UFOA Head Leaving For Key IAFF Job;

Gorman to Exit June 1
UFOA Head Leaving For Key IAFF Job


Uniformed Fire Officers' Association President Peter L. Gorman is leaving that job after nearly eight years in office to become chief of staff for International Association of Fire Fighters President Harold A. Schaitberger.

GOING INTERNATIONAL: Peter L. Gorman, who eliminated the revolving door in the Uniformed Fire Officers' Association that produced four presidents in a three-year period, is leaving after eight years at the helm to become chief of staff to the head of the International Association of Fire Fighters, the UFOA's parent union. Mr. Gorman, who will retire from the Fire Department after 34 years at the same time that he leaves the union June 1, said he had been considering a change as his current three-year term as a member of the UFOA board neared its conclusion.

A Good Match

Because he had particularly enjoyed working on projects that involved other labor groups, including both the State AFL-CIO and the IAFF, the idea of being Mr. Schaitberger's chief aide had a ready appeal, Captain Gorman said during an April 19 phone interview.

"I always thought the International provided services above and beyond what other unions do," he remarked. "Harold Schaitberger has been a mentor to me on the national level as [State AFL-CIO President] Denis Hughes has been at the state level."

While his term on the union's board ends June 1, his term as president expires in September. There will be a special election to replace Mr. Gorman, followed by a vote three months later for a full one-year term by UFOA board members.

While Vice President Stephen Carbone looms as the favorite to fill out Mr. Gorman's term, it is unclear at this point whether he might face opposition in September, and how his chances could be affected by the election of at least two new board members during the interim and the possibility of a new wage contract.

Three Seats in Play

The UFOA staggers the terms of its nine board members so that three are up for election by the union's rank and file in any given year.

Another incumbent is reportedly stepping down rather than running again.

Captain Gorman has brought stability to the top of a union that in September 1999 chose him to be its fourth president in a three-year period. Longtime President Richard Brower had suffered a surprise defeat in September 1997 at the hands of John J. McDonell, who in turn was unseated by Arthur J. Parrinello a year later.

Subsequent board changes had appeared to swing the balance of power in Captain McDonell's favor for the 1999 election, but on the morning of the vote, Mr. Parrinello announced he would not seek re-election and Mr. Gorman, who had joined the board the previous year, declared himself a candidate and emerged as the surprise winner. (Mr. McDonnell is still a board member and has been mentioned as a possible candidate for president in September.)

Mr. Gorman was said to have benefited from board members' knowledge of the antipathy between Captain McDonnell and then-Fire Commissioner Tom Von Essen, but he later bitterly clashed on numerous occasions with Mr. Von Essen on matters ranging from the FDNY promotional process to its handling of the purchase of new radios. Following 9/11, the split widened over the Commissioner's decision to reduce the department's recovery operations at the World Trade Center site. Mr. Gorman's relationship with current Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta has been notably less turbulent.

'Dedicated Advocate'

The Fire Commissioner said in a statement, "Pete has been a passionate and dedicated advocate for fire officers during his nine years at the UFOA ... we all wish him well in his new job at the IAFF."

Captain Gorman agreed under his most recent contract with the Bloomberg administration to do away with the civil service exam for Chief of Department - the highest-ranking position in the FDNY. Although the union had previously won a lawsuit requiring the city to hold the exam, the past two mayoral administrations had evaded the spirit of the law by declining to give tenure to those who were selected from the list resulting from the test, and Mr. Gorman decided it was preferable to get a bargaining credit than to pretend that the test still determined who would lead the uniformed force.

He said his biggest disappointment was that it appeared likely he would leave office without negotiating a new contract to replace the 50-1/2-month pact that expired March 19. With the Uniformed Firefighters' Association due to have a ratification vote on its tentative deal decided by May 10, there is a slim possibility if that pact is approved that Mr. Gorman could secure a contract for the UFOA during his final three weeks in office.

A career high point, he said, was the union's "service to our families and membership post-9/11," after fire officers accounted for a significant number of the 343 FDNY members who died during the World Trade Center rescue efforts. "Taking care of families in the wake of a tragedy is more important, I think, than any collective-bargaining achievement."

A Fire Captain since 1995, he joined the FDNY in 1973, initially working at Engine Co. 214 in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Mr. Gorman served as a UFA delegate during the early 1980s prior to his promotion to Lieutenant, and was elected a UFOA delegate in 1990.

City Labor Relations Commissioner James F. Hanley called him "a straight-shooter who represented his people well."

Captain Gorman said he will be living in the Washington area during the week but returning to the Eastchester home he shares with his wife Mary on weekends. The arrangement is easier now than it would have been a few years ago, he noted, because "my children are grown." One daughter is a Teacher in Westchester, the other works for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on the World Trade Center Health Registry, and his son is a student at Boston University.