A short time after the recent Local 2 general election, the Secretary-Treasurer “published” the annual financial statements of our Union as required in the by-laws. I really don’t think putting them on the website buried under a bunch of other, less relevant information, would be considered “published”. When I first came on the job, the annual report was actually published; by that I mean printed and distributed to the firehouses for review, discussion and engagement amongst the membership. In the annual report narrative, you were told that the Union is in a good financial position. What troubled me about this narrative was the discussion around the Union’s cash balance. There seemed to be a lot of pride explaining that the net assets increased by $360,000 from 2018 to 2019. That statement, standing alone, might rise to the level of pride, but there are other facts about our financial situation which would provide a more truthful perspective. The fact of the matter is that Local 2’s cash balance increased only because our union dues increased by almost the same amount, it was not caused by the Executive Board’s prudence and cutting of unnecessary spending. If it wasn’t for the dues increase which started this last year, Local 2’s cash balance would have barely moved in the last 10 years.
Taking a longer term look back on Local 2’s finances will illustrate this lack of prudence by our Executive Board. Over the ten year period, 2009-2018, the Local 2 Executive Board collected $42,000,000 in union dues from the membership. Do you know how much of that they saved? Do you know how much was saved for a Building Fund? Litigation Fund? Arbitration Fund? Local 2 saved almost zero! Nearly every dollar they collected they spent. $42,000,000 collected over ten years and we have to relieve ourselves at union meetings in a port-a-potty. We pay property taxes on that garage we call a union hall and we don’t even use the sewer system; instead we pay someone to haul our shit away.
Did anyone on the Executive Board take a good look at expenditures during that 10-year period? I mean, why does a union office with only 5 secretaries, 3 supposedly full time board members and 10 periodic Executive Board members, need to pay almost $75,000 every single year for computer consultants? How complicated can Local 2’s IT needs be? Who has that contract? Has it ever been bid out? Who does that guy know? Besides computer consultants, Local 2 also has a budgeted line item for general consultants. I have no idea what issues they could be consulting on with the Local 2 Executive Board. But those consultants required on average, $50,000 a year, over the past 10 years. Again, who do these consultants know, what have they done for us and why were they hired?
Years ago I remember a bit of controversy over the expenditures of union dues for a public relations consultant. Yet, here we are in the middle of this pandemic and Local 2 has not put out a single print interview, news article or tv and radio appearance spotlighting the tremendous work our member have done. This pandemic is a gift to Local 2’s public relations strategy. This was by far the greatest opportunity to generate the public goodwill that will be necessary in the upcoming budget battles to sustain manning and adequate pension payments for our members. Remember, this contract, if signed, is only good for a year because it we have been without a contract for three years. We have to start this battle all over again, like, right now. Instead, the Local 2 public relations strategy is to purchase 5,000 masks with the union logo for $25,000? Who is driving the bus at Local 2? This is definitely a lead from behind strategy if I ever saw one.
Probably the largest expense Local 2 incurs is the approximately $1M paid to the International each year. There should be a relationship between OUR benefit security and the lucrative-ness of being a IAFF union official. How can we justify giving $1,000,000 annually to the IAFF when the pension fund supporting 9,800 active and retired members of the Chicago Fire Department was only funded at 16% at the end of 2018. Have you ever heard this Executive Board justify why $1M a year to the IAFF is a good value to OUR membership or if the International has been a good steward of OUR union dues? I have never heard a compelling argument. In fact, when I brought it up, I was told that I don’t understand Unionism, that I am not a true union brother. Maybe I don’t understand. But I do understand accountability, and what happens if you neglect to look out for your own interests by failing to hold people accountable. If you haven’t read the recent Wall Street Journal article addressing the lack of accountability at our International, I suggest you do. If you read it and it doesn’t generate some concern about our Union and the International, then may I suggest you might be the one who has some misunderstanding of what Unionism entails. Unionism requires participation by the membership and a willingness to hold elected officials accountable. I think it is time Local 2 holds the International accountable and also live by the old adage “Charity Begins at Home”. When our new Union brothers and sisters aren’t compensated for their hard work, for the first 52 months of their career, and the City fails to adequately secure our retirement security, then Local 2 needs to refocus and tend to business at home and worry less about the International. If the Wall Street Journal article is accurate, then the International doesn’t need Local 2’s $1M until it rights its own ship. What the IAFF needs is financial discipline, and they certainly won’t find it from Local 2, especially given Local 2’s history of poor stewardship of union dues and their inability to secure benefits.
Over this 10 year period the membership has paid over $42,000,000 in union dues and our cash and investments only increased by $138,000. A majority has been spent on a lavish lifestyle for the union ‘element’ that has managed to crawl their way to the top of the political heap. The remainder has been spent on questionable expenses that don’t seem to support the goal of securing our benefits. And the most egregious to the sensibilities of our membership, in my opinion, is the total lack of accountability as OUR union dues are given to politicians that few of us would ever consider casting a vote for let alone provide financial support. Over $1,300,000 of our union dues went to politicians during this 10 year period. Our Union is not only failing to secure our benefits, they are tone deaf to the wishes of its membership and go out of their way to keep us in the dark. No explanation or documentation of who they give political contributions. And the Executive Board lacks any sense of transparency when “publishing” the annual report a year late, buried among other irrelevant information on a website that looks like it was a high school project.
It is frustrating to hear the criticism of public employee unions by the political pundits, but it is getting more difficult to defend such criticism. Especially when our union continues to stand up for politicians who the membership generally wouldn’t vote for and who continue to undermine our pension fund. This is what the pundits are talking about when they say public unions have been co-opted by politicians – and Local 2 allows it.
There is nothing wrong with demanding better from Your Union. There is nothing wrong with asking Your Union to quit dabbling in this losing political horse race in Springfield. There is nothing wrong with demanding the Union publish who they give political contributions. There is nothing wrong with demanding the Union spend Your union dues prudently. And there is nothing wrong with asking Your Union to push back on an International and instead focus more on the parochial issues that are more relevant to You. I’m sorry, but you younger members better start paying attention, because the bus you’re riding on is heading for a cliff.
Timothy McPhillips
Pension Fund Trustee
This newsletter is my opinion only and clearly is not the opinion of the Retirement Board of the Firemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund.
