Filipe Amorim / Lusa
Firefighters protest
The union accuses the Government of a lack of transparency and recalls the agreement that was reached with INEM, and not with the sappers.
The National Union of Firefighters (SNBS) accused this Tuesday the Government of “lack of transparency” by having divided the union structures in the negotiations and said that this separation “is creating a lot of contestation” and “unrest”.
During a hearing at the parliamentary committee on Local Power and Territorial Cohesion, the president of SNBS, Ricardo Cunha, said that the Government has now resumed negotiations that had been suspended at the beginning of December “with the news of bipartisan tables”, having divided os unions in meetings without explaining this separation.
“They brought together four unions to negotiate with the Government and the others are negotiating separately (…) this is creating discomfort among firefighters because it had already happened in the past. Now we are moving in the same direction, we understand that on a democratic level it doesn’t make much sense, we asked the Government for explanations but no plausible explanation was given”, said Ricardo Cunha, during the hearing requested by Chega on the protests that firefighters have carried out, namely with the Assembly of the Republic.
Recalling that the SNBS “is the largest union in the sector and that it alone represents more firefighters than all the others combined”, the union leader considered that the process is being “undemocratic, unethical and it does not show transparency and will not be good for negotiations, nor for the calm that this sector is required to have”.
Ricardo Cunha also regretted that the Government presented different proposals to the unions.
“Negotiations are not being transparent when you are negotiating with some unions for one thing and with other unions for another thing. It’s creating a lot objection, because firefighters are seeing what happened in other years with the division of unions and with this type of negotiation because there is no transparency, no clarity”, he explained.
Ricardo Cunha also explained that at Monday’s meeting the Government “came closer to the minimum that the union understands to be acceptable for salary tables”, with there currently being a difference of 50 euros.
“The Government seems to be irreducible in reaching an understanding with the firefighters”, he said.
Regarding the risk supplementthe SNBS requires a subsidy identical to that given to security forces.
“The Government shows little desire to reach these values, and if it doesn’t reach there there will be no agreement with the SNBP, but I am sure that with the division they made with the other unions it will be easier to negotiate an agreement that does not value the firefighter sappers”, he stressed.
Ricardo added: “It is very difficult to explain to the country and to the firefighters why they are not given the same value as the security forces receive”.
Leonel Mateus, vice-president of the same union, recalls the recent increase of 250 euros for employees of the INEM – “and well, and maybe it’s not much” – but he pointed out: “We don’t understand why, for the sappers, it’s not possible to achieve appreciation”.
The trade unionist told the deputies that the Government presented three initial proposals: “Which one is the worst?. Whenever we refused one, they presented another, always worse. The last one proposed 31.5 hours of extra work per week without being paid. This, in our opinion, is slave labor. We were obliged, it was not voluntary work.”
According to Ricardo Cunha, the Government was to send a new proposal to the unions by Friday.
The proposal that is currently on the negotiating table involves phased increases until 2027. For example, the Government proposes that a firefighter, after the first year in the trial period, receives 1,222 euros this year, 1,175 euros in 2026 and 1,228 euros in 2027. At this point, the unions want the increases to be brought forward to 2026.
The Government agreed to maintain the current seven categories in the special career – unlike the five categories in the previous proposal – and maintain the current 35 hours of work per week – unlike the 40 hours proposed in December last year.
The Government also proposes a one-off additional, contrary to what it had proposed at the last meeting on December 3, 2024. This additional would be 20% of each worker’s basic remuneration with a phased increase – 10% in 2025, 5% in 2026 and 5% in 2027.
In early December, the executive suspended negotiations with firefighters, accusing them of applying illegitimate pressure, with a protest that included firecrackers, torches and smoke near the government headquarters.
Firefighters have already carried out three demonstrations since October, exploding fireworks and throwing torches, as well as occupying the steps of the Legislative Assembly.
