Monday, December 12, 2022

Twenty Years Strong

Local 911 has been battling blazes for the City of Hamilton since 2002. Since their founding, a lot has changed—but their devotion to the community hasn’t wavered

By Rachel Debling

A TRADITIONAL ANNIVERSARY GIFT for the 20th year is china, which represents the beauty and delicate nature of a relationship. But for the members of Local 911, the strength and determination they have shown over the course of their two decades in operation deserves a gift much more durable.

Just ask Paul Osborne, a volunteer firefighter and long-time Local 911 member, and Paul Leggatt, who witnessed the organizing drive way back at the turn of the century.

It was the pride of serving the community that originally drew Osborne to the volunteer firefighter field 20 years ago. He worked for a public transit company as a foreman, and while he wanted to become a full-time firefighter, the timing wasn’t right. Instead, he chose to balance his career with volunteer duties for the City of Hamilton, Ontario.

Leggatt, on the other hand, worked in sales and merchandising, travelling from retail outlet to retail outlet for his 9-to-5 job. As with most volunteer firefighters, he signed up to provide the community—and by extension his family and friends—with service they could count on when the going got tough.

The year 2001, when the volunteer firefighters of the area began shopping around for labour representation, was a turning point for the city because five outlying communities— Stoney Creek, Glanbrook, Ancaster, Dundas, and Flamborough—were forced to amalgamate.

Leggatt, who originally worked as a volunteer for the Stoney Creek firefighters, remembers that while there were some positives to joining forces, his team felt overlooked throughout the process.

“Our fire chief had passed away in September,” says Leggatt. “By that time, amalgamation was being enacted, so there were already changes happening.”

Not wanting the volunteer firefighters to be lost in the shuffle, the volunteers of the outlying communities, along with firefighters from the Hamilton Airport and Hamilton Fire Department as well as Stelco Fire and Dofasco Fire (two nearby manufacturing plants), formed the Mutual Aid Association.

“I was, at that point, young,” recalls Leggatt. “I was a helper and a supporter. I was by no means a figurehead of the body. I was just a supporter and chose to volunteer my time and help out. But I do recall that Adam Gall and Jim Skinner were the driving forces that started it.”

After a vote, the seeds of what would come to be the Greater Hamilton Volunteer Firefighter Association, known to insiders as GHVFA-911, were planted. Though there was greater stability in this newly formed organization, the members soon came to agree that they may have bitten off more than they could chew.

“We realized that we were in unchartered waters,” says Leggatt. “So, the idea of becoming part of a union to gain some assistance was tossed around, and then we started to reach out to other organizations to assist us in representation.

“None of us came from any labour relations experience, from any sort of union world. Some of us may have been part of a union, but we were never involved.”

With that, they began knocking on proverbial doors to find representation that would fit the specific needs of volunteer firefighters. Much to their chagrin, some of the labour organizations that they reached out to, like the Steelworkers and Teamsters, seemed less than enthused to take them aboard.

“I think it was because the full-time union of International Association of Fire Fighters is so big, and they likely partner with other unions on the side,” says Leggatt. “They probably didn’t want to go against their brothers. So, they pretty much turned their back on us really quickly.”

Thankfully, that’s when CLAC came in.

A group including Leggatt went to a meeting at Adam Gall’s property in Burlington, which was central to most of the volunteers, and in walked Ian DeWaard, then a representative and currently CLAC’s Ontario director.

His pitch as to why they should choose CLAC was convincing, to say the least.

“CLAC, and Ian especially, were the ones to show up at our door,” says Leggatt. “That meant a lot.”

A vote for representation soon followed, and the Greater Hamilton Volunteer Firefighters Association, CLAC Local 911, was born. As Ian remembers it, it was a momentous occasion for CLAC, too.

“They were the ones who reached out to CLAC initially,” he says. “But we were confident that we would work well together. That first round of bargaining was exceptionally difficult, but after a couple of years of negotiations, a deal was struck. It was a first-of-its-kind agreement, and it paved the way for thousands more volunteers throughout the province who later followed these firefighters’ lead and also joined CLAC.”

Osborne, though not involved in the original organizing drive, understands the valuein recruiting labour relations experts. In 2016, he decided to become involved himself by signing up to be a part of the Local 911 Board.

“I wanted to make improvements for the kids, for the next generation of volunteer firefighters,” he says. He has remained a board member ever since, and a proud one at that.

“It was to the city’s benefit that we organized,” says Osborne. Volunteer firefighters are cheaper, often costing taxpayers a fraction of what a fulltime firefighter costs, since volunteers are only paid for the calls that they respond to. And having their duties and safety needs down on paper is advantageous for both the city and its employees. But convincing the city of that was quite an uphill battle, he remembers.

Leggatt, who has held every position on the local board, from secretary to treasurer to president, agrees. To this day, they are still facing seemingly never-ending battles. Patience is a virtue in this line of business, he says, as some issues take five or six years to ever come to a satisfying conclusion.

“I was seeing things—volunteers, stations, or people—that were not being treated how they should be,” he says. “So, I took it upon myself to step up and bring forward things that needed to change.”

But Leggatt has always prided himself on giving credit where credit is due, noting that the accomplishments were a team effort.

“When I was in the president’s role, two people were fantastic, supportive, and fighting the fight alongside with us,” he says. “One was my vice-president, Coleman Robinson, and the second was Carla Geldof, a CLAC representative at the time. The three of us all had the same ideas, the same plans. We worked together on the fight, the fixing, the correcting, and improving.”

Since then, CLAC has stayed by the volunteer firefighters’ side through thick and thin. For example, Osborne recalls travelling to the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal when the union proposed changes to regulations pertaining to certification. That hands-on commitment and advocacy made him and his fellow firefighters know they had made the right decision back in 2002.

For Leggatt, he has no hard end point to his volunteer firefighter career. With his 25th year on the job arriving in 2023, he doesn’t know how much longer he can do it, but he will never say never.

Osborne echoes his enthusiasm for the gig. The sector has brought him many experiences and friendships that he holds near and dear to his heart.

“I would never have met half the people that I know if not for volunteer firefighting,” he says. “For those looking to get into volunteer firefighting, I’d let them know that it’s fun. You gain camaraderie, and the structure you receive is one of the best teachers around.”

Based on these testimonies, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to say that Local 911 will experience at least another 20-plus years as an organization.

Twenty Years Strong

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