The SNBP announced a forthcoming meeting with the new councilor responsible for Civil Protection, Rodrigo Mello Gonçalves (Iniciativa Liberal), in a brief statement. “The meeting aims to discuss the labor situation that prompted the strike, analyze the demands submitted by SNBP, and find solutions to ensure better working conditions for Lisbon’s firefighting services,” states the note.
The union will report the outcomes of the meeting “throughout the next week.”
The firefighters from Lisbon’s Regimento de Sapadores Bombeiros (RSBL) commenced a strike on Monday due to “persistent problems in working conditions,” maintaining only essential services to ensure public safety in the city.
The strike primarily affects preventive services, inspections, pavement cleaning, among other services that do not endanger emergency response.
Regarding professional training, only courses related to the promotion of RSBL firefighters are currently maintained.
Sérgio Carvalho, president of SNBP, recently stated that the strike, scheduled until December 17, would only cease upon a meeting with the city’s mayor, Carlos Moedas (PSD).
The reasons for the firefighters’ strike include the lack of personal protective equipment, “shortage of personnel and vehicles without proper crew and some vehicles lacking specific equipment for several years,” along with facilities featuring “inappropriate living conditions.”
Sérgio Carvalho also noted the firefighters provide a daily preventive service at the heliport of Santa Maria Hospital, lasting 24 hours, and “to date, no one knows the protocol established between RSBL, Lisbon City Hall, and the hospital.”
The union asserts that the regiment “cannot offer free service to the Ministry of Health when it concerns prevention rather than emergency response.” At the strike’s announcement, it was anticipated that preventive measures associated with helicopter landings and takeoffs at Santa Maria Hospital’s heliport would be affected, as they are preventive services.
The SNBP has lodged a complaint with the Inspectorate-General of Finance against Lisbon’s City Hall, highlighting “serious failures” in the regiment’s management, particularly a lack of personal protective equipment.
In response sent to Lusa, a municipal source indicated that “in terms of vehicles and equipment, there was an investment of about eight million euros, enhancing RSBL’s capacity to respond to highly complex and dangerous situations.”
