DC Fire Fighter Going to Harvard
Monday, November 25, 2013(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Ed Smith is going Ivy League. The Fire
Fighters Local 36 president has been awarded an
IAFF scholarship to attend the 2014 Harvard
Trade Union Program, a 6-week program that runs
from early January to mid-February. “I hope
this demonstrates my commitment to continue to
learn and grow as a union leader,” Smith told
Union City. Organized by an interdisciplinary
team of Harvard faculty, the program’s
curriculum is built around a set of core
courses supported by topical seminar series and
other specially arranged programs. Core courses
include topics like “Strategic Planning for
Unions,” “Leadership and Organizational
Change,” “Lessons from Labor History” and
“Union Governance.” Smith has worked for
the DC Fire Department for 21 years, serving in
some of the city’s busiest companies,
“starting at Engine 10 in Trinidad in 1992,
which has consistently been one of the
nation’s busiest engines for years,” Smith
says. He’s currently the Captain of Rescue
Squad 1 in Chinatown, “a specialized rescue
unit dealing with everything from high angle
rescues, water rescue, and hazardous
materials.” The Harvard program also offers
seminar series and individual presentation of
issues and problems facing union leaders and
the labor movement, enabling participants to
exchange perspectives and discuss strategies
with some of the most talented and innovative
practitioners and analysts in a particular
area.