IAFF Convention 2004
Boston MA
August 15 - 20

TIMELINE
08/14
09:05 - Flight left 30 min behind schedule
10:30 - In flight acrobactics by Maverick & Goose
10:40 - Arrive in the Motor City
12:05 - Leave Detroit for Boston
13:35 - Arrive in Boston.
14:00 - Nice hot drive in shuttle van
14:30 - Van driver has problems with locks on van.
15:30 - Get a little bite at the RattleSnake
16;30 - Mitch almost meets Evil Kneivel vicariously.
19:00 - Mitch scales Green Monster @ Fenway. Watch Red Sox d. White Sox.
21:00 - Joe & Mitch visit the Pour House.

08/15
11:00 - After careful consideration, Beth elects to turn her shirt around so that front faces the front
11:30 - Register at Convention
12:00 - Dine at pour house with Tommy Malone and his blushing new bride
15:00 - Local 1784 delegates meeting
17:00 - District 14  delegates meeting
18:00 - Honest Joe meets 3 fingers jack (& he had all his digits)
18:15 - Mitch meets Per Capita

08/16
00:30 - Honest Joe ejected from Green Dragon.
01:10 - Mitch orders burgers from Martina McBride
01:15 - Mitch gets turned out by room service
01:30 - Room service arrives w/ 2 - $20 hamburgers
09:00 - Opening ceremonies
11:00 - Break for lunch
13:00 - Dist. 14 meeting
13:30 - Convention reconveines - Resolution discussions & voting
16:00 - Convention dismissed for the day
18:30 - Tommy Malone BS' the reservations lady at Legal Seafood
19:00 - Joe & Mitch dine on Clam Chowder, Shrimp Cocktail & Lobster
21:00 - Check out the Black Rose
21:30 - Tommy sings Sweet Home Alabama with an Irish accent
22:00 - Tommy hails a cab with blind driver
22:20 - Tommy considers getting Part-Time gig driving a cab
22:30 - Meet the angriest man we've ever seen
23:00 - Shut'er down early

08/17 - Uneventful most of the day
20:00 - 2008 Convention host hopefuls, Las Vegas FF host hosptality
- cram 2000 fire fighters in 2 hotel suites. Good time all the same
23:45 - Mitch runs Boston Marathon while going "up" the "down" escalator

08/18
Events vary
14:00 - Gen. Pres. & Sec. Tres. receptions
17:00 - Joe & Mitch arrrive at Harvard, make their rounds through the gardens.
18:00 - Visit Cambridge Fire Station / Harvard Campus
18:30 - Cambridge Rescue 2 delivers Joe & Mitch to Station #2
18:45 - Cambridge R2 stops at MIT and gives us a brief history
19:10 - CFD takes us out of FMZ and drops us at our hotel (A+ Service, great guys!).
19:45 - Finally make it to Cheers. Everyone actually new my name, they had a fiberoptic link to Mulli's 64.
23:00 - Honest Joe overwhelms Microsoft product developer on elevator ( wasn't all that hard (for me anyways )).

08/19
09:30 - John Kerry addresses convention.
14:00 - Final visit with most exibitors.
15:00 - Drop in on 14th VP Danny Todd
18:00 - Gen. Pres. & Gen. Sec. Treas. reception
20:00 - Joe, Mitch, Fred Cotton & Sam Talley make the rounds.
22:00 - Shut 'er down early (again)

08/20
08:30 - Gen. - Pres. Shaitberger brings opens the meeting.
Several drawings and closing comments.
10:30 - Meeting adjourned

On Saturday, August 14, 2004, delegates of Memphis Local 1784 left Memphis enroute to Boston MA. for the 47th Biennial IAFF Convention. Registration was Saturday & Sunday. Opening ceremonies were Monday morning.

Opening ceremonies included a laser / video presentation followed by opening remarks by Gen. Pres. Shaitberger. For complete itenerary go to www.iaff.org.

The total delegation was appx. 1200 delegates & 700 alternates.

The total approximate # of resolutions we voted on were appx. 45. Monday we voted on 16 resolutions, Tuesday we voted on 21 resolutions, Wednesday 5 resolutions along with exectutive board nominations and elections.

IAFF General-President Harold Shaitberger & General Secretary-Treasurer Vinnie Bollen were unopposed and won by acclimation. Of interest to Memphis & District 14, Dist. Vice-President Danny Todd was re-elected by acclimation. Thursday the contested elections of Dist. 6 & 7 VP and Canadian Trustee were held. We voted on 3 resolutions.

For complete convention & resolution coverage visit www.iaff.org

Special guest speakers included Aug. 17. 2004 - The Chairman of the Kerry for President Committee in Massachusetts, Representative Edward Markey (D-MA), Jeni Stepanek, mother of the late Mattie J.T. Stepanek, MDA’s National Goodwill Ambassador. International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) President Bob DiPoli. Bill Press, co-host of CNN’s “Crossfire".

Thursday Aug. 18 was Senator & Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry.

We all had a good time. We spent the majority of the business day in convention voting on resolutions to the IAFF that affect all of us as well as listening to guest speakers and handling other international business.

I have included some pictures and items of interest.

Alot of people who never go to union meetings and are not aware of the general business of the union and the IAFF want to know where their dues money goes. Well for now, just less than $9/per capita goes to the IAFF per month. That means that appx. 9$ x active members (roughly 1300) goes to the IAFF each month directly from the union account. Through the various per capita resolutions we voted on, there was an approximate increase of 0.47c per capita we voted on this year. You can find complete resolutions at IAFF.ORG

So, as you can see, there was an opportunity to relax in the evening, but during the day, we voted on and conducted day to day business which reflected the interest of appx 265,000 IAFF USA & Canadian members.