THE UNION IMPACT

California Professional Firefighters is the officially chartered state council for the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), your voice in Washington, D.C., which represents over 324,000 firefighters throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Just as CPF represents you at the state level, the IAFF strengthens the firefighter voice in the nation’s capital. In California, professional firefighters have a strong, united team working on their behalf at the local, state and national level.

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION
OF FIRE FIGHTERS

Protecting Firefighters Across the U.S. and Canada

  • Firefighter-led cancer and health research

  • International advocacy to develop next-generation PPE

  • Data and GIS studies used to evaluate staffing, response times, and resource needs

  • Fire Ground Survival, Hazmat, Confined Space, Responding to the Interface, and more operational trainings

  • Disaster relief support after major incidents

  • Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health Treatment and Recovery, a first-of-its-kind treatment facility for firefighters

  • Passed the Social Security Fairness Act

  • Secured $461,000 in federal death benefits for any IAFF member who dies from occupational cancer

Through federal advocacy and international programs, the IAFF works to strengthen the fire service throughout the United States and Canada:

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CALIFORNIA PROFESSIONAL
FIREFIGHTERS

Protecting Firefighters in California

  • First-in-the-nation cancer, heart, behavioral health, biohazard and infectious disease presumptions

  • Modern personal protective equipment standards

  • Protecting fire-based EMS

  • Nationally recognized apprenticeship program (Cal-JAC)

  • The Firefighters Bill of Rights

  • Fallen firefighter survivor benefits

  • The California Firefighters Memorial

  • Personal Exposure Reporting (PER)

  • Behavioral health initiatives

  • Pushing back on the use of private fire resources during emergency incidents

For more than 80 years, CPF has helped secure many of the protections and programs California firefighters rely on today:

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AS A MEMBER OF YOUR UNION, YOU RECEIVE:

  • As public safety professionals, firefighters are under scrutiny, and discipline can be unfair and arbitrary. Your contract secures firefighters’ basic workplace rights. For example, when a proposal would have mandated COVID-19 vaccines as a condition of employment, CPF immediately led a coalition opposed to the measure and stopped it before its first hearing.

  • For workers who don’t have a strong union, filing a grievance is often a one-way ticket out the door. Through the union, firefighters get their issues heard by management without fear of retaliation.

  • Everything about a firefighter’s job is governed by decisions made by elected officials or those they appoint. Through political action at the state and local level, firefighter unions work to elect lawmakers they partner with to support the health and safety of firefighters. And when it comes time to follow through, it’s the union that holds them accountable on your behalf.

  • From Sacramento to Washington, D.C., fire fighters are at every table where decisions about the job are being made. CPF represents fire fighters across California, including at FIRESCOPE, the State Building Standards Commission, the Paramedic Disciplinary Review Board, and more. The IAFF represents fire fighters nationally – at the NFPA, ICC, OSHA, the U.S. Department of Labor, and other bodies that shape the safety of the fire service.