• Important Safety Message from Your UFA:
All members are reminded to obey all vehicle and traffic laws and department regulations while responding to calls. Chauffeurs should use extreme caution while driving department apparatus. The department has indicated that members and officers that fail to follow the regulations WILL receive charges. It is also unlikely that the department will support you in either a civil or criminal trial which could leave you exposed to further penalties. Additionally, if a department vehicle is involved in an accident while responding to a call, we are putting both the safety of our members and the public at risk. When an accident report is filed with the PD, the driver of the other vehicle will have access to your personal information, including your home address. We can not put out a fire if we don't make it to the box. Do not put yourself, your fellow firefighters, your family and the public at risk. Obey all stop signs, red lights, speed limits, one way streets and yield signs. The firefighters on the back step are counting on their chauffeur to get them to and from the box safely. It's up to the chauffeurs and the officer to ensure this happens. All Chauffeurs should refer to Regulations, Chapter 13.4 DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF CHAUFFEURS and Chapter 11.1.17 PRELIMINARY DUTIES AND RESPONSE.
DON'T RACE TO A BOX - IT'S JUST NOT WORTH IT!
• Contract Update:
The UFA met with the city on Friday July 16th. At that meeting the city reiterated its position that we should accept the DC-37 deal, which was
- 0% for year 1 plus a $1,000 cash one-time payout
- 3% for year 2
- 1% for year 3 - plus an additional 1% funded through givebacks. This results in a package of 4% over 3 years plus an additional 1% for givebacks. The UFA flatly re-jected this unacceptable offer. We have a meeting scheduled with the City for August 6th.
• Picketing Update:
The informational picketing has been a tremendous success at Madison Square Garden (MSG). We have overwhelming public support. Additionally, the "Billionaire Bloomberg" trucks have been making the rounds throughout the city.
On Monday night in the Bronx at a town hall meeting, over 100 firefighters showed up to question the Mayor about the status of our raises. He was met with harsh criticism both from our members and the citizens that were in attendance at the meeting. News Channel 4 aired a heated exchange between our members and Bloomberg. Check out the UFA website www.ufanyc.org to see the exchange. The Bronx Trustee, Eddie Brown, and those Bronx Firefighters that turned out for the Town Hall meeting did a fantastic job. Mayor Bloomberg left the Bronx a defeated man.
On Wednesday, Firefighters and Police officers marched on City Hall. This was an unannounced march to deliver the message to the mayor that ZEROES are UNACCEPTABLE!
As of now we will discontinue the informational picketing at MSG and move on to the next phase of our plan. A new schedule will be put out soon and we will have floating locations based on where Bloomberg will be. Stay tuned! Keep up the good work. We will prevail!
