Washington Post story - "Army worries about ‘toxic leaders’ in ranks".
"The Army defined toxic leaders as commanders who put their own needs first, micro-managed subordinates, behaved in a mean-spirited manner or displayed poor decision making.
About half of the soldiers who worked under toxic leaders expected that their selfish and abusive commanders would be promoted to a higher level of leadership."
We're very interested in hearing what you have to say about this article as it relates to the FCFRD. If you wrote the headline what would it read?
Monday, June 27, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Bland Trial Transcript Being Reviewed By Local 2068
EDITORS NOTE - The email below was sent out by President Niemiec from Local 2068
The purpose of this email is to update the membership regarding the motions that were passed at the June 1 General Membership meeting. As you recall, a motion was passed to wait until we obtained the record from the Bland v. Fairfax County case, including the trial transcript, before preparing or pursuing Local or IAFF charges seeking the removal of Tim Young from the Local 2068 Executive Board based on the allegations in that case. To date,we have obtained and are reviewing documents related to the Bland case, and
are attempting to obtain a copy of the trial transcript. We will continue to proceed in accordance with the memberships' direction, and to keep you informed regarding our progress in this matter.
The purpose of this email is to update the membership regarding the motions that were passed at the June 1 General Membership meeting. As you recall, a motion was passed to wait until we obtained the record from the Bland v. Fairfax County case, including the trial transcript, before preparing or pursuing Local or IAFF charges seeking the removal of Tim Young from the Local 2068 Executive Board based on the allegations in that case. To date,we have obtained and are reviewing documents related to the Bland case, and
are attempting to obtain a copy of the trial transcript. We will continue to proceed in accordance with the memberships' direction, and to keep you informed regarding our progress in this matter.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The Big Eye CAPTION THIS Contest!
Send us your creative captions by posting them in the comments section, and we will announce the winner next week!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Louder I said Louder... Oh no not again!
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_18303280?source=rss&nclick_check=1
Is there anything for us to say about this story? Well they were the lovely couple making over 350K a year and driving two yes two take-home SUVs to the same residence and same location.
Is there anything for us to say about this story? Well they were the lovely couple making over 350K a year and driving two yes two take-home SUVs to the same residence and same location.
New Complaint Filed In Bailey Case
Click the link below to download the complaint filed on June 9, 2011:
http://www.2shared.com/document/MgTT_2NV/Bailey_Complaint.html
http://www.2shared.com/document/MgTT_2NV/Bailey_Complaint.html
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Seriously, is this all you got?
With one sexual harassment lawsuit costing the Fairfax County taxpayers over $350,000 and another pending asking for up to $2,000,000 in awards and a possibility of a couple more being filed in the near future. And now let’s add the Lorton fire which could cost the County approximately $10,000,000 in compensatory damages. The only message that the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Administration wants to focus on. “T-Shirts! T-Shirts!... gasp they are wearing t-shirts!”
Is the wearing of t-shirts really that big of a deal? Or is it the only issue they feel competent enough to manage and address?
The Citizens of Fairfax County and the Board of Supervisors must take action and say enough is enough. Please call, email and write your Board of Supervisors.
This message was sent to C-shifters today from your competent and caring Fire and Rescue Administration -
The intent of the policy is to have us look professional in public. I don't care if you wear white socks under your boots or if you wear a tee-shirt and nomex pants under your gear, but you should have your polo shirt on the truck for the next call. Coveralls are not acceptable unless you were wearing them before the call for the reasons noted above. When you remove your gear, you need to put your polo shirt back on (Being in rehab or racking hose with bunker pants and a Tee-shirt on is acceptable to me....because there is an expectation that firefighters in gear are hot and sweaty...not clean and pressed). Apparatus drivers shall either wear structural firefighting gear, or a class "C" or class "D" uniform on calls.
Acceptable:
• An employee is sleeping and gets up for a call requiring structural firefighting gear. They wear nomex pants and a tee-shirt under their gear (with polo on truck to be worn after gear removal).
• An employee wearing a T-shirt under a polo removes polo prior to donning gear (polo stays on truck to be worn after gear removal).
• An employee doing PT dons structural gear over shorts and a tee shirt.
• An employee removing clothing in the Medical Unit (Rehab), in order to cool off after firefighting in structural gear.
Unacceptable:
• Wearing coveralls while away from the station for non-emergency purposes.
• Wearing coveralls after bedtime.
• Wearing tee-shirts after bedtime on calls when you are not required to wear structural firefighting gear.
• Wearing tee-shirts or coveralls on an EMS call, because "I was just on a suppression call before this".
• Wearing a tee-shirt in the station and keeping your polo on the apparatus.
• Wearing shoes that are not steel toed on the way to or from a PT site.
I expect and appreciate your support and I am available for questions.
Is the wearing of t-shirts really that big of a deal? Or is it the only issue they feel competent enough to manage and address?
The Citizens of Fairfax County and the Board of Supervisors must take action and say enough is enough. Please call, email and write your Board of Supervisors.
This message was sent to C-shifters today from your competent and caring Fire and Rescue Administration -
The intent of the policy is to have us look professional in public. I don't care if you wear white socks under your boots or if you wear a tee-shirt and nomex pants under your gear, but you should have your polo shirt on the truck for the next call. Coveralls are not acceptable unless you were wearing them before the call for the reasons noted above. When you remove your gear, you need to put your polo shirt back on (Being in rehab or racking hose with bunker pants and a Tee-shirt on is acceptable to me....because there is an expectation that firefighters in gear are hot and sweaty...not clean and pressed). Apparatus drivers shall either wear structural firefighting gear, or a class "C" or class "D" uniform on calls.
Acceptable:
• An employee is sleeping and gets up for a call requiring structural firefighting gear. They wear nomex pants and a tee-shirt under their gear (with polo on truck to be worn after gear removal).
• An employee wearing a T-shirt under a polo removes polo prior to donning gear (polo stays on truck to be worn after gear removal).
• An employee doing PT dons structural gear over shorts and a tee shirt.
• An employee removing clothing in the Medical Unit (Rehab), in order to cool off after firefighting in structural gear.
Unacceptable:
• Wearing coveralls while away from the station for non-emergency purposes.
• Wearing coveralls after bedtime.
• Wearing tee-shirts after bedtime on calls when you are not required to wear structural firefighting gear.
• Wearing tee-shirts or coveralls on an EMS call, because "I was just on a suppression call before this".
• Wearing a tee-shirt in the station and keeping your polo on the apparatus.
• Wearing shoes that are not steel toed on the way to or from a PT site.
I expect and appreciate your support and I am available for questions.
More Allegations of Sexual Harassment
A male firefighter has come forward with new allegations of sexual harassment against Jay Iacone that are said to have occurred in 2000. The firefighter making the allegations, George H. Samartino, states he filed a complaint about the harassment to the FRD Internal Affairs Division. Samartino further states that he "received a disturbing call from then-Deputy Chief Ron Mastin. Chief Mastin told me to drop my complaint against Iacone. I was intimidated and shocked by this phone call".
To read the motion filed with the court, click on the download below:
http://www.2shared.com/document/kNlgxpU1/Baileydoc2.html
To read the motion filed with the court, click on the download below:
http://www.2shared.com/document/kNlgxpU1/Baileydoc2.html
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Bailey Case Dismissed?
We are hearing that at least a portion of the Bailey case was dismissed by a federal judge. There are a lot of rumors circulating about this - but we have yet to see any documentation. A reliable source tells us that it wasn't the entire case, it was only a portion of the case. Apparently, the same thing happened with the Gand case.
Once we get more solid information, we will share.
Brother Big Eye
Once we get more solid information, we will share.
Brother Big Eye
Mastin Holds Teleconference
Chief Mastin held a staff teleconference yesterday morning to discuss a variety of topics - one of which was to discuss the recent sexual harassment and hostile work environment cases. In the conference, Chief Mastin described the recent verdict as a "small blip and a little black eye" for the department. He said, "we have a black eye. And if you keep messing with it that black eye will get bigger and won't heal. Leave it alone and it will heal. We're a family."
We are a bit concerned that Chief Mastin considers the recent events a little black eye. His suggestion that we "leave it alone" to let it heal suggests that we should sit back and do nothing. In our humble opinion, the only way for the black eye to heal, is for Chief Mastin to take aggressive action to reduce the possibility of this happening in the future. Unfortunately, Chief Mastin's standard practice has been to do nothing, and hope that it goes away.
What do you think the FC should do to take corrective action? The Big Eye has several suggestions on how this should be handled - and you might be surprised at some of our suggestions. They won't be one-sided, and will likely not settle well with people on both sides of this issue. We want to hear from you first, prior to posting our suggestions.
Brother Big Eye
We are a bit concerned that Chief Mastin considers the recent events a little black eye. His suggestion that we "leave it alone" to let it heal suggests that we should sit back and do nothing. In our humble opinion, the only way for the black eye to heal, is for Chief Mastin to take aggressive action to reduce the possibility of this happening in the future. Unfortunately, Chief Mastin's standard practice has been to do nothing, and hope that it goes away.
What do you think the FC should do to take corrective action? The Big Eye has several suggestions on how this should be handled - and you might be surprised at some of our suggestions. They won't be one-sided, and will likely not settle well with people on both sides of this issue. We want to hear from you first, prior to posting our suggestions.
Brother Big Eye
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