POLITICAL ACTION

Fire Fighter Endorsements Since 2006

Summary

This shows the involvement of UFFW in Municipal, Provincial and Federal Politics.

We are non-partisan, as we support those who support public safety, regardless of what political parties they are connected to.

We have supported fifty-one (51) candidates and we have been successful in forty-four (44) campaigns, assisting them in being elected in their respective races.

Robinson Has Backing of Firefighters’ Union for Council

Former CTV reporter Shaneen Robinson has the full support of the United Fire Fighters Union of Winnipeg in her run to be the city’s next councillor.

Shaneen won the NDP nomination vote Monday night for the Elmwood-East Kildonan ward, where she hopes to gain soon-to-retire councillor Lillian Thomas’ seat.

On Tuesday, the UFFW drew attention to Thomas’ vote to cut 52 firefighter positions in 1998. Thomas endorsed her executive assistant Darryl Livingstone to run for her council seat, but was unsuccessful in helping him seal a nomination.

On her Facebook page, Robinson made note of clinching the nomination on June 21 — National Aboriginal Day. “What better day … to come one step closer in electing the first Aboriginal woman to Winnipeg’s city council,” she wrote.

Shaneen is the daughter of MLA Eric Robinson.

City residents head to the municipal election polls on October 27.

              Fire Fighters Endorse Paula Havixbeck as Next Councillor for Charleswood/Tuxedo

The United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg are pleased to announce that they will be endorsing Paula Havixbeck as the next councillor for Charleswood Tuxedo.

Paula lives in Tuxedo, is the mother of two young sons and is President of the Tuxedo Community Centre.  She holds an MBA from the Asper School of Business.

Paula has worked for the City of Winnipeg in the Fire and Paramedic Service Department and so she has a good knowledge of the importance of the Winnipeg Fire Department’s service to the citizens of Winnipeg in Emergency Fire Rescue and Paramedic response.  Public safety, recreational facilities and infrastructure are her top priorities and she states that she will work to ensure the proposed new fire hall goes ahead as planned.

"As a parent and member of this community, I can tell you public safety is very important to me, my family and my neighbours. As city councillor for Charleswood –Tuxedo, not only will public safety continue to be important, but it will be among my top priorities. Whether it be re-examining the state of out fire halls around the city, ensuring your equipment is cutting edge and available when you need it, or fighting to ensure funding for firefighters stays in step with the daily demands you face, these are all part of a strategy I will promote – with your help – to keep our families and communities safe and healthy. "

Many Winnipeg Fire Fighters live in the Charleswood/Tuxedo ward and a large number of them are ready and willing to assist Paula in her election campaign.

United Firefighters Endorse Sam Katz for Mayor

On behalf of the 1500 members of the United Firefighters of Winnipeg we are proud to announce that we have endorsed Sam Katz for Mayor.

Under Sam Katz's leadership the Winnipeg Fire Department has become one of the leading Departments in Canada in providing Fire-Rescue and Emergency Medical coverage for its citizens.

We will be providing much needed volunteers and expertise in this election battle.

Within the last five years we have endorsed 46 candidates from all parties and helped to elect 40 to office.

President’s Report

by

Alex Forrest, President, Chair Political Action Committee

Politics affects every aspect of our job.  It is everything to our profession and therefore we want to report to the membership on the work we have done over the last three years.    

It is important for all members to know who our political friends are, especially our many new members.  If you see any of these people, our political friends, at a public function please introduce yourself and shake his or her hand.

We are a very successful organization especially where our political action work is concerned and this success has allowed us to gain important legislation for our health and safety.  It has also helped us in our quest to attain appropriate wages and benefits for the work we do.  

This report will outline some of our successes.  We take on hard battles and we don’t win all of them, but we do win a lot of them.  

The following report shows the candidates we have supported in political races since 2006.   We support those who support us no matter what their political leanings and so we support politicians from all political parties.  However, we would not be as successful as we are without the dozens of volunteers who help us with our political campaigns and so above all we thank you, the members, for your support.

Politics is not for everyone and we understand that, but it is important for all members to understand why we are so political.   

Summary of the Political Candidates UFFW has supported since 2006 in Federal, Provincial and Municipal Elections and Bi-elections

Number of candidates supported by UFFW                                         48

Number of successful candidates supported by UFFW                         41

Number of unsuccessful candidates supported by UFFW                       7

Number of NDP candidates supported by UFFW                                34

Number of Conservative candidates supported by UFFW                    11

Number of liberal candidates supported by UFFW                                 3

Political Candidates Supported by UFFW Since 2006

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May 7, 2010

Endorsing His Worship Sam Katz for Re-election as Mayor of Winnipeg

Well, its that time again; time to turn on our Political Machine to become involved in the Civic Election that will be held in the fall.  We need your help.

As we have always said, “We cannot stop being involved in politics because politics cannot stop being involved in firefighting.”

Almost every aspect of our job is impacted by political decisions.  We cannot rely on politicians to be left alone to do what they feel they need to do in regards to our Fire Department.  Everything, from wages to staffing to our protective equipment and our ability to have firefighters properly covered under WCB, involves political decisions.

We need to have politicians who understand how vital we are to every aspect of Public Safety. 

We need to have politicians who know how dangerous our job is.

We need to have politicians who know why firefighting has to be a priority issue in this City.

We need to have politicians who know why we deserve a fare and reasonable wage and benefit package, given the nature of our job.

We need to have politicians who know that Fire Fighters have to be properly protected under WCB if we are killed or injured or are diagnosed with an occupational illness.

We have compiled a list of some of what we have gained directly from being involved in politics.  Without our Political Actions:

1.                  The sixty junior Fire Fighters on our job today would not be employed in our department

2.                  All Fire Paramedics could be riding on and driving Ambulances

3.                  We would not have the wage scales that we have

4.                  Fire Fighters diagnosed with occupational disease would die without proper WCB coverage.  Their families would then be left with minimal financial support

5.                  We would not have the high quality of protective clothing, SCBA’s and Fire Apparatus

6.                  Female Fire Fighters who become pregnant would be taken off shift and put in an accommodation position that would mean a loss of wages and benefits for that Fire Fighter

7.                  We would not have the leadership we have today in the Winnipeg Fire Department

8.                  We would not have the tradition of the Winnipeg Fire Department recognized as our main identifier

9.                  We would not be building six replacement Fire Halls and two new Fire Halls

10.              Even if you disagree with our position on Political Action you cannot deny our incredible success in our Department.

We will be endorsing several Councillors and Mayor Katz this fall and we need your help.

Anyone can help as many times all we need is Fire Fighters to attend a rally.

We also need people who wish to spend a couple of hours assisting a candidate.

Since we negotiated our ground-breaking wage increase last February we have been approached by dozens of members who have said thank you to the Executive for their hard work.  We thank all members for their sentiments but you can better thank us by helping with our political efforts!

Your help will enable us to continue the great successes we have had in this union!

If you are interested in helping us please contact any Executive and we will put you on a list of members who we can call on for help.

On a final note, politics is an extremely time-consuming and exhausting endeavor and I would like to take this opportunity to thank my Executive and also Derek Balcaen, Robert Campbell, Julian DeGrave, Jim Henderson and Greg O’Halloran who have all put many hours into our political efforts in the last year:

Report to the Membership

By Alex Forrest, President, Chair Political Action Committee

Meetings with Members of Parliament

On April 24^th and 25^th President Alex Forrest, Secretary Rob Labossiere and Executive Board Member Russ Morrow met with Manitoba Members of Parliament and Senators to discuss legislative issues related to firefighting.

The issues included training and funding initiatives and federal recognition for Fire Fighters who die in the line of duty as well as financial assistance in the form of a lump sum payment to their families.

These were extremely successful meetings as all three political parties have voiced their support for our issues.  This again shows how our non-partisan style of political involvement has given us political friends in all parties.

We had particularly good meetings with conservative Public Safety Minister Vic Toews who we have supported for over a decade.

The following pictures were taken at the aforementioned meetings.

We're Starting Out where Gary Doer Left Off

United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg makes Impressive Showing in Former Riding of Premier Gary Doer

Another win in Concordia, but this time the winning MLA is Matt Wiebe and not Gary Doer.

The United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg made a strong showing on election day in Concordia to push the NDP candidate Matt Wiebe over the top in the Provincial By-election to replace outgoing MLA and premier, Gary Doer.

Alex Forrest said, “It was an easy decision for Winnipeg’s Firefighters to support and endorse Matt Wiebe as we have worked on many campaigns with Matt and the NDP has been very supportive of all firefighter issues.  Matt has a great future with the party and it will not surprise me if he becomes one of our leaders of the party in the next few years.”