| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
28 Aug 2004 09:14:28 PM |
| Object: |
New York City police and firefighters join protestors |
From New York Newsday, 8/29/04:
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/nyc-cops0829,0,5554607.story?coll=nyc-topheadlines-left
Cops will be protesters, too
BY WILLIAM MURPHY
Staff Writer
Police and firefighters disgruntled about the lack of a new labor
contract are planning a highly visible protest at the Republican
National Convention.
And -- to paraphrase Russian comedian Yakov Smirnoff -- if the party
won't come to them, they'll go to the party.
The two main unions representing the workers said they plan to protest
not only at Madison Square Garden, but at parties and receptions when
Mayor Michael Bloomberg drops in.
The off-duty workers "are going to be looking at social events the
mayor will be at with an eye toward going there," said Al O'Leary, a
spokesman for the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.
O'Leary and representatives of the Uniformed Firefighters Association
would not reveal any special displays envisaged for Bloomberg and the
national media.
On Friday, however, the UFA's Web site posted copies of rolling
billboards that will be towed around the city during the convention.
The two uniformed services plan to appear in their trademark T-shirts
-- blue for police officers and yellow for firefighters.
Those colors are the same they have been wearing for almost a month as
they picketed the Garden while it was being prepared for the
convention, and then moved on to "pop-up" demonstrations, where they
showed up at public appearances by Bloomberg.
"Our people wear blue shirts saying, 'Police officers for a fair
contract.' That's pretty much our signature," O'Leary said.
"Even the mayor's security people, who are our members, are
conditioned to seeing the blue shirts at events," he said.
Even as many officers and firefighters will be working overtime and
long shifts during the course of the four-day convention, their unions
are taking advantage of their paramilitary background to organize and
stage protests.
Both departments reach from their respective headquarters through
command structures down to firehouses and precinct station houses
around the city.
The Uniformed Firefighters Association and the Patrolmen's Benevolent
Association are organized along similar lines, reaching from the union
leadership down to the rank-and-file.
Just as borough or division commanders of the departments have
elaborate plans for mobilizing in an emergency, so too do their
counterparts in the unions.
"Each borough command has a borough trustee and a borough financial
secretary. They're the coordinators for each event. They pick up the
shirts, pick up the signs, go to the location," O'Leary said.
Tom Butler, spokesman for the Uniformed Firefighters Association, said
the union has a similar system.
_______________________________________________________________
Welcome NYC cops and firefighters, glad your joining us.
Harry
.
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