Quantcast
Channel: Turn Out Blog » Firefighter PensionsTurn Out Blog
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 9

IAFF…For Sale.

0
0

 

“Let Them Eat Cake.”

The International Association of Firefighters was born in the beer halls of great North American cities like Pittsburgh, Toronto, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York and Boston.  There, workers could talk about long hours, low wages and no rights—the very concerns that led to our union’s birth 96 years ago.

How ironic then, that 2014 opens with IAFFwines.com, the drink of “fat-cat” bosses everywhere.

IAFF Wine

IAFF Wine

Can working stiffs barely surviving a murderous 6-year recession complete with layoffs and firings really afford to fork over $100 for two bottles of wine? (Includes two precious IAFF logo wine glasses to remind you how “special” your union has become.)  

Maybe you can propose a toast while waiting in the unemployment line.

To engage in a bit of market-speak, effective brands serve as identity short-cuts and are both effective and highly prized.  The contemporary IAFF brand was an amalgam of service, bravery and 9/11-Never Forget, a cherished reminder of sacrifice.

Now, that cherished brand is being used to "hawk" wine from a .com site.  

Just who put the IAFF "up for sale"?

A Fat Cat

A Fat Cat

What’s Next?

Perhaps an IAFF pinky ring you can use to tap on that wine glass for pre-toast silence?

Pinky

Pinky

Or, a weasel-trimmed Nomex/Kevlar cape to remind you of those (long ago) days at the fire house?

My vote is for a Cairns New Yorker “Louis Vuitton” edition complete with a platinum and diamond-studded eagle crest.

Louis and the Missus'

Whether Louis XVI’s wife Marie Antoinette actually said, “Let them eat cake” as a sardonic response to starving French subjects is a matter of contention.  But, just like IAFFWines.com, it is a perfect metaphor for some leaders who are utterly out-of-touch with those they represent.

Louis XVI

Louis XVI

It raises legitimate questions about IAFF priorities and allocation of resources.  Does our union really have time for such prissy foolishness when firefighters and paramedics are in the fight of their lives over pensions and pay?

Who comes up with such bizarre, gaffe-ridden and embarrassing ideas, anyway?

In fact, if this qualifies as a good idea we may be out of ideas all together.

Not so incidentally, some union leaders continually lament the fact that many union members no longer identify with the labor movement.  Lest we wonder why?  (Maybe the IAFF will market caviar next.)

Perhaps if some leaders purchased (and drank) less wine with the member's money there would be less need to peddle it on an electronic street corner.

The holy god of greed masquerading as revenue has triumphantly slain tact, propriety and a reputation of 100 years standing.

In Louis’s day the price for a “Versailles lifestyle” was both high and harsh.

The citizens had their cake, and his head, too.

Bottom’s up.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 9

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images