Mathew Golsteyn, Chief of Operations During my time as an IAFF member, the position now known as “chief of operations” has been populated with low-key civilians or folks with a labor background. IAFF General Secretary-Treasurer Ed Kelly changed all that. He tapped Mathew Golsteyn, a former U.S. Army Major who served with the Special Forces, […]

Too Important to be Bothered The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Janus decision, a bit of a win for anti-union forces, is said to be another marker on the road to making unions irrelevant.  That remains to be seen, but one sure way to weaken labor’s importance is to get to the point where leaders no […]

The Supreme Court and Right to Work The Time’s reports it:  “The Supreme Court dealt a major blow on Wednesday to organized labor. By a 5-to-4 vote, with the more conservative justices in the majority, the court ruled that government workers who choose not to join unions may not be required to help pay for […]

So Much For Political Credibility IAFF Local 2068 President Ron Kuley’s Stanley Cup fire engine joy ride is mostly noted for who was with him and who wasn’t. But the real issue is where the engine was supposed to be that day. Kuley had promised it to Willie Bailey, a member of the Alexandria City […]

Kuley’s Damned If I Do, Damned if I Don’t Moment As if the Fairfax County Professional Fire Fighters and Paramedics Association, IAFF Local 2068, didn’t have enough problems already, their newly minted president, Ron Kuley, appropriated a fire truck they apparently own for a joy ride or two during the recent Stanley Cup events. He […]

The Not So Excellent “Center For Excellence” Anyone who has paid even the tiniest amount of attention to Harold Schaitberger’s IAFF will have long since concluded that everything is for sale. He sold out our commitment to safety advocacy by taking advertising money from equipment manufacturers thus creating an automatic conflict of interest. He agrees […]

  There are plenty of signs pointing to a long term pattern of harassment and retaliation of women in the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department (FRD). Most devastating is the Hernandez decision by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals which caused Fairfax County to finally, and belatedly, do the right thing. Now the […]

Kathleen Stanley and Cheri Zosh Right on the heels of the settlement in the Hernandez case, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed charges on behalf of Kathleen Stanley and Cheri Zosh, longtime FRD members, against both the Fairfax County, Virginia, Fire and Rescue Department (FRD) and International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2068, the Fairfax County […]

Old Dog, Old Trick I was online the other night and was served an advertisement for the “IAFF Center of Excellence.” A click on the ad provided “404 error messages” or a block by Google which usually happens when there is a security issue with the site. Either way, not so excellent. I eventually learned […]

Why the Retaliation Finding is So Significant Shortly after filing a complaint alleging a hostile work environment, including sexual harassment, Magaly Hernandez received a written reprimand for workplace violence and unbecoming conduct.  The U.S. Fourth District Court of Appeals referred to the activity giving rise to the reprimand as the “basketball incident” saying, “Hernandez, “was involved […]