It looks like the EYE gave the wrong name of the member of the firefighter’s union who hollered at Board of Aldermen President Jim Shrewsbury over the phone. The Local 73 member who allegedly called Shrewsbury was Mark Nagel of Engine House No. 1. Sources have told the EYE that Nagel is being called onto the carpet by Chief George to explain why he was on the phone during work hours on June 28, talking about Shrewsbury’s mother in an unflattering manner.
This error was pointed out to the EYE in a letter from Paul Davis, the President of Local 73, which can be read in the American’s Letters to the Editor section (A4) this week. Davis makes reference to the charter of the Firefighters Institute for Racial Equality (FIRE), asserting that its mission to create diversity in the department somehow disqualifies it from representing all local firefighters. FIRE members want Davis to remember that FIRE – and the Aldermanic Black Caucus, another black organization that he accuses of not representing all city workers – were created because of the racist and exclusionary practices practiced by white-dominated labor groups like Local 73. In the late sixties, when blacks were filing complaints and lawsuits to integrate the white-dominated police and fire departments in cities across the country, white labor organizations would often join city government as a friend of the court while still claiming to represent the interests of “all firefighters.” Judging by the attitude of Davis and others in the Slay administration, the need for FIRE is more relevant now than ever.