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IAFF Local 1403 is the local bargaining unit of the International Association of Firefighters. The Dade County Association of Firefighters is the bargaining unit for firefighters employed by Miami-Dade County, Florida, formerly Metro-Dade County. The Dade County Association of Firefighters was chartered in 1961 by (provide citations).

PAST PRESIDENTS

CHARTER MEMBERS

LONG SERVING

IAFF Local 1403 is the local bargaining unit of the International Association of Fire Fighters. The Dade County Association of Firefighters is the bargaining unit for firefighters employed by Miami-Dade County, Florida, formerly Metro-Dade County. The Dade County Association of Firefighters was chartered in 1961.

The Dade County Fire Department began as a rural fire patrol in the 1930's. When Metropolitan Dade County was created with passage of the Home Rule Charter in 1957, the Fire Patrol was integrated into the Sheriff's Office under a single Department of Public Safety. The chain of command came under the Sheriff and his staff.

The work schedule was a two platoon, 24 on, 24 off schedule. The Department was staffed by one and occasionally two people on an apparatus. It was in this context that Local 1403 was originally organized and chartered in 1961. The first president was Ed Hill, who, along with Vice President Gene Perry and Secretary Arthur O'Brien, spent most of the first two years convincing people to support the Union. Wayne Judah, John Wilkes, Henry Russell, and Tony Wilcox from the City of Miami Local 587 helped President Hill in recruiting members. The creation of Local 1403 gave the Fire Fighters a democratic way to get their voices heard in the community. Prior to 1961 the Dade County Firemen’s Benevolent Association spoke for the Fire Fighters. One of the Benevolents’ legacies was securing wage parity with patrol officers. Harry Brown was benevolent President during most of this period and was assisted by Ken Greer. In the early 1960's, the Fire Division had 77 members. There were no collective bargaining laws for public employees. The Fire Division was competing with the needs of the Sheriff's Department for scarce budget dollars. In this context, the Union began its campaign for job improvements such as safety equipment, staffing, shorter work schedules, and better compensation. In 1963, Carl Stridfeldt was elected president. By then, two person engines were the norm. The priority of the Union was to separate the Fire Division and create an independent department. By 1966, the Fire Division covered an area of 1,900 square miles with 120 Fire Fighters. The starting pay was $409 per month rising to a maximum of $520 and the total Fire Division budget was $900,000. The Miami Herald referred to the Fire Division as "the county's prime red-headed step child," and warned that an industrialist would be hesitant to set up shop in the unincorporated area.

In early 1966, Carl Stridfeldt and John Soeder met with County Mayor Chuck Hall. The Mayor threw in his support and by that summer, the Metro-Dade Fire Department was on its own. This set the stage for consolidation of many of the smaller Departments with Metro.

And merge they did. On October 8, 1966, the South Miami City Council voted to let Metro take over its Fire Department. Other Departments quickly followed suit and merger fever was on. Over the next decade Metro-Dade absorbed one Department after another resulting in cost savings and added efficiencies throughout the County. Through the 1960's and 70's the Department took in Florida City, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands, Surfside, North Miami, North Bay Village, Homestead, Opa-Locka, Virginia Gardens, the Port Authority (airport), North Bay Village, Hialeah Gardens, Medlay, Sweetwater, Miami Shores, North Miami Beach, Miami Springs, and West Miami. At one time there were at least 22 separate Departments in the County.

In the early days of the Local's existence, negotiating benefits meant lobbying the County Commission. Carl Stridfeldt compared it to being like "peasants standing before the czar." The Executive Board, George Nalley, John Soeder, John Biller, and Nelson Bradshaw, helped draw up a bill that Stridfeldt and Miami Fire Fighters' President Charlie Hall took to Tallahassee. Miami Senator Bob Shevin championed the bill and it passed giving Fire Fighters collective bargaining rights.

With collective bargaining rights secured, George Nalley replaced Carl Stridfeldt as President. Under his leadership, Local 1403 negotiated its first contract with Dade County on May 23, 1968.

This contract, which was negotiated for one year, was three pages long and had 14 Articles. It was very different from the ones we enjoy today. It secured disability retirement, a 12% pay raise, restrictions on the transfer of personnel (a precursor of the bid system), minimum staffing (three per unit resulting in the addition of three Lieutenants and 39 Fire Fighters), and an overtime clause. Fire Fighters were protected by contract language for the first time. This first contract was a joint agreement between the County and Local 1403 and Local S-5 which was the Port Authority (now station's 12 and 25). It is signed by George Nalley for Local 1403 and Frank Muhr for Local S-5. It was the first public employee contract in the State of Florida.

The 1969 contract established a grievance procedure with arbitration, incentive pay, and the idea of going into the EMS business. The contract called for 2 persons to staff a "fire rescue" unit "if and when such units are established by the County".

The Department continued to grow rapidly. Local 1403 was already very successful. At that time, much of the Local's operation was out of the trunks of cars and at people's homes. This continued until the 1980's when the local rented a small office in North Miami. Even then, the local was largely operated on a shoestring.

In 1970, Clarence Sigmon was elected president of Local 1403. Under his leadership, Local 1403 established a bid system for filling in vacancies.

The early 1970's also saw the beginnings of EMS with the training of our first paramedics. In 1972, John Rosier became Union President. Under his watch, with the help and support of Rescue pioneers Dr. Gene Nagel and Dr. Jim Hirshman, Local 1403 lobbied for and successfully implemented its first rescues. Within a few months, Rescues 7, 21, 15, 13, and 4 were placed into service. The era of Fire Rescue had begun. In 1974 Local 1403 lobbied successfully to increase the Florida Retirement System pension to 3% and the pension became non-contributory. This benefit was enjoyed until 1978. In 1975, under Rosier's leadership, the County Commission approved 102 new positions and the concept of the four Fire Fighter crew. The work week was shortened to 52 hours which was a CR day every six weeks. The term CR day was named in honor of Chief Robert Croy, who worked out the first schedule. The Union's lobbying at the time was so effective that the Miami Herald noted in a 1975 editorial, "so powerful is the Union that its representative is treated with great deference and at times functions almost as the tenth member of the Commission." In 1979, John Rosier resigned as President and Vice President George Nalley once again assumed the office. In 1980, Bill Schmidt was elected Local 1403 President and soon resigned. Vice President Dominick Barbara stepped up to lead the Local. By then, the Department had over 1,000 uniformed Fire Fighters and responded to over 50,000 calls. The starting salary was approaching $15,000. As President, Dominick Barbera led the fight for the 48 hour work week (1981) and the third person on rescue (1982-84). These were successfully negotiated. One of Dominick's priorities was improving internal communications. He appointed Mickey Donn to create and edit the union's new newsletter, the JumpLine, and the first issue hit the field in 1981. Dominick also established the Fire Fighter’s Health Insurance Trust. After the tragic death of Don Gaughan in a warehouse fire in 1980, the members of the Local voted to establish a "land and building fund" to dedicate a new union hall to fallen Fire Fighters. That fund grew and led to the Fire Fighters Memorial Building which was dedicated in 1993. Dominick led the fight to create an independent Fire Board. The issue was adequately funding and staffing the Department to meet the needs of the citizens. It was the first successful citizens initiative in Dade County with Local 1403 members collecting 107,000 signatures to put the issue on the ballot. This issue remains unresolved due to many legal issues that have arisen. In 1988, Dominick spent almost 60 days in Tallahassee. On the last day of the legislative session, after years of hard lobbying, the 3% pension benefit was restored on the last day of the session. The Fire Fighter Charities was also established that year. Hurricane Andrew struck Dade County in 1992 and was the costliest natural disaster in US history. Over 300 members of Local 1403 lost their homes. Local 1403 set up its Fire Fighter relief program and helped several members obtain building supplies, generators, fuel, and food. In 1993, the Fire Fighter Memorial Building was dedicated. Local 1403 finally had a place to call home. Mickey Donn was elected President and began his term in 1994. Local 1403 pushed for and supported a $59 million dollar bond issue that the voters approved. The Bond issue has assured that the Fire Department would be able to expand and grow. He also negotiated Dive Pay for the first time. During this period, new Fire Fighters were placed under residency restrictions and the DROP plan was introduced for retirement. In 1999, Dominick Barbera came out of retirement and ran against Mickey Donn and was elected and began his second stint as President on January 1, 2000. At that time, Miami-Dade Fire Fighters were working without a contract. Dominick declared impasse and after a long year of contested negotiations, the Special Master sided with Local 1403 and the County Commission approved the Special Master recommendations. The Commission Actions were vetoed by Mayor Alex Penelas and the Union had to rally at three Commission meetings. The Commission finally overrode the Mayor’s Veto 13-0. It was the first override of a Mayoral Veto in the Commission’s history. The Local worked to abolish the same Fire Board it created under Dominick’s leadership when members of the Fire Board began advocating the break up of the Department. The Local also worked hard to restore pension monies that were reduced from 1978-1993 during Dominick’s second watch. In 2001, Miami-Dade Fire Fighters raised over $2.5 million dollars to help victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks while several members went to ground zero and the pentagon to help with the recovery. The Fire Fighter Wellness Center was established that year with the goal of improving Fire Fighter health and safety. In 2003, Stan Hills became President. The Local created a second Vice President’s position and the Local elected Al Cruz and Tommie Williams as Vice President’s that year. The Local began a new growth phase growing form 1400 members to more than 2200 members in 2007 with over 30 new services being introduced and new ideas being introduced to the Fire Service. The Local negotiated improved medical insurance, minimum staffing for specialty units such as Hazardous Materials and Technical Rescue Units, improved disability rules, and an upgrade of several units to ALS capability. Hundreds of members were promoted and residency requirements were repealed. Local 1403 established its first web site. The members of Local 1403 demanded better training to respond to terrorism in the wake of 911 and voted no confidence in the manager when he resisted training Fire Fighters. In 2004, Florida was hit with four hurricanes and three more including Katrina and Wilma hit in 2005. Local 1403 was the number one fundraiser for disaster relief in the Country. This was at a time when several members sustained severe damage themselves. In 2005, new language was placed in the Contract making every member eligible for overtime, and fire rescue dispatchers were entered into Local 1403. The next year, incentive pay was leveled and the right to arbitrate some disciplines was finally secured. 2007 began with a tax revolt led by the Florida Legislature. The Local responded by proposing to go into the transport business in order to get more revenue for the Department. A restructuring of the Local was proposed by President Hills to bring the Local closer to the membership as the Local had grown by leaps and bounds and was now providing representation to its membership as well as running a medical insurance plan, a building, a catering corporation, a charities, and a political action fund. It had evolved from a small group working out of the trunks of cars to a major Union Local serving the members of one of the greatest Fire Departments in the world. In July 2007 hundreds of members of the Local packed the County Commission Chambers demanding an end to attempts to splinter the Department and took a stand for regional fire service. That battle is only beginning and will most likely take Local 1403 and the Department in new directions. The Local is active in finding new ways to fund our service as a response to the economic challenges posed by tax cuts and the economic downturn that began in 2008. With over 3000 members both active and retired representing the 6th largest Department in the nation, Local 1403 has been a trendsetter for most of its history. In 48 short years, Local 1403 made great strides along with the Metro-Dade Fire Rescue Department. The Local remains a democratic institution with regular meetings and elections. Local 1403 is involved in numerous community events. Its members have dedicated themselves to serving our area both on and off the job. The Union is the voice of the Fire Fighters upholding our motto: "Not a Job, a Commitment."

Information for this history given by: Dominick Barbera, John Biller, Nelson Bradshaw, Bill Broughton, Harry Brown, Tom Brown, Mickey Donn, Ed Hill, Stan Hills, Charlie Kossuth, Steve Lowe, George Nalley, Gary Rainey, John Rosier, Carl Stridfeldt, and Tommie Williams.

Category:Firefighting Category:IAFF Category:Firefighters associations Category:Firefighting in the United States