Union Under Fire for Using Oklahoma City Bombing in Political Ad

An Oklahoma state senator is condemning a firefighter union for its new "horrific and tasteless" advertisement which uses images of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing to fight against a bill that would change contract negotiation regulations.

The International Association of Firefighters began airing its new ad campaign Thursday, urging the public to oppose Senate Bill 826, a measure that would amend rules governing public union collective bargaining disputes. However, public outcry may already be forcing the union to pull the ad from the airwaves.

Several images of firefighters are used in the commercial, including a short clip of the remnants of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building after it was bombed in a domestic terrorist attack on April 19, 1995. When the image of the bombed Murrah Federal Building is shown, a narrator says: “We're there when you need us. Now we need you. Tell politicians to do what's right: Oppose SB 826 and support Oklahoma's firefighters.”

“The AFL-CIO and the IAFF should be ashamed of this horrific and tasteless commercial,” said Sen. David Holt, a Republican from Oklahoma City. “The victims and heroes of April 19th are not political pawns to be exploited whenever the Legislature seeks to reform a union negotiating process.”

Sen. Holt, a sponsor of SB 826, is also a trustee for the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum and has asked the union to stop running the commercial.

The Oklahoman reports:

SB 826, by Holt, has passed the Senate and is awaiting a hearing in the House. It makes changes to binding arbitration, a process used to settle collective bargaining disputes between cities and public safety labor unions.

The bill has the support of dozens of mayors, city council members and city managers, as well as the state police union.

But the firefighter union opposes the bill, saying nothing is wrong with binding arbitration and it shouldn't be changed.

Holt has argued that the current binding arbitration process is unfair to taxpayers because it often results in an out-of-state arbitrator deciding how to handle collective bargaining disputes that can involve millions of dollars of taxpayer money.

Among the proposals in his bill is giving preference to Oklahoma arbitrators if arbitration is needed. Holt worked on the bill with firefighter union lobbyists, but they couldn't come to an agreement.

An International Association of Firefighters spokesman said today he had not heard Holt's criticism and would review it before commenting.