Posts tagged firefighter
Miami-Dade teachers’ union faces potential decertification
November 17, 2023 // As of last week, only 58.4% of United Teachers of Dade members were paying dues to the union, short of the 60% required by most public sector unions under a new state law. On Friday, the union was set to send a snapshot of membership to the Public Employee Relations Commission, or PERC, the state agency that regulates public employee unions.
How California’s Firefighter Union Could Get Guaranteed Raises, Forever
July 5, 2023 // “Firefighters are already among the best-paid government workers in the state,” said Will Swaim, president of California Policy Center, an advocacy group that is critical of California public employee unions. “No one else in California gets that deal,” he said. Michael Genest, the former finance director under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, also called promises of future raised “irresponsible.” “Governors and legislators always regret having made such promises when our budget goes out of balance,” he wrote in an email. “The wise move is to make decisions about the allocation of state revenues each year and even then to be careful not to spend more on anything than is prudent.”
Accountant Imprisoned for Taking $1M from New Orleans Firefighters Fund
July 15, 2022 // Wayne Triche, 72, pleaded guilty in March to charges of wire fraud and tax fraud. U.S. District Judge Greg Guidry sentenced Triche to 41 months in prison. He must also pay $937,659 in restitution to the New Orleans Firefighters Pension and Relief Fund (NOFPRF) and $329,895 to the Internal Revenue Service as part of the sentence. From 2009 to 2017, Triche embezzled approximately $937,659 from the fund, which is separate from the city and the fire department and is intended to administer survivor, disability and retirement benefits to participating firefighters. Triche also lied about his income, failing to claim the embezzled funds on his taxes from 2013 to 2016, which is how the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the IRS nabbed him in a joint investigation. U.S. Attorney Duane Evans, George Russell, at American Pension Consultants,
Ex-Detroit Firefighter of the Year sentenced for embezzling $200K in union funds
May 26, 2022 // Verdine Day, 62, was sentenced to one year in prison and $220,043.65 in restitution to the DFFA, as well as two years of supervised release on her conviction for bank fraud as charged in an information filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Labor organizers and anti-union activists square off again on membership, dues issues
March 18, 2022 // “It codifies the process by which an employee may exercise this right and safeguards that person’s ability to exercise it at any time,” Vernuccio said. “It does this by having the public employees tell their employers directly that they wish to have money taken from their paycheck, instead of employers taking the union’s word for it.”
Chicago mayor warns police to get vaccine by Sunday or lose pay
March 16, 2022 // On Wednesday, when announcing the appeal, Catanzara said: “I don’t know what happens over the next 72 hours. All I can tell you is we are not going to stop punching. This easily can be all averted before this cliff becomes a reality.” Catanzara in recent weeks has sounded the alarm over what he said will be a “bloodbath” in Chicago if his predictions of a mass resignation come true.