Lisbon, Dec. 3, 2024 (Lusa) - The leader of the National Union of Professional Firefighters (SNBS) accused the government on Tuesday of using the alleged lack of security at their demonstration "as a pretext" to break off negotiations and "demonise the firefighters".
The government suspended the negotiating meeting with the unions today with claims that conditions were lacking, given that around 300 firefighters were protesting outside the building throwing firecrackers and shouting slogans.
"We didn't even realise what was happening outside because we couldn't hear anything inside. We were all taken by surprise. They said there were no security conditions, that people were injured, but we realised that wasn't true. Maybe it was a pretext when they realised that the unions were all saying that the proposal, as it stood, could not be negotiated. They found a loophole to get out of the negotiations by demonising the firefighters," SNBS president Ricardo Cunha told Lusa.
After the announcement that the meeting had been suspended, the union leaders waited around an hour and a half for negotiations to resume, but ended up leaving the building and speaking to the firefighters who had been gathered at the new government headquarters all morning.
"From now on, all forms of struggle will be considered," said Leonel Mateus, vice-president of the SNBS, in statements to Lusa, who also criticised the proposal presented today, the third meeting in a round of negotiations.
The government's proposal "is almost identical to previous ones", said the union's president, accusing the government of "using a juggling act of taking from one side and putting into another", with no real pay rise.
"The possible pay rise was only in 2027," said Ricardo Cunha, adding that the proposed risk allowance “is shameful” and that's why the firefighters said “straight away that it was out of the question”.
According to Ricardo Cunha, the exemption allowance would also only reach €100 in 2027, but it would require an extra 31 hours a month on top of the 35-hour working week.
"This is unrealistic, offensive and goes hand in hand with the municipalities that use the sapper firefighters to enslave them, they force them to work long hours without paying them, and this was a way of enslaving them legally," accused the trade unionist in statements to Lusa.
Today's proposal presented to the firefighters is not "remotely acceptable or dignified", but Ricardo Cunha believes that the government will "put its hand on its conscience and present a credible proposal".
The trade unionist recalled that firefighters have protested for many years for better working conditions.
The firefighters' sit-in began today at the Alvalade barracks and continued along Avenida de Roma at a slow pace, shouting slogans against the government and firing firecrackers and smoke.
PJA/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
