PORTLAND, Ore– This may not seem like a big deal, but it is. The men and women from Portland Fire and Rescue represented by Local 43 and Portland Police Officers represented by the Portland Police Association have collectively decided to walk away from endorsing City Commissioner JoAnn Hardesty.
Hardesty is seeking a second term in office. For these groups, the commissioner’s actions speak loudly. Her move to defund the police left the Portland police bureau with it’s hands tied for the past several years. Prompting police officers to retire early or take jobs where they could receive respect and keep their families safe. Firefighters were put in harms way continuously during riots, Covid, and wildfires. They are currently working many more hours than they should. (See my previous article on Local 43 response to a CityGate report.)
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Isaac McLennan, President of IAFF Local 43 shares why Commissioner Hardesty isn’t a good choice for the city and the Fire Bureau.
“I remember when JoAnn Hardesty was assigned by Mayor Ted Wheeler to be the Commissioner over the Fire Bureau. Firefighters were optimistic about a fresh face in Portland politics. She came with some labor support and chose a chief of staff (Karly Edwards) who has strong labor roots. This was the highest point in her time as Fire Commissioner.
As everyone knows well, 2020 was a tough year for everyone. But, it was especially difficult for firefighters. When the Covid-19 pandemic began everyone was told to stay home and socially distance from family and friends. Firefighters didn’t have that choice. We had to report to work. At the time, we knew very little about the virus and how it was transmitted. That meant our families were at risk every time we returned home. This was an extremely stressful time for our membership.
Commissioner Hardesty did not express her gratitude to firefighters for our sacrifice. In late Spring, the Fire Police Disability And Retirement Bureau created a presumption that if firefighters contracted Covid-19, it was from work and any time lost would be considered and injury. Firefighters then would not need to use our sick time. This did go before city council. In fairness to Commissioner Hardesty she did support the ordinance. The came federal funding to help keep employees away from work if they got Covid-19 or they needed to care for their families who may have gotten it. All workers in Portland received 2 weeks of leave. Firefighters don’t work 40 hour weeks. We worked 52.5 hours a week at the time and required an ordinance in order to give firefighters 2 weeks off (105 hours instead of 80 hours for other city workers). These were fairness issues that JoAnn Hardesty supported. In my opinion, anyone with a beating heart would do this. This is not something we felt was worth praising and ultimately supporting her for re-election. I’m sure she would disagree.
100+ days of protests and riots following the Death of George Floyd made firefighters work continuously through all of it. We had firefighters on the front lines as part of the Rapid Response Team, offering quick aid to anyone who needed it if they were injured. there was no mention by Hardesty about the day after day, long hours of work that firefighters were doing to keep our city safe and help those in need of medical attention. In fact, just the opposite. The Commissioner was quoted as saying it was the police who were starting the fires. I recall once when she stated that firefighters were not equipped and able to put out these fires burning during protests. Granted, I’ve only been a firefighter in Portland 20 years, but i don’t remember a fire that we were unable to put out.
She has a sent a few emails to all of Portland Fire & Rescue employees thanking us after the wildfires of 2020. That was only after we told her chief of staff about her lack of support.
Commissioner Hardesty is out of touch with the rank and file. She has not been to a fire station in years. She was recently quoted in an article as saying, she still supports the over 750 firefighters. We don’t have 750 firefighters. I wish we did so we wouldn’t be in a staffing crisis. We actually have 644 sworn members at Portland Fire. She told KOIN 6 news: “We’re able to maintain our daily staffing with mandatory overtime.” So simply force firefighters to work against their consent and the problem is solved on her end. Unacceptable.”
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Both groups have issued the following statements about Choosing Gonzalez:
The election will be held on Tuesday November 8, 2022.