Protesting sapper firefighters storm steps of parliament
Portugal Resident
Various firecrackers let off as anger and frustration let rip
Several firecrackers marked the start of a demonstration by sapper firefighters in front of parliament today – with a number, in uniform, ‘storming the steps’.
Flanked by PSP officers, protestors were ‘contained’ by a cordon, and did not advance further.
A source for the union has said the ‘storming’ was not planned, but showed the level of anger being felt.
Reports at 12.30pm were quoting the national union of sapper firefighters (SNBS) saying “thousands” are expected today, and describing “demonstrators still arriving and filling Rua de São Bento with orange and green smoke canisters and firecrackers”.
This is a protest for “salary adjustments to compensate for the increase in inflation” and regulation of the sapper career – with the union lamenting the “lack of response” from the various governments.
Union president Ricardo Cunha said his members are only asking for wage adjustments that have been attributed to other civil service professionals.
He also recalled “there was a commitment from the previous government” to award compensation to firefighters retroactively to January 2023, but, “to date, this has not happened”.
In other words, sapper firefighters have “been left out of salary adjustments because they are a special civil service career that has not been reviewed”.
The SNBS syndicate has a number of demands: “regulation of the career – to include risk, hardship and supplements for unhealthy work, as well as permanent availability, as a percentage, separate from basic salary, plus working hours, at national level, that guarantee the operability and safety of firefighters and those who are rescued by them.
“In Portugal, there are no more than 3,000 sapper firefighters (in 25 municipalities) and (…) these measures won’t be a burden on the state budget, because we’re talking about a possible annual expenditure of less than 10%, compared to what the government has allocated to the security forces,” Cunha told Lusa.
Four weeks ago when this protest was scheduled, Cunha explained “the aim of the demonstration is to show that firefighters are not happy with the government, which has broken its word”.
Among protestors today will almost certainly be members of the Lisbon sapper firefighter brigade, which is on strike this month for similar reasons.
Source: Lusa/ Sic Notícias
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