Standard

Motor Vehicle Liability Bill

Congress enacts the Motor Vehicle Liability Bill – officially known as Public Law 87-258 – which protects fire fighters who have an accident while operating apparatus or any other government vehicle from being sued for damage to property or for personal injury, including death.

Scroll for More
Standard

Treatment of Retirement Income

IAFF Secretary-Treasurer John C. Kabachus testifies before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee in support of H.R. 6371, which would re-establish the type of equity written into the 1954 Internal Revenue Service code for the treatment of retirement income.

Scroll for More
Standard

Prerogatives of Arbitration

The IAFF writes to U.S. Representative James A. Burke of Massachusetts, asking Congress to adopt federal legislation to grant fire fighters the same prerogatives of arbitration granted other groups in organized labor and by Canadian fire fighters. Burke responds that in all probability, there would be constitutional problems involving states’ rights in any such proposed legislation.

Scroll for More
Standard

87th Congress

The IAFF summarizes the actions of the 87th Congress affecting fire fighters, including Social Security, income taxes, manpower development and training, and DC fire fighters’ hours reduction, among others.

Scroll for More
Standard

New Canadian Civil Service Law

The Canadian Parliament enacts a new civil service law that requires the Minister of Finance and the Civil Service Commission to consult with representatives of employee organizations and associations in connection with salaries and other terms and conditions of employment.

Scroll for More
Standard

Canadian Workmen’s Comp

Workmen’s Compensation laws are broadened in five provinces in Canada.

Scroll for More
Scroll for More
Standard

Members Demand 40-Hour Week

Rank-and-file members continue to take a strong stand that a 40-hour workweek for fire fighters is long overdue. An IAFF survey of 1,000 cities in the United States and Canada reveals that shorter working hours are gained by 98 IAFF locals and that wages are up in many cities.

Scroll for More
Standard

IAFF Salutes Boy Scouts

The IAFF congratulates the Boy Scouts of America on its 52nd anniversary and notes that during the past year, members have assisted 75,000 scouts in earning their fire fighter merit badges. Since 1911, 1,410,000 scouts have earned these badges through the cooperation of professional fire fighters.

Scroll for More
Standard

1962 Elections

AFL-CIO launches a major registration and get-out-the-vote drive to ensure the greatest possible participation in the 1962 elections by union members, their families and friends.

Scroll for More
Standard

“Fire Rescue” on NBC

NBC-TV airs “Fire Rescue,” a dramatic film of the actual operations of New York Rescue Company One as part of its “Du Pont Show of the Week.”

Scroll for More
Standard

Baltimore Fire Fighters Killed

Two Baltimore, Maryland, fire fighters are killed and one seriously injured when a violent explosion sweeps through a building and flames block their escape. Ten other fire fighters were blown out on to the street by the blast.

Scroll for More
Standard

Per Capita Tax Increase

IAFF members will pay seven cents per American member per month (up from five cents) to the AFL. For Canadian members, the per capita tax to the Canadian Labor Congress stands at 10 cents per member per month.

Scroll for More
Standard

NY Fire Fighters Killed

October 26, 1962

Six fire fighters are killed in Queens, New York, while engaged in firefighting. Five others are injured seriously enough to require hospitalization. The cause of the fire was blamed on the carelessness of a worker who had been dismantling machinery with an acetylene torch.

Scroll for More
Standard

Tax Increase Approved

Delegates to the 26th IAFF Convention approve an increase of 10 cents per month in per capita tax, effective September 1963. One benefit of this increase is that the International Fire Fighter will be mailed to every IAFF member’s home beginning in late 1963.

Scroll for More
Standard

National Fire Academy

Discussions begin on the establishment of a permanent National Fire Academy, similar to the FBI Academy.

Scroll for More
Standard

State vs. Local Income Tax

IAFF Research Director Rudolph A. Oswald argues that treasuries are helped by shared taxes and contends that is more practical for a state to levy a state income tax and share it with communities than for localities to attempt to raise revenue through municipal income taxes.

Scroll for More
Standard

IAFF Explores Retiree Housing Program

The IAFF begins research on the feasibility of establishing a housing program geared to retired professional fire fighters, similar to the retirement housing development under construction by the National Association of Letter Carriers. The IAFF asks members how they feel about a housing program from both a personal and organizational point of view. The National Association of Letter Carriers’ community facilities include a 500-seat auditorium building, food market, drug store, barber and beauty shops, shoe repair and dry-cleaning facilities, laundry, library, infirmary, chapel and post office. Recreational facilities include hobby rooms, croquet courts, tables for cards, chess and bingo, shuffleboards, swimming pool and a sailing marina. The monthly rentals range from $69.50 for an efficiency to $84.50 for a two-bedroom unit.

Scroll for More
Standard

Death Toll from Chicago Fire Rises to Nine

In Chicago, Illinois, the death toll increases from eight to nine fire fighters who are killed while battling a blaze and buried under a collapsed wall (see 1961).

Scroll for More