When you think of minimum wage workers, it’s a good bet firefighters don’t come to mind.

Yet in Scranton, Pa., firefighters are risking their lives rushing into burning buildings, all for $7.25 an hour.

Duke is a very lucky animal and if you asked the 22-year-old gray draft horse why—OK, I know, no one can talk to a horse, of course—he’d say it was because of  the quick work of Los Angeles Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 112, animal rescue specialists, Hansen Dam Park Police and other city workers who came to the rescue.  

Duke and his owner were riding in shallow water in a riverbed near Hansen Dam in Lakeview Terrace when three of Duke’s legs became stuck in mud and sand, which recent rains made stickier than usual.

Several hundred members of the Fire Fighters (IAFF) from locals surrounding the wildfires in Colorado and New Mexico are working hard to contain the blazes. Fortunately, there have been no reports of major firefighter injury. IAFF 9th District Vice President Randy Atkinson says:

Getting a wildfire under control in that part of the state is difficult because of the tough terrain. There are a lot of canyons, so just getting to the fire is a challenge.

WI

Wisconsin "forced the governor to answer for his efforts to divide the state and punish hard-working people" in today's recall election," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said tonight following predictions Gov. Scott Walker (R) would retain his seat.

WI

Mahlon Mitchell, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin, says Wisconsin’s 2012 recall election is not just a union fight but a middle-class fight because “the middle class is under attack.”

Now that Mahlon Mitchell has won the Democratic primary, including defeating a “fake Democrat” Wisconsin Republicans entered in the race as a sabotage effort, the president of the Fire Fighters of Wisconsin (IAFF) is setting his sights on taking on Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch in the June 5 recall election. A new ad from the IAFF airing in the Badger State explains to voters that after 15 years of “putting his life on the line” as a firefighter, Mitchell is running for lieutenant governor to “restore integrity to Wisconsin’s government and to get Wisconsin working again."

During 2011’s Wisconsin uprising, Mahlon Mitchell, a firefighter who had just been elected president of the Fire Fighters (IAFF) in Wisconsin, created a national buzz with his fresh, eloquent defense of the collective bargaining rights of public employees. Now Mitchell is running for lieutenant governor as part of the state's upcoming recall elections.

Tributes continue to come in for Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), who died unexpectedly April 8 at age 63. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka calls Ayers an “extraordinary leader and friend.”

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has a long record of opposing critical public safety programs and training for firefighters, including Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) and Assistance to Firefighters (FIRE Act) grants.

A year ago, thousands of Wisconsin workers filled the statehouse and streets of Madison protesting Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) attack on their collective bargaining rights. The battle reverberated beyond the borders of Wisconsin, triggering a nationwide dialogue on collective bargaining.