ILFOP State Lodge responds to Labor Council’s grievance

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — Last week, the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council filed a labor contract grievance on behalf of the deputy who shot and killed Sonya Massey. Now, the president of the ILFOP State Lodge is releasing a statement to clarify their organization’s differing opinion on the matter.

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President Chris Southwood emphasized that the Illinois FOP Labor Council is an entirely separate organization from the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police.

“We are the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, strictly a fraternal organization. The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge is not the labor organization that filed the grievance on behalf of the former deputy who is jailed on murder charges,” he said. “That dubious distinction rests with the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council, which is a completely separate organization with different leadership, a different organizational structure and a different mission.”

Southwood continued by saying the lack of distinction between the two organizations has led to undue uproar directed towards the ILFOP State Lodge.

“The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge had zero involvement in this grievance and yet we are bearing the brunt of the public outcry and hate communication for that action just because we share a common first name with the FOP Labor Council.”

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According to the Will County Sheriff FOP Lodge #94, the ILFOP State Lodge is part of a larger National FOP organization. Its membership involves law enforcement members who are full-time or work at least 30 hours a week. It is also controlled by the Illinois State Lodge Board of Trustees and centers on connection, charity and creating more efficiency in the law enforcement profession.

The FOP Labor Council, on the other hand, is a union overseen by the FOP Labor Council Executive Board. It is an independent organization with a focus on legislative and administrative support for law enforcement officers.

“The FOP Labor Council is a labor union which should publicly step up to take ownership of its actions rather than silently let a fraternal organization and our 34,500+ members take the heat, and the hate, on this matter,” Southwood stated. “We urge the public to make that distinction in the future, and we join the public in expressing our condolences to the Massey family. We share everyone’s shock over this disturbing, horrible tragedy.”

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Southwood also cleared up the reasoning behind the two organization’s similar titles.

“The FOP Labor Council is allowed to use our name through a marketing agreement with the National Fraternal Order of Police. The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge has had many concerns involving this marketing agreement, which again we have nothing to do with, over the past several years and will once again be requesting the National FOP to make changes to this marketing agreement over these concerns.”

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