About 500 firefighters from across the country gathered in front of the Assembly of the Republic in Lisbon on Tuesday to demand a risk allowance and recognition of the profession as rapidly deteriorating.
“No fireman is without risk” or “The Assembly must burn” are some of the messages that can be read on signs placed on the railings next to the steps of the Assembly of the Republic.
The concentration, which brings together firefighters from all over the country, was called in an “informal” way, through social networks, as Carlos Coelho from the Lisbon Fire Regiment told the Lusa agency, explaining that the action aims to suppress the “Political agenda” – the problem of these professionals.
“This is not due to opportunism. This is simply due to “timing”. We have a political class that is going to the polls and we want political parties to take into account that the firefighting class has enormous needs,” he said.
As one of the protest participants told Lusa, they managed to gather more than 500 firefighters in the concentration.
Establishing an “effective” risk premium and recognizing firefighters as a “high burnout” profession are the main demands of these specialists.
In the same vein, Paulo Carvalho of the Porto Fire Regiment lamented that successive governments have not looked upon these professionals “with due respect and recognition”, defending the need for future governments to “value the careers of firefighters”.
“Every time they changed our status, every time they changed our careers, it was to our detriment. One of them is 60 years and six months until retirement. That’s funny. We have a profession that is quickly wearing out. We have a risky profession. and we are constantly in a hostile environment,” he said.
The professionals plan to remain in the Assembly of the Republic until approximately 9 p.m.
About a week ago, a group of leaders of the Portuguese firefighters’ union gathered at the Belem Palace to ask the President of the Republic to support their demands by demanding that the government treat the rest of the security forces in the same way.
These demands come at a time when an increase in risk subsidies for the Public Security Police (PSP) and the National Republican Guard is being discussed.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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