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Previous coverage
Read entire letter from IAFF Local 36 President Ed Smith
More from Washington City Paper's Alan Suderman in Loose Lips blog
A new issue appears to be on the table in the ongoing problems between DC Fire & EMS Department Chief Kenneth Ellerbe and some of his firefighters. It revolves around a verbal order transmitted Saturday through the chain of command to DC firehouses. It addresses the possibility of protests at Mayor Vincent Gray's State of the District speech to be delivered tomorrow night at the Historic Sixth & I Synagogue in Northwest.
The warning of potential punishment comes following the walkout by firefighters at Chief Ellerbe's January 24 speech on the state of the department.
Here's the description of the latest issue from a letter posted today by IAFF Local 36 president Ed Smith:
Washington City Paper's Alan Suderman, who writes the column Loose Lips, say he has pictures from a half dozen log books from city firehouses documenting the verbal order that came via Deputy Chief Larry Jackson. But the word from the department spokesman denies the involvement of Chief Ellerbe:
Ellerbe spokesman Lon Walls says the whole episode is "much ado about nothing." Walls says that while Ellerbe expects his troops to behave professionally at the mayor's speech, he did not send out "any kind of directive like that."
"There's not been any message," says Walls.
The Washington Post's Mike Debonis has more from spokesman Walls in his District of Debonis blog:
Lon Walls, an FEMS spokesman, said “there was no directive” and explained a lieutenant who is also a union member “misconstrued” departmental discussions.
Walls said the department “respects their right to freedom of speech,” but declined to say that firefighters who wished to protest could do so without fear of discipline. “It would not be appreciated,” he said. “It would be frowned upon.”
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Also on STATter911 …
- UPDATED: Scores of firefighters in DCFD garb show for mayor’s speech. No comment from Chief Ellerbe on spokesman Lon Walls’ claims that previous protest was ‘racist act’. – February 7, 2012
- DC Chief Kenneth Ellerbe comments on suspension of spokesman Lon Walls over racism allegations. More discussion of order telling firefighters to behave at mayor’s speech. – February 11, 2012
- DC Fire spokesman Lon Walls suspended after Tweets that DCFD protests were ‘racist act’. Mayor distances himself from comments. City Paper profiles Chief Kenneth Ellerbe’s battles with IAFF Local 36. – February 9, 2012
- DC Fire Spokesman Lon Walls calls firefighters’ protest of Chief Ellerbe a ‘racist act’. Posts thoughts on Facebook & Twitter. – February 7, 2012
Comments
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Does the union want to call a strike in support of the individual firefighters' rights to free speech? If so, where does that leave fire protection? I have no answers, only questions. Garbage collectors can strike, nobody dies. Transportation workers can strike, nobody dies. Firefighters strike………?? How strong a strike do you enforce?…Fight fires, refuse to do other duties?
I wish our brothers and sisters in DC and all career depts the best of luck.
Fire21
While we have been working without a contract since 2006, the last contract we signed is legally binding and states specifically that we will not strike. Unlike our "leaders", we honor our word.
Just as I was professional at the fems S.O.D.A. I will be professiomal at the S.O.T.D.A. as well. As for Mr. Wells, if you think we left becuse it was a race issue you are so clueless to the Issues of this Great Frie Department (DCFD), and you are our P.I.O. You need to be fired for defamation of the members character.
I am all about free speech, but if someone is surprised that they could get in trouble for embarrassing their boss PUBLICLY while in uniform or the city's logo…I am surprised at them.
If they want to voice their displeasure then I would do it in a respectable way…not in uniform. Maybe it is because I work for a city in a different part of the country, but I would expect to get disciplined for something like that.
The order wasn't limited to personnel in uniform. The FEMS Chief has made it clear that a navy blue sweatshirt with "DCFD" on the back is not a uniform item anyway.
Stuart, no one is going to do anything, illegal, distasteful, or unprofessionaly!! we wear our DCFD clothing and last time i checked thats not our uniform anymore!! the Chief's message was simply to intimidate the firefighters with a threat of punishment so they would not go to the Mayor's address
They should get the wives and kids to do it while wearing DCFD shirts… you cant suspend somebody that dont work for him
Of course he denies it. The whole reason he had one of his DFC's issue a verbal threat in the form of a "message to the department" broadcast over the vocals rather than issuing a written order himself is so it cannot as easily be traced back to him. I guess he has so little faith in the intelligence of the men and women he supposedly "leads" that he didnt think we were smart enough to put it in journals, photograph the entries, and try to get the audio recordings from OUC, and thinks so little of the media to think they would actually believe such an order was given b a high ranking official without his knowledge and consent.
This just goes to show that his "leadership skills" involve little more than bad faith negotiation, scare tactics, and harassment. Not only is this further proff of his being unqualified to lead this great department, as a citizen i am chilled by the contempt of constitutional rights he would apparently display (attempting to silence all who disagree with him) should he attain his obvious political goals of Deputy Mayor or Mayor.
Walls says it did not happen? lol.
Dave, would you like a picture of a company journal? I would be glad to Email you one.
The ship is sinking, My PFD has been on since he was named "Interm"
This POS "man wearing 5 trumpets" has sunk to a new low. Maybe the spouses of members could wear the DCFD shirts to the speech and all walk out. I feel so sorry for those who just want to go to work and protect the citizens of DC. The endless POS chiefs and the endless drama has to be draining.
Well If we all wear our DCFD shirt's, we are good since it is no longer our uniform! On my day off I can wear a DCFD sweat shirt all day, it no longer represents the Department.
Fire 21 we can NOT strike (and I doubt anyone would even if we could)
Stuart no one is planning to do ANYTHING in Department uniforms or City logo's…..we will be wearing DCFD shirts, I hope that helps explain everything
As for an official uniform, we can wear DCFD, since this POS has taken it away from us.
Looks like the AFC is the sacrificial goat. The fire chief didn't order it according to Walls and since it allegedly came from the AFC….looks like you're under the bus, dude.
I wish you guys all the luck in the world. Lord knows you all deserve a break from the constant crap that is DC city gov't. However, as an outsider with my family there….I would say I hope you keep in mind how citizens not related to the profession see you. People can switch sides in a heartbeat depending on how something gets spun in the media.
Good luck and be safe!
1st of all for all of you that don't actually know what was said, can stop stirring the pot! What was put in the a journal I know of was NOT at all what came out of the 1 BFC I know of mouth. The Officer that put it in the journal (which I don't know why, since it was NOT an official order!) put it in HIS own words of what he claims it meant to him and not what was actually said! What was said is that "if members plan to attend the Mayors State of the City address, be proffesional while in attendance. Members if going to represent the Department should be in Dress Uniform and that unrulely conduct will not be tolerated." He also stated "this is NOT an Official Call or Order". So NO Journal entry was not needed. As much as I DON'T agree of how things are going in the DCFD/FEMS/ or whatever we called, I still don't think this tit-4-tat sh!t is right.
I am DCFD for LIFE ("We ARE The BEST!"…Ole'School) and whish people would just grow the "F!" up. Guys I have the same shirts and jackets that you do at home unable to wear, but guess what I still come to work and do my job and not gonna let this Administration bring me down! Didn't let the last one, nor the one before that or the others before those. Cause as of right now, he's F'ing winning and we still don't have sh!t and continue to lose sh!t. Hopefully he will leave sooner than later.
You guys need to stop b!tchin about a Damn name and patch, and start B!tchin about WHEN they gonna fix our Disibilaty Retirement and how F'ed up it is? Why our Damn Medical Benefits keep going up? Now that the City is $240 MILLION in the Black can they now settle on the over $40 MILLION they OWE us in Overtime Back Pay since 2001? and then FIX the damn problem so it will not happen again! Why did the Administrator cut the UDC Program? He suppose to be so BIG on Education and bost about his degrees! Mr. Admin, you took advantage of this great program but then you cut it so your members aren't afforded the same opportunities? WHY? I have a few more credits and I'm done. Why do we have a Multi-Million dollar Training facility that's NOT being used to help us keep up on ever changing Operational/ Rescue tactics? Leave the Shift alone, Stop trying to fix something thats NOT broken! We also need a RAISE! You want me to live in the City? Mr. MAYOR? I CAN'T, cause I can't afford to on my salary……… So, I had to move to a place I could afford! Mr. MAYOR you only make housing affordable in SE, WHY? Maybe We would like to live in NW or Capitol Hill, Make that affordable? Mr. MAYOR, ask this last question to your Administrator…….. Why have we lost over 30 ALS Paramedic Firefighters since November 2011? And, Why are MORE talking about leaving when we had just got things on tract after some minor set backs? Oh, and 1 more, Why is their MILLIONS of Dollars worth of Fire and EMS Apparatus sitting OUTSIDE on Half St SW and open to Terrorist? NOT Running? NOT Protected from Public access? NOT Running? But we worried about changing door decals, and we have apparatus NOT Running? oh yeah….. Why is this stuff NOT RUNNING? I would like answers for my Mom, GranMom, Sister and Uncle who Live in The City and Pay HIGH as TAXES and would like to know where it's going?
Dave have someone ask our Union, Administrator and Mayor about these items. This is the inportant sh!t.
Why would something as contentious and controversial as a potential 1st ammendment violation be left up to word of mouth and a journal entry rather than a written order then? It's because our admnistrator wanted the plausible deniability. He's a coward and threw one of his men under the bus so he didn't have to be officially associated with the order not to attend. There is very little that is "off the record".
The administrator is failing at an alarming rate, he is not winning. We are more united on issues now than we ever have been in the past . The shirt and the name are not issue #1, but they are the easiest way to get a message of failing leadership out there with tools we already have in hand.
As for all of your other points, I agree 100%.
If LRB and the senior staff didn't want this verbal directive/comment to be misconstrued, then put it in writing. But they didn't have it put in writing because what he said has been accurately reported. If it didn't state anything that could be considered improper, then they would have put it in writing. But typical LRB he will verbally state orders but not put them in writing so he can then deny them.
He had all of the on duty BFCs give that verbal directive to their battalions officers, and all of them said the same thing. So, this wasn't a single BFC misquoting or embellishing things, this is accurately what was relayed to them that they in turn relayed to their officers. If it was only one BFC it could be one person misstating things, but when all of the BFCs said the same thing it wasn't a mistake.
That is a good point about the UDC program. You would think he would be a big proponent of the program. And he's also currently pictured in an ad by UDC touting the college. Though, that's typical LRB. He got his, so he doesn't care about us. LRB only cares about one person, and that is LRB. His is looking to enter politics with a goal of eventually becoming the mayor. Most of what he is doing with the DCFD is basically using the agency to run his campaign for a future in politics. But, typical LRB he only cares about himself so that is why he doesn't care if the UDC program falls apart as he already got his degrees.
Dave, I'm thinking some of your dealing with the media training is in order for this incompetent maroon.
Never mind, more than likely a waste of everyone's time and money. I just can't believe that this idiot is stretching out this issue like this. Just to save face. Unreal.
"…Ellerbe…did not send out "any kind of directive like that."
Yeah right! The senior staff can't do anything without LRB's approval, direction, knowledge, etc. LRB is known for not putting things in writing so he can then deny he made the order or had anything to do with it. But, this wasn't something that an AFC or DFC came up with and put out to the department, this came from LRB. Even if one of the AFCs or DFCs 'falls on his sword' and takes the blame, that is just to protect LRB. This is typical LRB by not putting it in writing which is something he does very often.
Here's the eventual problem for LRB: There are a LOT more swords than people.
Members of the DCFD, district citizens or any other civilian for that matter are afforded the right to free speech and protest if they see fit. Free speech and protest are not automatically racism just because the leader may be one race or another. If a leader is doing a poor job of leading or managing those under his command and it is costing the city monies that could be allocated more efficiently and prudently then the public should know about it.
What is unfair is to call a peaceful protest a few weeks ago the "most blatant, ignorant and racist public display of disrespect I have ever seen." The DCFD Communications DIRECTOR posts this on his facebook/twitter following the walkout of 150 members at the Administrator's State of the Department speech. The DCFD members sat quietly through 3 speeches on the state of the department and THEN walked out of the address. Nobody interrupted, nobody stopped the speeches and nobody acted ignorantly. You can expect the same today.
Just to set the record straight, the members are not nearly as up in arms about a patch change, uniform change or morale decrease as they are about the Administrator's plan to cut the DCFD's numbers by 25% by transitioning to the new 3-3-3 schedule. We can deal with being beat up, sleep deprived and ruled by a dictator. What we can't deal with is hurting the citizens and visitors whom we are sworn to protect. This new schedule WILL have a direct impact on the service provided to the citizens. The Administrator has said in the past that having so many DCFD members living outside the city is a Homeland Security threat due to the ability to recall those members in a large-scale event. How does eliminating 1/3 of your available off-duty members solve this problem?
Members of the DCFD should not be nearly as worried about these issues as the citizens and visitors of the District of Columbia. If you love your city and want to know more about the details of the administrator's proposals please ask one of the respectful, educated and diverse members of the DCFD tonight at 6th and I St. NW.
Now is the time Local 36 needs to come together as one and stand-up for your First Amendment Rights. I mean really, what can LRB or Gray can do to 300, 400 or more members without a fight from the IAFF. If I was a member of Local 36 I would say, “Challenge Accepted”.
Stand by to copy……
So, this it what it looks like when an "African American leader" throws one of his own under the bus. I'll bet it was one of the buses with lrb's picture on the side. I guess thats what you get for moving out of the old neighborhood, Larry. I wonder if baby brother gave him a heads up beforehand.
Probably not; since the "African American leader" threw his own cousin under the bus. He looks more like a petty tyrant than an effective manager.
You guys sound like a bunch of raging idiots. STOP, Beatin around de bush! Is the only one who realizes that you can't fight about a patch when there are broken fire engines. Don't fix your coat buttons while you bleed out from a ruptured artery. You DCFD/FEMS/RIFD (raging idiot fire dept.) guys need to wake up.
What?