August 11, 2008 -- Fire fighters and paramedics belonging to the IAFF must pay homage to the union’s 90-year history, but also focus on the challenges ahead, General President Harold Schaitberger said in his state-of-the-union address during the Opening Ceremony on Monday. “We have to commit to building an even bigger and greater union.”

Among the union’s major challenges, said Schaitberger, are passing the IAFF’s collective bargaining bill in the United States Senate and making the National Fire Protection Association staffing standard, NFPA 1710, the “law of the land,” in both Canada and the United States.

But legislative success in the future depends in part on getting new members to embrace the union and to be committed to pursuing IAFF goals. “Many new members and young members take for granted the benefits they have on the job, but in fact those benefits are the product of years of hard work and lobbying,” Schaitberger said.

“Everything our members receive —every benefit, every right, every gain —has come from the work of this union over the last 90 years,” he said. “If our members and new generations of fire fighters simply feel entitled to what they have…if they don’t appreciate the threats to their future and their jobs, your job as affiliate leaders will be made more and more difficult.”

While other unions have struggled, the IAFF has added 400 locals and 53,000 members since 2000, Schaitberger said. That growth is helping the union achieve its political goals.

The union’s political action fund, FIREPAC, now is among the top 20 largest political action committees of the 4,000 federal PACs.

Continued growth — in membership and FIREPAC — will only bolster the IAFF and improve the lives of fire fighters, Schaitberger said, as locals and the International fight inevitable battles with public officials who want to decimate retirement programs, slash budgets and eliminate jobs.

“We need to keep building, and it starts with me,” he stated. “I promise to keep innovating to make this IAFF stronger and more powerful, and to make sure you have the resources you need to be as successful as possible.”