|
|
|
|
|
IAFF controls Lansing fire department January 25, 2019
I am writing from
inside the ranks of the Lansing Fire Department
to advise you all of several issues that are
currently being withheld from the public by city
officials, human resource staff, IAFF Local 421
union officials, and Fire Administration. These
include criminal incidents by white employees
covered up, discriminatory hiring practices,
targeted discriminatory workplace harassment,
retaliation, and negligence in complaint
handling by city officials regarding
employees and applicants of color. With the
mayoral change came a total overhaul of the top
HR directors and staff, and a new position of
Labor Relations Attorney being added and in the
first few months of Mayor Schor's term, we at
the fire department also had an overhaul of our
top officials. Chief Talifaro "resigned" and
Assistant Chief Bruce Odom "retired" shortly
after. A new interim Chief was appointed; Dave
Purchase, and an assistant chief was promoted;
former EOC Chief Michael Tobin. Why is this
important? we will get to that in a bit....But
first, let's talk about the history of our
hiring process and focus over the last 6 years.
Over the last 6
years, LFD hired a total of 55 people between
two 2014-2016 hiring classes, out of those, 22
were minorities including 16 men of color and 6
women. The most recent hiring class in 2018 was
14 Firefighters, of those 1 minority, all others
white males. To know the significance of this
you would need to look at the history of this
department. Those 2 hiring classes between 2014
and 2016, were the first hiring classes since
2009 and all prior hiring classes reflected the
current 2018 class as far as diversity is
concerned. The history of this department was;
if a minority firefighter got hired, it was
because you were lucky...or as they say "you hit
the lottery". All others were simply expected to
get hired and in most cases, had a leg up on the
field by having either a family member in the
department which made them "legacy", or knowing
someone high up and getting a "recommendation".
In any case, the deck was stacked against any minority
applicant from the start.
Now, what happened
in 2014 that changed prior hiring practices?
Chief Talifaro in coordination with Mayor Virg
Bernero, decide its time to diversify this
department.
They
both made their intentions clear to Union
officials and the public by opening up the
hiring requirements to include no prior fire
experience needed and paid training. This
brought in people from the city! Applications
from minorities flooded in for the 2014-2016
classes. In the 2014 class; 7 applicants were
hired with no prior or some prior experience,
and were trained to complete all certifications
needed. Of those, 5 were African American men
with Lansing addresses. In the 2016 class; 8
were hired with no or some prior experience, of
those 3 were African American men. These 2
classes reflected the diversity in this city
more then any classes hired here before.
Now we move to 2018 and we can't find one Female
applicant that's qualified?
Well, I happen to know this isn't
true. One African American female EMT applied
and didn't get in after passing all
requirements. This young woman was so confused
as to why she didn't get in that she asked for a
meeting with the Chief which she was granted. In
that meeting she recalls Chief Purchase making
what she termed "outdated" racial terms, which
she eventually wrote a letter to mayor Schor to
advise him of, to this day she has not received
a response. Another white Firefighter that is
actually the son of a Retired Captain and
ex-Union president failed the physical agility
and skills test last hiring class and was
eventually hired in East Lansing, reapplied this
year and the part of the test that he failed was
taken out of the skills test for this class.
How? How has this been allowed to happen?
Only one man of
color?
What's different,
what changed?
Did the
minorities miss the bus on the way to apply?
NO we know that's
not it...
So what is it you
ask?
THE UNION
leadership. Our union leadership reflects the
diversity they want to see in this department;
not one person of color and not one female union
official! So how does the union get this done? I
mean the union leadership doesn't do the hiring
right?
Wrong! The union
leadership has a hand in everything that happens
in this department, all the way from influencing
elections to determining who and when someone is
hired or fired through influence. To understand
this, you need to understand that this
department promotes from within by seniority so
that means that everybody in every Union
position started as a firefighter. Every one of
them went up through the ranks together, and now
hold the top positions in the department. Every
position in this department is a union position
except, the Assistant Chief and Department
Chief. All prior Assistant Chiefs are union
members who drop their union card in order to do
their job as an assistant Chief and upon
retirement must request that the union hold a
vote to return them to retired union status. It
is a "HUGE" deal to us as firefighters, to
retire with union credentials. So can you see
why nobody wants to go against the union
leadership? In my opinion, Chief Talifaro
didn't seem worried about any of this and only
wanted to do what he felt was right, and so the
union hated him! They fought everything he tried
to do. Campaigned against him in an onslaught of
slander and defamation at the kitchen table on a
daily. This practice makes any person not
favored by the union a target for all forms of
harassment and discrimination and most times
this falls squarely on the minority firefighters
in the ranks. So through the influence to get
Chief Talifaro to "resign" and Chief Odom to
"retire" they ushered in the new world order and
now we have The 2018 hiring class. The
practice of hiring EMTs has always been what
Lansing fire department has done, in most cases
this is the only way minorities get
hired because the national average of
minority firefighters trained as paramedics and
have their Firefighter certification is very
low. In most cases, a class of 20 potential
Paramedics may not have any people of color in
them and only a few females.
Ah ha!!
The union
leadership now knows how to whitewash the hiring
process; just complain about not having enough
Paramedics for 4 years....... and then voila a
perfect storm happens. We successfully pushed
the chiefs out with the help of the Diversity
training instructor Jeremy
Hurd who is the EMS Captain with Palm Beach
County Fire Rescue. I know, I know this is a lot
to take in, and this is a new character but stay
with me this part is very important.
This man was brought in as a response from the
new HR Administration to fix a discrimination
issue that was brought to the old HR Department
involving one of those African American
firefighters I spoke of earlier; that got hired
with no qualifications. Who made a
discrimination complaint against coworkers and
superiors in 2017, and now actually has a 1981
civil rights act and title VII complaint filed
against the department. Somehow this turned into
a Chief Talifaro bashing and eventually was the
start of the end of our Chief. This coupled with
the fact that the Local 421 IAFF Union President was
on Mayor Schor's transition team (again
with the influence from the union
leadership), they both made it clear that a
change in Chief must happen and it needs to
happen now. So Chief Talifaro is out, so goes
his assistant Chief Odom... and now we have 2
vacancies. Chief Purchase was brought in to hire
the new chief but I'm not sure this was needed
as I believe they already had their new chief
figured out....almost forgot to add Chief
Purchases son was on the financial health team
(public safety) group with Local 421 President
on transition team also. So much influence! So
much nepotism and insider trading going on here
huh? It's laughable how polarizing this all
is. I'm just a stupid ol' Firefighter and I can
see that all this isn't right.
Remember the guy from Florida who advised Mayor
Schor Chief Talifaro needed to go?
Welcome in Chief Michael Mackey of Palm Beach
County Fire Rescue as the new Lansing Fire
Chief effective April 2019...
Palm Beach sound familiar?
That's because of our buddy Jeremy Hurd,
remember the discrimination complaint, brought
in for diversity training, who suggested
Talifaro be gone, he just so happened to be a
subordinate of Chief Michael Mackey while he was
serving as Department Chief of Palm...Beach....County..Fire..
Coincidence?
I don't think so! A major metro department like ours could get several applicants from all over the country when a department head position opens. Funny it narrowed down to him huh?...
So now the stage is set. New
mayor in, New Chiefs on the way, old Chiefs out
and through encouragement from the "UNION
leadership" they will listen and hire only
Paramedics and the odds of any of them being a
minority are slim to none. I know this because
I've heard this over and over again since the
2014 hiring class. So there it is, you have it.
But how do they
influence who gets fired you ask?
Simple, two words;
"disparate treatment" They pick and choose who they
fight for. Not what they fight for, but who. This
process always goes bad for the minority
firefighter. For example, IAFF local 421
President/Battalion Chief who was charged and
convicted for Battery in 2014 during a brawl in a
bar over a domestic issue, was given a choice to use
his own vacation and sick time so he could do his 30
days in jail while still being on the payroll and
was written a letter of recommendation to the EMS
board by the Asst. Chief in order to retain his EMT
license as required by the state licensing board to
remain employed. This incident resulted in no
disciplinary action from LFD. NONE!!!!
In contrast, you have
a minority firefighter with similar charges, who
was immediately placed on
administrative leave, given 4 days off with no pay,
and threatened with the loss of his employment if
the EMS board decides to suspend his license for
more then 30 days. No offer of a
recommendation letter to the EMS Board.
Currently, there are 3 firefighters with pending criminal charges from everything from DUI to Domestic Violence. Multiple others who have convictions on their record that would disqualify them as an applicant and all because our union is really good when they want to be. Multiple others who were lucky enough to have the Union head off the police before it got to that point. Even going so far as to send a Battalion Chief to get one white firefighter from Ingham county jail after he trashed a pub in Mason and then attempted to fight police all night while being detained in the drunk tank. This firefighter was also not disciplined by the department. These are just a few of the examples of how much power the Union has to sway decisions on firing someone. They fight; you stay, they don't; you're on your own.
I am aware of multiple minority firefighters that
have made discrimination complaints over the years
to fire admin and also Human resources. One in
particular who was placed on paid administrative
leave for a year as a result of the incident listed
above that eventually ushered in Jeremy Hurd from
Palm Beach. No policy changes or trainings have been
implemented and as far as I've been told, the
firefighter involved in that incident is again on
leave. The City leadership knows they have an issue
and have done nothing to correct it, all while
promoting diversity in the workplace but not willing
to speak on what happens after.
The corruption within the ranks of
Lansing Fire Department is endless. It is a secret
society that would play out like a mob movie if the
story were to be turned into a movie. Most minority
firefighters are told by their closest friends in
the department that even though they may see
dysfunction and discrimination, keep your head down
and just do your job... keep your head down as not
to have it chopped off for speaking out. This is why
in large, this place will never change until
exposed. I may not be directly affected by these
issues but I believe that what's right is right, and
if I can't do what's right I don't belong here
representing the City of Lansing in such an
honorable job. There is plenty more that I believe
if the correct questions were asked to the right
people it would peel back a history that is by far
one of Lansing's most corrupt secrets.
Send comments, questions, and tips to stevenrharry@gmail.com, or call or text me at 517-505-2696. If you'd like to be notified by email when I post a new story, let me know.
|
Public
Policy