Aug 24 2008
Charleston Firefighters Union Gaining in Membership and Clout
As recently as two years ago, the local firefighters union could claim fewer than half of the department’s eligible firefighters as members. The group’s leaders struggled to recruit members, and its calls for more safety-oriented tactics were met with resistance from a fire department rooted in hard-charging, aggressive traditions.
But the June 18, 2007, fire that killed nine city firefighters drew fresh scrutiny to those methods, and the union has seen its membership rolls swell ever since. Though state law bars the city from bargaining with the union, nearly all of the department’s 225 rank-and-file firefighters have joined, giving the organization greater leverage to push for change.
Who can really blame them? I’m surprised there are a few that are still holding out membership after last year’s disaster.
Generally, I am not very supportive of unions. I think many of them are unnecessary and exist only to serve accumulating more wealth for the union itself rather than the people it is supposed to represent. Additionally, they have a long history of corruption and greed which have been a top factors in the loss of competition of American goods and services on the international stage destroying industry in this country and sending labor overseas.
However, they do have positive influences and one of those is assuring workplace safety and aiding in shaping such policy. In the case of Charleston, the city failed in its duty and had the union been more of a bargaining power a year ago perhaps this tragedy would have been avoided. In that same respect, I’m not entirely certain a union is still needed in Charleston because I imagine the city will be wanting to avoid any future embarrassing tragedies such as last summer’s, but I can’t blame any one of those guys for signing up. I’d probably do the same.
