By Chuck Williams
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Ga.)
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The Columbus Firefighters Association is close to joining forces with the International Association of Firefighters, a labor group that represents more than 287,000 people worldwide.
Currently, the local association, which has about 265 members of the Columbus Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, is not affiliated with any outside organization. The local group, which operates out of a lodge on Lynch Road, has existed for 30 years.
Bobby Dutton, president of the local group since the first of the year, has been soliciting support for more than a month. A similar effort more than a decade ago failed.
The association needs 147 of the department’s 293 field personnel to approve the affiliation. As of Monday, 175 firefighters had filled out information for membership cards and another 22 had indicated they would, Dutton said.
“I noticed early on when I took over as president, the members of our department who were a part of the association were looking for something the local association couldn’t provide,” Dutton said. “They were looking for outreach to other departments to know what they are doing. They want the association to help pay for attorneys -- and we just don’t have that kind of money.”
The local association has meetings scheduled tonight and Wednesday where the alliance with the IAFF could be finalized. Monthly dues to the local association are $10 per firefighter. If they vote to join the IAFF, the monthly dues will increase to $20.
Union impact on Columbus
Because Georgia does not recognize public services labor organizations, the union will have no collective bargaining power.
 By being affiliated with the international, we feel we can become more professional and gain more knowledge about what employees’ rights are.  — Bobby Dutton Local President |
Thomas Malone, the IAFF district field representative based in Montgomery, Ala., will be in Columbus this week to meet with local firefighters.
“We would welcome them,” Malone said. “We would love to see Columbus as an IAFF local. They have an association which has some structure to it, but it’s more like a club that does a little bit of charity work and doesn’t promote anything to do with education.”
Columbus Chief Jeff Meyer, who is a member of the local association, was out of the office Monday and unavailable for comment.
Mayor Jim Wetherington, the city’s Public Safety Director, had no direct comment on the potential IAFF move, but did say:
“The Columbus government has a history of taking care of its employees. We have done that traditionally. Maybe we haven’t done everything, but we have a history of taking care of our own.”
The move to join the IAFF comes after several high-profile incidents in the department. There have been two fair-treatment reports filed against the Fire and EMS Department in the last four months.
Capt. Mary Simonton filed a complaint about the promotional process in December. She was one of five candidates to apply for a deputy chief’s job that went to Greg Lang.
The city’s Human Resources Department found her complaint had no merit, but did express concerns about the manner in which the interview was conducted.
She was interviewed by Meyer and Assistant Chief Jerry Fountain after a leadership class at the department’s training center. The interview was conducted outside while Fountain and Meyer smoked cigarettes and the smoke blew in her face, Simonton wrote in her complaint.
Union a salve for old wounds
Firefighter John Thomas, currently a minority recruiter for the department, filed a complaint last month, the City Attorney’s Office said. The investigation is ongoing and the city has not released the nature of the complaint or any action taken.
Thomas said he can’t comment, but he did meet with Meyer last week.
“The IAFF can offer us training on fair treatment,” Dutton said. “All we are asking for is to be treated fairly. By being affiliated with the international, we feel we can become more professional and gain more knowledge about what employees’ rights are.”
The Columbus Fire and EMS is also the subject of a four-month investigation by the Columbus Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards. It was ordered by Wetherington into a 2006 wreck involving a firefighter driving an emergency vehicle on an emergency call.
Zachary Allen wrecked a fire truck at the intersection of Macon Road and Interstate 185 on Nov. 28, 2006. He tested positive for cocaine in a mandatory post-accident drug test and resigned the next day. Allen was not charged in the wreck, which injured LaLinriafaye Wilson. Her attorneys are threatening the city with a $2 million lawsuit.
That investigation is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
The Phenix City Firefighters Association is a member of IAFF. Retired Columbus Fire and EMS Chief Roy Waters spent 13 months working as a deputy chief in Phenix City after he left Columbus. He said there are pros and cons to the association.
“Being a member of a union that has a significant number of members makes it possible to get legal representation at no cost,” he said. “It can facilitate the paper work process when there is a line-of-duty death. If it’s used for the right reasons, it’s a good thing.”
Copyright 2008 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer