1.You are the fire chief of a large combination fire department in a suburban county within a large metropolitan area. Your department has ap proximately 800 career firefighters and officers and over 1,000 volunteer firefighters and offi cers. Some of the volunteer fire officers are ca reer firefighters in the neighboring jurisdictions. The local union of the IAFF has filed charges against the volunteers who are career firefight ers and union members in the neighboring juris dictions. They have been accused of being members of a hostile organization because of their volunteer activities, which means there is less need for career firefighters. This is a very emotional issue within the organization and has received extensive media coverage. The volun teer organizations oppose this action because it strips them of their membership and raises is sues of individual rights to do what one wants on one’s own time. What are the union issues here, and what logic is behind this move to curtail volunteer membership? What are the issues on the volun teer side, and how will these firefighters approach this situation? Most importantly, how do you as the fire chief deal with this very volatile situation?