FOR THE RECORD
Four years ago, the International Association of Fire Fighters endorsed John Kerry for President, but President Bush arguably got as much public-relations mileage out of the Uniformed Firefighters Association's endorsement of his re-election campaign.

There is the possibility that history could repeat this year.

The IAFF endorsed Sen. Barack Obama Aug. 14 during its annual convention in Las Vegas, seven months after its early choice for the White House, Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, dropped out of the race. Its president, Harold Schaitberger, stated, "On every issue important to firefighters, Senator Obama is and has been in our corner."

He noted that the Illinois Senator had co-sponsored a bill governing national collective-bargaining rights for firefighters, where Arizona Sen. John McCain was absent from a vote on the measure and had previously voted against it in 2001. Mr. Obama also has a far stronger record on general labor issues than his presumptive Republican opponent.

But UFA President Steve Cassidy said in an Aug. 21 phone interview that he had not joined in the IAFF endorsement and has still not decided whom the union will back in the November election.

"We weren't consulted about the endorsement," he said. "They didn't ask our opinion; they told us what they were doing," referring to the IAFF leadership.

The UFA in 2004 endorsed President Bush at an Elks Lodge in Queens at the same time that a huge rally against the President by labor unions was being held near the Republican Convention in Madison Square Garden. The timing stole the spotlight from the protest against Mr. Bush's policies and blunted its impact.

Mr. Cassidy declined comment on whether his refraining from joining the international signaled the UFA was leaning toward Senator McCain. "We'll decide when we decide, independent of them," he said.

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A drive by a coalition led by the United Federation of Teachers to have a surcharge on millionaires' incomes imposed cuts in state agencies died at the warning track when the State Assembly approved the measure during the Aug. 19 Special Session of the Legislature but the State Senate took no action.

Negotiations among the two legislative houses and Governor Paterson's office wound up whittling down his proposed $1 billion in budget cuts to just $400 million, but more than a few state agencies will still feel the pinch and one cut that remained intact was a $51-million reduction in funding for the City University of New York.

UFT President Randi Weingarten had urged Mr. Paterson to impose the surcharge as the lesser evil to making budget cuts she said would inflict serious damage. She had called it "heartening" [his $1-billion proposal] did not require cuts in classroom services but urged him to look to "increase state income, rather than simply cut state programs."

Mr. Paterson, departing from his reputation as a liberal to take a fiscally conservative stand that he said was warranted by the state's long-term budget difficulties, joked about the coalition's ads, but admitted they had ruffled him a bit.

"I'm a human being. I'm sensitive," he told The New York Times. "My feelings can be hurt."

Some of the shock at the personalizing of the ads may have stemmed from the fact that his father, ex-Secretary of State and Deputy Mayor Basil Paterson, is the longtime labor counsel to Ms. Weingarten.

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State AFL-CIO President Denis M. Hughes was re-elected to his third four-year term Aug. 19 during his organization's annual convention in Manhattan, and proclaimed himself "deeply honored and proudly humbled to lead the strongest, most-progressive and diverse state labor movement in the country."

Convention delegates also elected Secretary-Treasurer Terrence Melvin to his first full term, a year after he was chosen to serve the final year of a term vacated by Paul Cole. He emphasized the importance of securing passage of the Employee Free Choice Act in Congress and its enactment into law by the next President; President Bush has effectively kept the measure from advancing by pledging to veto it if it reached his desk.

Raglan George, who represents city day-care employees as executive director of District Council 1707 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, was elected a State AFL-CIO vice president during last week's convention. Three weeks earlier, Mr. George was re-elected as an AFSCME vice president.