Review Panel Recommends Wellness-Fitness Program for Boston Fire Fighters

November 30, 2007 -- A special review panel appointed by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino following a Chinese restaurant fire that killed two Boston Local 718 fire fighters is recommending that the fire department take “immediate steps to improve the health, fitness and wellness of its fire fighters by establishing a comprehensive health, fitness and wellness program.

“We’ve been fighting for wellness-fitness standards for years,” says Local 718 President Ed Kelly, “but the City has refused to fund or support these programs.”

“A successful approach to wellness and fitness requires a commitment by both labor and management,” says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. “An overall wellness-fitness system should be the objective of every fire department in cooperation with its local IAFF affiliate.”

Currently, Boston fire fighters are tested for alcohol or drugs before they are hired and within a one-year probationary period or if visible signs are present.

The newly released report is the fourth review of the Boston Fire Department since Menino took office in 1993, but according to the Boston Globe, the city has ignored 50 of 82 recommendations from previous reviews despite the mayor’s promise 14 years ago to overhaul the department.

Kelly, who says the review panel did a fair job of making its assessment in a short time, stresses that the report confirms that wellness and fitness and drug and alcohol testing go hand in hand. “We’re not afraid of random drug and alcohol testing, but it needs to be fair.”

In the early 1980s, Local 718 successfully negotiated to institute an employee assistance program. “This policy has saved a lot of lives, and it was the union that brought it to the table,” notes IAFF 3rd District Vice President Michael Mullane. “Similarly the health, fitness and wellness program and funding should be part of the collective agreement.”

“We support the implementation of the wellness-fitness program,” says Kelly, “and look forward to bargaining with the city and with the mayor to implement some of these recommendations in a fair and equitable manner."