Firefighter For Kerry

Craig Soucy is a Kerry alternate from the 46th Legislative District, 7th Congressional District. He's president of IAFF Local 864 Renton Firefighters. He spoke with me on Sunday at the Washington State delegation party.

One thing that concerned Soucy before the convention was the firefighter's union strike in Boston, in the midst of an ongoing contract negotiation. Soucy noted that John Kerry had refused to speak at a recent mayoral convention held in Boston because he wouldn't cross their picket line. To Soucy's knowledge, Kerry has never crossed a picket line. He said that the city was encouraged to negotiate a contract so that the candidate and sympathetic Democratic delegations wouldn't have to avoid the convention.

Soucy's main concern is working families and their access to healthcare. He thinks it's a disgrace to outsource American jobs, when families here are losing theirs. At the same time, those who have jobs may be adversely affected if Bush's new overtime laws take effect. He's concerned that people could get asked to work extra hours without additional pay, or be arbitrarily asked to work weekends. He also says that Bush isn't health care, and that the cost of it has become the "biggest issue in contract negotiation ...for at least 3 years."

Another issue that's important to him is Homeland Security, and says that Bush has cut support for the Fire Act, cutting funding from 500 million to 200 million. Soucy says local governments are having to take up the slack. He says that firefighters are the first line of defense, showing up first in the case of a major event. That extra money would have bought more detection, containment, and mitigation equipment in case of a chemical or biological attack, along with more firefighters to operate them.

Firefighters are also serving in Iraq in National Guard and Reserve units that have been called to active duty. Soucy says that in his local, one member is serving on active duty with the Reserve, one has returned home, and another has lost a family member. He says it's hard on families because when someone is called up, they lose the difference between their civilian and military pay.

Providing event security has become more of a budget strain recently, as well. Before 9-11, Soucy says that people just didn't request as much security. Now, events like the DNC activate FEMA teams who are mostly made up of people who normally work at some local first response office which may be in another part of the country. They might include search & rescue teams, like the ones that responded to the Oklahoma City bombing. Some local jurisdiction has to pick up the cost of travel, lodging, and transporting equipment.

Having worked to help organize firefighters for Kerry, and hold Kerry fundraisers, he's also gotten a chance to get informed about other people's concerns. To Soucy, the convention is to get the message of John Kerry, John Edwards, and the party out to the public, but also to continue to get more educated about the issues.