FLORENCE – “In Italy the working conditions of the firefighters are dramatic and Tuscany is no different. Understaffed for too many years now, forced to work exhausting shifts especially in the summer period but not only, with increasingly frequent recalls and overtime returns, without Inail insurance against accidents at work and professional diseases, struggling with a government who hides the truth and is only capable of propaganda”: that’s what I say Mauro Giulianellanational coordinator of the Fp CGIL Fire Brigade, e Giancarlo Gori, regional coordinator of the Fp Cgil Fire Brigade Tuscany, who add: “In 2030 the staffing of the Fire Brigade, considering the retirements of the next few years, will have such a shortage that there will be a real risk of not covering the entire territory , if anything only the metropolitan cities. These are some of the issues that we will put at the center of the meeting with the Minister of the Interior Plant yourself”.
“The consequences of increasingly extreme atmospheric phenomena with heat in the south and severe bad weather in the north, such as last November’s flood in Tuscany, the G7 at the door, the start of the forest fire campaign, the services of rural and aquatic garrisons, two training courses still in the start-up phase for around 1280 candidates for the qualification of team leader between generalists and specialists: a sum of circumstances that highlights the inability of the administration to organize and plan the activities related to the rescue. To complete the picture, urgent daily technical assistance must be guaranteed. A situation which, we are convinced, would also exhaust “bionic man”…”, they continue.
“To this state of unease – conclude Giulianella and Gori – we add the expired contract, a professional system that is leaking from all sides and an administration that does not respect correct trade union relations by discharging the responsibilities of the rescue, in a disrespectful manner, on the great availability of the Corps staff who, due to their forma mentis, lend themselves on every occasion and for the good of the citizens, demonstrating great professionalism”. “The Fire Brigade is working with 4,000 operational and 2,500 administrative personnel (RTP) less than necessary, in Tuscany the shortages in some commands are as high as 40% for the role of qualified personnel in the operational sector and also 70% for administrative personnel . With work overloads that are sometimes unacceptable, some offices have to remain closed due to lack of staff, it often happens that to make up for lack of vehicles, the same arrives from very far away with a considerable increase in intervention times and an increase in stress for the staff who finds himself driving a heavy vehicle in an emergency for long journeys, again last November the staff of the provinces of Florence, Prato and Pistoia, the ones most affected by the flood, were forced to work 24-hour shifts for days and days of rest by working, among other things, with equipment that is often old and inadequate. The fallback to extraordinary is now ordinary. Some would say that we are really broke. For years the union has been denouncing the critical issues linked to urgent technical assistance and excessive workloads, nevertheless the women and men who work in the area enjoy undignified treatment: for this reason we will be vigilant and if necessary we will call the staff to support the fighting initiatives”.
