IAFF: 2020 Convention Postponed
A false choice presented
IAFF.org (clumsily) describes it this way:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and with the current uncertainty of safely holding large group gatherings and the various federal, state and local travel restrictions, the 2020 Convention is postponed until January 25–29, 2021…
It’s more of the drivel that Schaitberger has been feeding IAFF members for two decades.
First, there is no “uncertainty of safely holding large group gatherings…”
It’s certain, holding an IAFF-style convention in August, with a hall packed full of members sitting at tables of ten or more, would be idiotic and possibly suicidal, and the same can be said for doing so in January, during what is likely to be a Covid-19 second wave, coupled with the seasonal flu.
But, since it will be in Vegas, at least you can die broke, too.
Perhaps Schaitberger uber-crony Jim Franzoni, who has long been showered with IAFF no-compete insurance business, can underwrite special life insurance coverage for the event.
Franzoni can give a Harley trike to the Covid-stricken IAFF delegate who recovers after spending the longest time on a ventilator.
Instead of kicking the can down the road, Schaitberger and his ever compliant minions could have done what AFSCME and the NEA are doing and what other headquarters unions are likely to do: hold a scaled-down virtual convention to stay on track and get essential business done.
After all, Schaitberger loves to brag about how he has brought the IAFF into 21st-century; apparently not so much.
A virtual convention would have numerous side benefits, one of which is to save money as we learn more and more about how much Schaitberger has pilfered over the years, over a million dollars, for sure.
The cash grab through his pension scandal has cost IAFF members millions more as they have to pay to make the pension system whole: it will take the entire annual dues payment of 6,600 members just to pay the extra pension cost he created, around $2M, in 2020 alone.
That’s Schaitberger’s IAFF, the one we are paying for.
So, why not a virtual convention?
It’s simple, smaller locals can usually not afford to attend an IAFF convention, so Schaitberger is free to ignore them while fawning over large locals, who do attend, wining and dining the big cats to pick up the large blocks of votes he covets to stay in power.
He pisses his pants over New York, Chicago, the L.A.s and Houston, is very attentive to Philly, San Francisco, San Diego and Dallas; cares deeply about Miami-Dade, Detroit, Denver and Jacksonville; then the yawning begins.
And importantly, at an in-person event he gets to be “big man on campus” strutting about with his panting lapdogs in tow, riding in limousines, posing for pics, as he feeds his mammoth, yet fragile, ego.
A virtual convention instantly changes all that, a level playing field emerges and worst of all, small locals can now vote and all his hard work, bribery really, goes right down the drain.
So, when you hear the news of the postponed convention, just know that you are being conned and played yet again, by Schaitberger and the vice-presidents who voted with him.
They fear democracy, honesty and ethics (and small locals, too.)
Stay well.
