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Report Shorts
Sitting with Ella’s uniform next to me at the National Confer- ence.
Illinois State President Chris Southwood (left) and Lodge 7 Recording Secretary Rob Noceda wearing the shirts honoring Ella that we passed out at the confer- ence.
A special nametag adorns Ella’s uniform.
I suspect there are members who want to know what happened with my run for National FOP president.
My plans were postponed literally at the 11th hour due to conversations with the Great Lakes Coalition state presi- dents and trustees. We talked about it late into the night before nominations were made.
It was a hard decision, but without 100 percent cooperation and commit- ment from those presidents and their state trustees, it was pretty much an impossible task at that point. And there was some minority pushback, so that kind of led to the decision to pull back and regroup, instead of just focusing in- dividually.
We should have made this push two years ago when we left New Orleans,
I told the City at our last negotiating session that if we can agree to terms on this stuff, I will get 70 percent or better approval on phase one of the new con- tract from our members. We underesti- mated by almost 10 percent.
We were not going to put forward a deal that our members would not ac- cept. I’d like to think we have a pretty good grasp on what our membership prioritizes as must-haves and with the nearly 80 percent approval in the ratifi-
Our new trailer was scheduled to make its maiden voyage to New York for the 20th anniversary of 9/11. I know a few people wanted to come along for the ride and tow it out there with me.
Not the time to run
knowing that the conference would be in our backyard, so to speak, but you can’t change the past. Still, I think it kind of invigorated people to look at this coa- lition a little differently, and that’s going to make some noise going forward.
I know people are going to try and make it an issue that I got money from the Illinois State Lodge and didn’t even run. People might be asking, “Well, you didn’t run for president, so where did it go?”
Let’s highlight the fact that it helped us give out more than 2,600 T-shirts to conference delegates from across the country with Ella French’s name on it. Even though I thought I was going to run at that point, we didn’t need to focus on handing out my campaign literature. I just thought it was more important to
On Approval
cation vote, I guess we were in the ball- park.
But there’s no time to really enjoy it. Not even for a moment knowing there is a second phase. With our members hav- ing a contract going forward for three- plus years, I guess we can exhale a little bit on that.
We heard two predominant respons- es from members. Once was, “Great job. This is fair. We are looking forward to phase two.” The second came from
Going the distance for 9/11
And a handful of others wanted to catch a flight to come down and help us set up and cook for all the officers gathering there for this historic day.
In our October issue, we will have a
unite everybody across the country and for everybody to have a memento to take home.
By default, we’re a team, and a lot of that is fueled by Ella. Uniting, coming together, being a team. That would be my primary goal as president.
Ella helped us achieve that at the Na- tional Conference. Even after we left, I know that there was a moment of si- lence at 10 a.m. the morning of her fu- neral or when the funeral started. That was greatly appreciated. And I know the South Bend Lodge made a motion to stand in solidarity with the men and women of CPD for turning their backs on the mayor. That didn’t go unappre- ciated. And the respect paid will be re- membered.
members who said they thought for sure we were going to arbitration.
We could’ve played hardball, kicked and screamed and demanded some outrageous number that we knew we’re never going to get. But the goal was to get this off our plate, focus on phase two, and get back to doing the day-to- day business of protecting our mem- bers, providing for them and advocat- ing for better working conditions.
full report on our journey to be part of the 9/11 anniversary, remembering the officers who responded and those we lost that day, making sure they will nev- er be forgotten.
6 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ SEPTEMBER 2021