r/Firefighting • u/H0sedragg3r FF/ EMT • Feb 16 '25

News Utah public unions banned from collective bargaining with the state

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/utah-public-unions-banned-collective-bargaining-with-state-2025-02-16/
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14

u/ApprehensiveGur6842 Feb 16 '25

The IAFF under Ed Kelly’s leadership has failed to educate its members. It was one of the highest rated items in the survey they used as an excuse to sit this election out. Ed Kelly’s tenure with the IAFF needs to end.

2

u/pnwall42 Feb 16 '25

IAFF was not getting Kamala the win. She lost by a landslide. They were smart to sit it out. Trump comes harder after his enemies. Right now we don’t have a target on our back. In addition, this bill in Utah has been in the works for the past couple years when the teacher union fought back against the R ticket in the state over policies in schools.

11

u/ApprehensiveGur6842 Feb 16 '25

The IAFF can educate people now and always too. They put out a voting grade website that I was only made away through the state organization.

14

u/captmac Feb 16 '25

The real damage occurs at the state levels like Utah now and Wisconsin in the past. RTW and Union-busting will be widespread for the next few years.

I’ve never understood the tendency to vote for people you’ll have to spend money to work against.

5

u/Kibaken IL Captain/Paramedic Feb 16 '25

IAFF is gonna look like fools when they implement the ban nationwide.

-6

u/pnwall42 Feb 16 '25

I’ll never say never, but I doubt trump goes against police unions this hard which is how we would get pushed out of CBA nationwide, IMO. He is also more focused on education, cutting DOE seems to be his way of doing what Utah is doing in a different way.

8

u/Kibaken IL Captain/Paramedic Feb 16 '25

It's literally in project 2025 my guy. They don't give a fuck about anyone. They'll eat the cops faces just like they'll eat yours.

-6

u/pnwall42 Feb 16 '25

And guess what, there is nothing we could do about it. IAFF wasn’t changing this presidential outcome. So how they look like fools? Because the didn’t endorse Kamala? So they endorse and now the target is bigger on our backs. Like I said earlier, trump comes after his enemies, and even though organized labor is apart of 2025, we are not the agenda right now. Utah had this bill for two years, this did not happen in the last month and is a state level thing. The only thing the IAFF can do for the next 4 years is stay out of the federal crosshairs and focus on state level wins, imo. We don’t have the money to fight anything that trump brings at us, we are fucking France in world war 2, you hang low and let the tides hopefully turn back towards labor in 4 years. Politics is fucking messy, I hate that we have to be apart of it, but you can’t call the IAFF fools when we won’t know for years what the outcome is. Also seeing you’re from Illinois, you can see how Chicago Fire is doing in a blue state and in a blue city, they are losing as well. No contract for 3 1/2 years………..

Like I said, politics is a life long chess game and guess what firefighters and even labor will always just be a pawn on the board. We will never win. Sometimes we will have it better under other administrations, but we answer to rich, whether that be a Dem or Rep in office.

8

u/Kibaken IL Captain/Paramedic Feb 16 '25

You say that but how many IAFF members proudly wear red hats? Keep voting against your own interests.

1

u/Dal90 Feb 16 '25

Reagan won by a landslide with 58% of the nationwide vote and an 18ppt margin in 1984.

Nothing about Trump's election was a landslide with 49.8% and 1.5ppt margin, it was a tighter than usual election.

1

u/pnwall42 Feb 17 '25

He controlled the swing states. Can’t go with the pop vote

1

u/Dal90 Feb 17 '25

That is not how a landslide works.

Had three states with similarly tight results broke for Harris, Trump would have lost.

PA (+1.7), MI (+1.4), WI (+0.9). Had 115,000 voters across those states voted for Harris, Trump would have lost.

There is nothing about Trump's election that was a landslide.

2

u/wehrmann_tx Feb 17 '25

She lost because of, and I quote Trump, “Elon is good with those machines. The voting ones.”