One thing is for sure: Nobody was getting arrested at today’s demonstration. The Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 took to the streets demanding a new contract following three years without one. The firefighters were the ones wearing the red tee-shirts. Those in the baby-blue tee-shirts were members of the Chicago Police Department who had come out to support their brethren. The police union also has its own grievances with the city—in particular the discipline of union members. Everybody knew each other after years of working together during assorted tragedies aiding members of the public in need of emergency services.

The Firefighter’s Union includes two groups. The first one includes those who hold the hoses, open the fire hydrants, climb ladders, stand on the roofs that might collapse at any moment, carry people to safety from burning buildings, and pull people out of Lake Michigan or the Chicago River. The other one includes the paramedics who respond to medical emergencies, including countless shootings and stabbings.

Before the twelve-block march north on Michigan Avenue that began at the intersection of Roosevelt and Michigan, I mingled with the crowd, overhearing some of the conversations. One group was talking about the number of ‘runs’ on July 4th.

When I walk past a firehouse, I assume that the firefighters and paramedics head out two or maybe three times during a shift. Needless to say, I was very surprised to hear people talking about eight runs before dinner and ten after. I must admit, I am not entirely confident in my recollection of those numbers because so many numbers were being tossed out, but what I recall hearing captures the level of activity that those standing on the street were recounting.

I certainly didn’t need to look at the HeyJackAss website for shooting statistics. The number 55 was tossed out repeatedly, along with 13 fires, all on July 4th. By end of the four-day weekend, paramedics will most likely respond to well over 100 shootings. Earlier this week, the “Shot Clock” dropped below three hours—someone in Chicago is now shot every 2 hours and 55 minutes.

Unlike many of the more political demonstrations that I cover, the firefighters didn’t chant or sing. A couple of their leaders gave relatively short speeches laying out the facts and their demands. Specifically,

• The firefighters want a contract. They’ve been negotiating with the city during monthly sessions at least since union president Patrick Cleary took the helm a year ago—sometimes twice monthly. He decided to give Mayor Brandon Johnson one year to finalize a contract. The firefighters took to the street today because Cleary’s grace period has now lapsed.

• While the firefighters are paid in accordance with the terms of the expired contract, like everyone else, they have had to deal with escalating prices at the grocery store despite their currently frozen wages. When a new contract is finalized, they will be entitled to the negotiated pay increase retroactively, but without interest on the delayed payments. I asked Cleary why interest payments can’t be negotiated. He told me that interest could be negotiation, but that taking that demand to arbitration is risky.

• Under the existing contract, the city is required to match the 5% annual pay increase that Chicago Police officers receive. The city, however, has offered the firefighters less.

• Several firefighters were terminated after they claimed that their HIPPA rights meant that they didn’t have to answer certain questions that the city asked them during the Covid pandemic. The union wants those members reinstated, particularly because an arbitrator apparently has required reinstatement.

• The city currently has 80 ambulances. The paramedics want that number increased by 20.

• Firefighters are subject to mandatory overtime requirements. Under those rules, paramedics work 24, 48, and even 72-hour shifts. Last year, union members put in over 250,000 hours of mandatory overtime according to Anthony Snyder, a paramedic whose territory includes the Back-of-the-Yards neighborhood. Snyder told Vi Nguyen of NBC News 5, “Last month alone - 800 days of overtime. That’s not 800 hours or 800 8-hour shifts, 800 days of 24-hour shifts had to be worked by 10% of our department.” It was unclear whether these numbers were just for paramedics, or included firefighters.

• Under the rules, a certain number of personnel are assigned to a firetruck. The number that was tossed out was five. Apparently, the city has the right to impose variances on those numbers—four firefighters to a truck rather than five. The union claims that the city is abusing the variance rules, placing firefighters in danger because fewer people are present to carry heavy equipment up hi-rise stairwells. The union wants the new contract to address the alleged abuse of variances.

After the march wrapped up, I asked Cleary whether the union had any calculations that tied the overtime to pension underfunding; my thinking being that the city should hire more firefighters to reduce overtime, thereby permitting the city to use the savings to shore up the Firefighters Pension Fund. The most recent audit by Deloitte of the city’s pension funds determined that “the Firefighters Pension Fund once again hovers closest to bankruptcy, with assets to cover just 21.6% of liabilities,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The police aren’t doing much better with only 21.79% of liabilities funded.

Cleary response took my question into a different direction. According to him, the city relies on overtime (rather than hiring more firefighters) because although the “hourly cash rate” goes up, the city doesn’t incur the incremental health insurance premiums and other costs that would come with a higher headcount. Well, at least there is a considered strategy behind the overtime.

I was surprised that no one said anything about the pension during the remarks, but last month, Cleary told the Sun-Times, “[Solving the underfunding problem is] not my job. That’s the city’s job. … They’re the one who has to pay the bill — not me. … The [state] legislation says it has to be 90% funded by 2055. So I don’t care what the city does. … Whether they get the casino or not, that’s on them. … They still have to pay the bill. That’s the law.”

As for the event, I assumed the turnout would be much higher given the newspaper coverage earlier in the week. Shortly after I arrived at the assembly site, I was told that the union had 500 tee-shirts printed, but so far, the organizers had only distributed 150. I then noted that the police did not seem to me out in force because I didn’t see a lot blue tee-shirts. I was then told that Mayor Johnson had arranged the weekend work schedule to impede participation by members of the Police Union. If that’s true, it’s ‘nice to know’ that our tax dollars are being used to impede a peaceful march.

According to several news outlets, there were several hundred marchers in attendance. I would put the number at 200. But not to worry. John Catanzara, the president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, told those gathered that the firefighters and the police would be back in the streets for the Democratic National Convention in August. Catanzara told NBC News 5, “This is basically the first step. Our larger protest is going to be for the DNC with all eyes of the nation on this city and the Democratic Party. We’re going to hold their feet to the fire about the pro-union moniker they’ve been championing for decades.”

Firefighters Union President Cleary indicated that the union didn’t have a permit yet, but hoped to get as close to the United Center as possible. I noted that CPD probably wouldn’t be an obstacle to the firefighters’ efforts to march, but that the restricted area around the United Center was under the control of Homeland Security and the Secret Service, so there were no guarantees that the firefighters would get as close as they would like to be. When I mentioned the groups who are planning to disrupt the convention, I was told that the union didn’t want to find itself in that sort of mess should it materialize.

I’ll be out photographing all the activity in Chicago’s streets during the Democratic National Convention. As I was leaving, I was approached by a lone wolf who wanted to talk—I don’t know whether he is associated with the Firefighters Union. If I heard him correctly, he has 5,000 homeless people lined up to camp out during the DNC. Only time will tell whether the claim is true.

Whether you are Republican or a Democrat, you gotta feel bad for the Democrats. Lots of people are targeting their convention. Whatever happened to the freedom of assembly guaranteed in the First Amendment?

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