Firefighters complain professional statute hasn’t been revised for 22 years
Lisbon’s professional sapper firefighters will begin a month-long strike from tomorrow to demand higher salaries.
A source from the Lisbon Municipal Workers‘ Union (STML) told the Lusa news agency that the strike will start on October 1 and last until October 31, admitting the possibility of extending into November if the government fails to respond satisfactorily to demands.
According to the union, the strike was initially scheduled for only two weeks, but it was decided to extend to cover the full month after a meeting last week to which no document was presented by the secretaries of state for Civil Protection and Local Administration and Spatial Planning to begin negotiations.
The reason for the strike, as STML’s António Pascoal has explained, is the “revision of the Personnel Statute for Professional Firefighters in Local Administration, namely the revision of the pay scale, which guarantees that basic pay is not less than the guaranteed minimum monthly wage, and a fair and adequate career progression and promotion”.
“We have a statute that hasn’t been revised in 22 years. In terms of pay, professional firefighters earn much less than the national minimum wage. At the moment, (…) we’re talking about a basic salary of €722 for a professional firefighter at the start of their career,” he stressed.
According to Pascoal, the salary that the professional firefighters earn “is illegal, unconstitutional, because nobody should earn less than the guaranteed minimum monthly wage”.
Firefighters are also asking for the current pay scale to be corrected by more than €52, for a risk supplement to be awarded and for the Permanent Availability Supplement to be updated.
“When there was an increase, in 2023, of the additional €52 in the civil service for inflation, firefighters were left out. They were one of the few professions that didn’t receive it because it’s a job that hasn’t been reviewed in 22 years,” he said.
Recognition of the professional firefighter career as one that is very hard on people is another issue.
“Firefighters don’t have a risk allowance. We’re the profession with the highest risk within the civil service – we have seen that this summer with several firefighters killed and injured, yet it’s not considered to be risky profession”.
According to António Pascoal, representatives of Lisbon’s professional firefighters have had several meetings with previous governments and with this new one, all of whom have said that they will look into the matter.
Lisbon professional sapper firefighters are also demanding a review of the retirement system, which was changed in 2019, guaranteeing a dignified, fair retirement at an age that takes into account the physical and psychological wear and tear that professionals are subjected to during their working lives and the creation of a specific evaluation system, without quotas, adjusted to the particularity and nature of their activity.
Reinstatement of the right to a compensatory rest of equal duration (to service) or to a 100% increase for work done on a public holiday is another demand.
Lisbon sappers will also take part in the national demonstration called by the National Association of Professional Firefighters (ANBP) and the National Union of Professional Firefighters (SNBP).
The demonstration, scheduled for the day the state budget is submitted to parliament (10 October), includes a march by professional firefighters between the ministry of the interior (MAI) and parliament.
Source: LUSA
