Jon Shirey, president of the Reedy Creek Firefighters Association has stated that members of it’s Honor Guard are being asked to perform, without pay, at the International Association of Fire Fighters’ Affiliate Leadership Training Summit from January 9-12th at Disney’s Dolphin Resort.
According to the article in the Orlando Sentinel, a few people involved confirmed that payment was not an issue in the past.
Shirey claims that they were initially told by officials that they were not allowed to appear. That changed after the press was brought in. Fire Chief Richard LePere and union vice president Paulette Montero said that they could appear but only if they did so unpaid and can not take time off to participate in duties if they were already scheduled to work.
Shirey and others believe this is being done in retaliation over comments made to the Orlando Sentinel about staffing shortages putting guests in danger, especially after an incident in December.
Last month there was a medical emergency that resulted in a death of a woman at Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
When it happened the emergency vehicle from Reedy Creek was out on another call. A medic team arrived within nine minutes but the rescue unit took a few minutes longer to arrive and all in all it took 20 minutes for the woman to receive epinephrine.
All of this led to the president of the Reedy Creek Firefighters Association, Jon Shirey, to speak out.
He isn’t the first person to do so. Tim Stromsnes, who was previously the president of the Reedy Creed Firefighters Association, and now the union’s communications director, told the Orlando Sentinel back in 2019 they were concerned about being stretched too thin with all the expansion:
“We’re stretched to the max. They’re asking us to do more with less.”
Why are we doing such a disservice to the visitors, to the tourists who come to Disney, and not giving them an adequate amount of firefighters to do these operations? We don’t have enough firefighters to make them safe.”
Back then the Disney spokesperson and Reedy Creek Improvement District administrator John Classe disagreed with Classe arguing that it was just a collective bargaining tactic.
Well, what they were worried about came to pass and is why they say they’ve been bargaining for more first responders.
Stromsnes spoke out saying:
“We’re putting people who are visiting Disney in danger.“
Shirey also commented:
“It’s a huge danger. If there is a big event, we’re not even remotely close to being able to handle it on our own.”
A couple of years later it appears their concerns may be justified and they feel this is being done in retaliation for the public comments made about the situation.
The Reedy Creek Improvement District spokeswoman Eryka Washington stated that they normally do not pay employees for events outside the district but “fully supports the appearance” of the Honor Guard at the convention.
The union is watching the situation “very closely” according to General President Edward Kelly. Kelly also indicated that their claims about the staffing were true stating:
“The [staffing] alarm that the Reedy Creek firefighters are sounding is not a false one, and it’s something that the administration of Reedy Creek needs to address in order to ensure not only those firefighters are safe, but the visitors to the Disney properties are safe.”
All of this has led Shirey to believe it’s “retaliation” for the news article:
“They’re gonna deny that it’s retaliation, but being that it’s the first time they’ve ever denied our people the ability to do it, and it conveniently happened right after that article was published, it certainly has the appearance of such.”
What a mess. I hope Disney and the Reedy Creek Firefighters Association can work out something soon. I also hope they can hire some more first responders if they are indeed necessary. But, tracking it back, it’s been something that has been seen as a possible issue for quite some time.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
Sources: Orlando Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel
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