan to unilaterally move forward with the RFP inviolation of the “Agreement Relating to Procurement ofEmployee Health Benefit Contracts.” The RFP and theprocess taken by the Bloomberg Administration are deeplyflawed. Hopefully the MLC will be successful in court andthis issue can be taken up with next Mayor.
As always, stay safe!
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Continued from page 1
The Art of Labor Law.
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Binding Arbitration Saved;Legacy Credits awaiting Governor’s Action
The 2013 legislative session ended on a very posi-tive note for the UFA. We had major victories withtwo pieces of key legislation. The Binding
Arbitration Extender was signed thereby preserving ourrights to go to PERB when a contract impasse has beenreached. In addition, both houses passed the LegacyCredit bill and Governor Cuomo recently signed it intolaw. This bill was an important fix to an inequity in theprevious law. We had numerous other bills pass bothhouses, some of which have already been signed by theGovernor. These include the LOD Widows Cola and theRemove Firearms restrictions for retired law enforcement(Fire Marshals). The latter of which the UFA was suc-cessful in changing the requirement of time served as aMarshal from ten years to five years in order to keepfirearms without the new SAFE Act restrictions in retire-ment.
Binding Arbitration was threatened with a vetoby the Governor. It has to be renewed every four yearsand the New York Conference of Mayors, MayorBloomberg and anti-union groups such as the EmpireCenter were arguing that it was one of the major causesof fiscal strain on municipalities. They wanted to make“ability to pay” the sole factor in deciding arbitrationcases rather than one of the factors an arbitrator must con-sider. The UFA convinced the legislature and theGovernor as to why PERB in its current form needed tobe extended. Often a municipality will not bargain ingood faith and binding arbitration is the only recourseavailable. Ultimately some changes were made for cer-tain distressed municipalities outside of NYC but theexisting provisions which allow NYC Firefighters andPolice Officers to go to PERB remain intact. This was atremendous victory for NYC Firefighters. Should we endup in contract impasse, we will still have the right tomake our case to an independent arbitrator under thejurisdiction of PERB.
The Legacy Credit bill came about when the UFAwas contacted about an inequity which treated Childrenand Siblings differently when it came to awarding theadditional 10 points on the entrance exam for Firefighter.When the original legacy credit bill was passed it onlyawarded points to children of Firefighters killed in theline of duty. After 9/11 the law was amended in 2002 toinclude “siblings who were killed as a result of the WTCattack.” At the time it was amended the WTC Death
Benefit did not exist (It became law in 2006). Children ofFirefighters were not eligible for the exam credit if theirparent died as a result of a disease related to 9/11, sincethere was no presumptive death benefit law in place backin 2002. As soon as the UFA was made aware of thisinequity we contacted Assemblyman Abbate and SenatorGolden so that we could correct this problem. The UFAdrafted the legislation and it was immediately sponsoredby Assemblyman Abbate and Senator Golden. Theyquickly moved it through both houses and passed itbefore the end of session. The UFA lobbied theGovernor’s office and the Governor himself making surethat they understood the purpose of the bill and why itwas so important to sign. The bill was sent to theGovernor for his approval on September 17th. We arehappy to report that the bill was signed into law by theGovernor on September 27th as Chapter 376 of the lawsof 2013. This was an important piece of legislation. TheUFA is grateful to Assemblyman Abbate, Senator Goldenand Governor Cuomo for their help in getting it passed.
The following bills are a complete list of legislation thatwas supported by the UFA this legislative session that hasbeen acted upon by the legislature:
Line Of Duty Widows COLA – 07-31-13 Signed bythe Governor (Chap:196 )Increases certain special accidental death benefits forsurviving spouses and children of certain police andfire personnel.Binding Arbitration Extender - 06-24-13 Signed bythe Governor (Chap:67 )Legacy Credit WTC fix –credit for siblings andchildren equally – Signed by the Governor(Chap:376 )WTC Bill Vesting Fix - Passed both housesRemove Firearms restrictions for retired lawenforcement (Fire Marshals) - 07-05-13 Signed bythe Governor (Chap:98 )Relates to interest rates for retirement systemAssumption Rate 8% to 7% - 01-30-13 Signed bythe Governor (Chap:3 )NYC Deferred Compensation Plan BoardStructure – vetoedAn updated list is available on the UFA website.The website has links to the actual legislation. Byclicking on the bills you can read the bill text andalso see up to date action on the bills. In the nextissue of Fire Lines we will have an update on UFApolitical action and the elections. A full list of UFAendorsed candidates and results are available onthe UFA website.
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Legislative Updateby James M. Slevin, Vice President
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The 9/11 Tribute Center, co-founded in2006 by Lee Ielpi, FDNY Rescue 2(retired), is a museum located directly
across from the World Trade Center that givesa first person history of the terror attacks onSeptember 11, 2001 from those who livedthrough the tragedy.
Tribute volunteers, all people who havebeen directly impacted by 9/11, are the officialguides for the 9/11 Memorial. Our volunteerguides – first responders, survivors, familymembers, area residents and civilian volun-teers - tell their stories about September 11thand connect visitors from across the countryand around the world to the meaning of theMemorial, magnitude of the tragedy and thehumanity of victims and survivors.
Become a 9/11 Tribute Center volunteerguide at the 9/11 Memorial so that the publicunderstands – and will never forget – that onSeptember 11th, FDNY firefighters respondedto an unprecedented attack with tremendousvalor, compassion and patriotism. MartyMcTigue, Battalion Chief (retired), SpecialOperations Command, FDNY, became aTribute guide so the public would know aboutthe uncommon rescue mentality of the FDNY.“Being FDNY, you recognize the danger, butyou have an obligation to protectpeople....helping others is the underlying storyof September 11th, and it’s the story thatFDNY can tell.”
Retired and active FDNY firefightersvolunteer for Tribute to educate and to honor.Scott Shrimpe, firefighter (retired), Squad 41FDNY, does tours and “shares memories offallen brothers so people take them home andshare those memories with others.” BillSpade, Firefighter (retired) Rescue 5, FDNY,
has been a Tribute volunteer for over fiveyears. During that time, he’s talked to hun-dreds of kids and school groups at the TributeCenter who knew nothing about 9/11. Hisstory inspires kids to think about their valuesand to make a difference.
Bill gets a lot back from volunteering asa Tribute Center guide. Joining the programand telling his story has been “healing and asaving grace” in his life. “There’s a brother-hood and sisterhood amongst the volunteers atthe Tribute Center .... and the visitors who areso grateful that you are willing to share yourstory.” Like Bill, Richie Fuerch, DeputyChief (retired), Division 1, FDNY has foundgreat reward volunteering for Tribute. “I knowa lot of names on that wall. It’s emotional lead-ing tours, but it feels good to be honoring mycolleagues this way.”
Flexible time commitment for volun-teering. For more information contact:Nancy Gamerman: 212-422-3520 x112 orEmail: [email protected]
Honor Fallen Colleagues. Share your September 11th story.Become a 9/11 Tribute Center Volunteer Guide at the 9/11 Memorial.
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All Types of Personal Injury Cases You Protect us...We protect you
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Line of Duty Accidents WTC Related Illnesses Auto Accidents
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Too many injured FFs seek legal advice
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Call Mike Barasch
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Seatbelt SafetyExciting News! There is a life saving tool that can save
lives…
Amazingly, the first potential life or death deci-
sion that each firefighter faces actually occurs before
the apparatus leaves the house. A seatbelt can save
your life, but only if you use it. If you fasten your seat-
belt every time that you get on your rig you could be
saving your life, the lives of fellow firefighters who
mimic your behavior, and the of the civilians that you
are in transit to rescue. It only takes a few seconds to
fasten your seatbelt but the domino affect of this action
could save countless lives.
In recent years the importance of fastening
your seatbelt has been emphasized in firefighter safety
and for good reason. Motor vehicle collisions are the
second leading cause of firefighter line-of-duty fatali-
ties. In the majority of these fatalities it was found that
the firefighters were not wearing seatbelts. The new
Ready Reach Seat Belt system has been retrofitted in
all apparatus. The new system is faster and easier to
use. The strap extends making it more accommodating
for bunker gear. The bright orange strap is easier to
find. Please do not become a statistic. Firefighters see
first hand the horrifying results of civilians not utiliz-
ing their seatbelts and still do not use them 100% of
the time. You have too much to lose if your first prior-
ity is not a safe and proper response at all times. By
fastening your seatbelt each time you get on the rig to
leave the house you can significantly reduce your risk.
Your safety needs to be a priority and firefight-
ers can work together to reduce the risks that they face
every day. Lead by example. It is the right thing to do
for yourself, your fire department, your family and
your community. Please respond with due caution at
all times! The UFA Health and Safety office reminds
you that although time is crucial, the goal is to arrive
on the scene safely and return home the same. Being
injured or killed in an accident on the way to a scene
doesn’t help anyone.
Health & Safety Officer’s Reportby Gerard Fitzgerald
Minimum Cost sharing in Catastrophic Coverage
Portion
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UPDATED MEDICARE PART D BENEFIT PERAMETERS
2013
$4,750 $4,550
$2,970 $2,850
$100 $100
$6,733.75 $6,455.00
$6,954.52 $6,690.77
$2.65 $2.55
$6.60 $6.35Other
Generic/Preferred Multi-Source Drug
Estimated Total Covered Part D Spending at Out-of-
Pocket Threshold for Applicable beneficiaries (3)
Total Covered Part D Spend at Out-of-Pocket thresh-
old for Non-Applicable beneficiaries (2)
Out-of-Pocket Threshold
Initial Coverage Limit
Deductible
Standard Benefit
2014
(L-R) Eddie Brown, Bronx Trustee; Steve Cassidy, UFA President; Patrick Bergin, E96; and Tom Kelly,
L54. Bergin and Kelly presented a generous donation to the Elsasser Scholarship Fund. The group,
FDNYMIA, has raised over $45,000 for the fund through the sale of MIA flags and decals. For more
information and to order, contact Bobby Piser, L54 at [email protected]
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The FDNY Bravest Boxing Team will take on the
NYPD Fighting Finest in the 31st annual “Battle of the
Badges” at Madison Square Garden on Friday, November
22nd. The Bravest lead the series in this always exciting
event 15-14 with one tie. Each and every day, New York’s
Finest enforces the law and protects the peace .New York’s
Bravest fights fires and protects our safety. But on Friday,
November 22nd nobody can protect them from each other!
The Bravest Boxing team donates funds raised from
this event to Building Homes for Heroes and other worthy
charities. If your company is interested in supporting the
FDNY team, a limited number of journal ads are still avail-
able. For additional information contact journal chairman
Jimmy Guidice, E 94, at [email protected]. Tickets are
now on sale and cost $30, $50 and $60 for VIP ringside.
They can be purchased over the internet at
THEGARDEN.COM OR TICKETMASTER.COM, in person
at the MSG box office, or via the phone at 866-858-0008.For
the very best seats available on the FDNY side of the house
contact any team member or President Bobby McGuire at
(917) 282-8727
Fire Marshal’s Reportby Steven Tagliani
A Case of Mistaken Identity
Following a number of calls and inquiries
recently received from members asking what the Fire
Marshal’s Benevolent Association (FMBA) is, I wish
to address this matter.
Members have come forward with concerns
that this FMBA was claiming to represent their inter-
ests and that of all New York City Fire Marshals.
Recent articles in numerous news outlets have por-
trayed the FMBA as the union that represents fire mar-
shals. Several photos and press releases from candi-
dates FMBA endorsed, did clearly say the group was
the FDNY’s fire marshals union.
To clarify, the FMBA is a fraternal organiza-
tion and not a union. Their membership is comprised
of predominantly, if not entirely of retired members.
A retired member is the president of the FMBA and the
group is not affiliated by the UFA or its executive
board in any regard. Any endorsement the FMBA
makes is their own opinion and not a representation of
the UFA or our members.
All active FDNY fire marshals are represented
by the UFA, which is the only sanctioned bargaining
agent for the marshals. Also any political endorse-
ments made by the UFA executive board are fully sup-
ported by me as the elected UFA Fire Marshals
Representative.I do hope this clarifies the confusion
and concerns expressed by individual members.
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204 EAST 23rd STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10010-9998Tel (212) 683-4832 • Fax (212) 683-0710
www.ufanyc.org
JAMES M. SLEVIN
Vice President LAD 7
ROBERT STRAUB
Treasurer ENG 45
JOHN G. KELLY, JR
Trustee-Brooklyn ENG 201
Chairman, Board of Trustees
MATTHEW M. DESJARDIN
Trustee-Queens ENG 325
VINCENT SPECIALE
Trustee-Manhattan ENG 55
LEROY C. MCGINNIS
Recording Secretary ENG 266
GERARD FITZGERALD
Health & Safety Officer ENG 318
Sergeant-at-Arms
EDWARD BROWN
Trustee-Bronx LAD 48
ERIC BISCHOFF
Trustee-Staten Island ENG 161
STEVEN TAGLIANI
Fire Marshal Representative BFI
STEPHEN J. CASSIDY
President ENG 236
STEPHEN J. CASSIDY
Editor-In-Chief
STEPHEN N. SYMBOLIK III
Managing Editor
Uniformed Firefighters Association PresortedFirst Class Mail
US PostagePA I D
Farmingdale, NYPermit No.125