Yesterday, March 20th, was the first day of Spring. On March 20th, our new St. Augustine Fire Chief, Mr. J.C. Costeira was sworn in to office.
A longtime safety and health and union acivist with International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Losal Union No. 2282, Mr. Costeira was promoted to be Fire Chief by City Manager John Patrick Regan, P.E.
Our Nation's Oldest City, under new management since 2010, now respects First Amendment and labor union protected actvity instad of insulting it.
Free democratic trade unions are now active participants here, just as theywere when there was a "Union Labor" arch over Cathedral Place about one century ago.
Viva!
Elsewhere in St. Johns County, unions and union activists are persecuted and propagandized against. A prime offender is St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce, which has actually wasted members' money and advertised on the Internet its anti-union animus and anti-worker Weltanschauung in seeking members and recruiting new businesses.
I hope that under Mr. Costeira's leadership, the St. Augustine Fire Department will become a great example of labor and management working together cooperatively for the benefit of all.
No more hare-brained schemes of moving the firehouse on Anastasia Island to please Pierre Thompson, whose property is located there. Kindly keep our firehouse where it is, near the residences and businesses on the Island.
I hope SAFD will support for a policy recommendation that the St. Augusitne City Commission agree to adhere by all OSHA standards, including Section 11(c).
Background: When JOHN EDWARD BUSH a/k/a "JEB BUSH" was Governor, Florida joined the ranks of some 24 states where government employees have no legal rights to safe workplaces.
BUSH pushed what Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis would have called "the race to the bottom."
Under BUSH, Florida OSHA was abolished, federal OSHA took over, and Florida's lethargic lackadaiscal lackey legislature stopped caring about government employees. Florida thus stopped protecting state, county, city and special taxing district employees' rights to job safety and healthy workplaces.
St. Augustine must take a stand -- we take care of our own workers. It starts now.
What do you reckon?
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