At the general congress in Messina the serious staff shortages were discussed: “We ask for greater attention”
MESSINA – More resources and above all more workers are needed to replenish the ranks of firefighters and penitentiary police. This is the alarm raised by the Fns Cisl Sicily, which held the general council at the CISL Messina headquarters to talk about the situations linked to those who work in the security sector. Messina general secretary Antonino Alibrandi spoke about the lack of staff and the need to invest in men and equipment, explaining: “Last summer’s fires and the commitment of the firefighters are still in everyone’s minds, but also the emergency experienced in the prisons of Messina and at the Opg in Barcelona. Situations that we have always paid attention to as CISL and on which we need to intervene at an institutional level”.
Massimo Vespia, national secretary of the Fns Cisl, spoke after him: “What we ask of the administration and politicians is greater attention. Unfortunately, what happened in previous years demonstrates that the forces in place are not sufficient to deal with the fire emergency and recently we have also involved the undersecretary, the minister himself. We need a signal, greater attention also because it’s not just fires, there is the issue of hydrogeological instability. And it is here that the shortage of fire brigade personnel becomes evident, especially in many peripheral detachments, some of which have been closed”.
Then Domenico Ballotta, general secretary of the Fns Cisl Sicily: “We are concerned about what happened last year confirms that urgent measures are necessary. Last summer the population, seeing their homes burning and their goods going up in smoke, was so angry that they attacked the firefighters or the so-called emergency workers. Unfortunately we have a lack of personnel, means and tools to deal with an emergency like last year and for this reason we asked for meetings in advance with the prefects of the Sicilian cities”.
Vespia then concluded: “We have suffered from a wrong policy over the years. The prison police are a police force in all respects and unfortunately attacks on prison police personnel are now frequent.” And finally Ballotta again: “In the last year, in Sicily, there have been more than 1950 critical events. That is, every month 250 episodes which can be fights or attacks against prison staff. The escape in Barcelona is a bad sign of how much the workforce is struggling to control the structures adequately. A shortage that is also noted in the juvenile sector.”
