“We’re reaching a point of no return…”
Hundreds of sapper firefighters led a new protest today in Lisbon, outside Campus XXI where a meeting was taking place between unions and members of government.
As demonstrators explained: “We are fighting for our careers”.
Sapper firefighters have had no salary adjustments to speak of in more than 20 years. They are also campaigning for a fair risk allowance.
Ricardo Ribeiro, from the Lisbon Sapper Regiment, tells Lusa: “We are reaching a point of no return. We are not asking for anything ‘out of this world’ – just for what is fair”.
In 2002, for example, “firefighters were paid the equivalent of two or three national minimum wages. Today, if you take away the allowances, a firefighter at the start of their career is paid less than the minimum wage,” he said.
With him outside Campus XXI were colleagues from regiments throughout the country, including Coimbra, Leiria, Sardoal, Setúbal and Viseu. Most of them were in uniform, others were dressed in black t-shirts with slogans, and carrying banners calling for “respect”, or denouncing the “shame” of their situations.
As with the rowdy protest last month, firecrackers were let off.
Reports stress that sapper firefighters account for around 3,000 (mainly men) in Portugal.
The meeting inside ended with little cheer, however.
“Once again proposals fall short”, Leonel Mateus, vice-president of the National Union of Sapper Firefighters told Lusa. He nonetheless conceded, “there has been some improvement”: the government has decided that the discussion of supplements will be tabled for the next meeting.
But “in terms of salaries”, there was nothing substantial, he lamented.
For Mateus, the €40 increases proposed by the executive for the next two years are simply “unacceptable”.
Unions will return to the negotiating table on December 3, with the promise of “not moving a comma” in their demands, he said.
Source: LUSA
