Firefighters: unions regret the absence of concrete decisions

“We still have the impression that the departments want to make the government pay for all the financial resources that are withdrawn from them,” regrets Friday on franceinfo Xavier Boy, spokesperson for an alliance of nine unions received the day before by the Minister of the Interior Laurent Nuñez.

The firefighters were mobilized on Thursday to request more resources, personnel and equipment. But the spokesperson for the firefighters' unions regrets a meeting without "any concrete decision" with the Minister of the Interior. "Nothing! No information has been given to us on the strategy, on the financing, he sighs. What we are asking is what is the course? What civil security do we want for our fellow French citizens?" he explains, but “we have no answer”. The unions are demanding in particular “regulatory obligations to increase the number of professionals in the departments”, explains Xavier Boy.

The spokesperson believes that discussions on the future of financing of the Sdis particularly clash with relations between the State and the departments, which are the main financiers of the Sdis.

“We feel the pressure from the Association of French Departments which wants to keep control over their finances,” says the spokesperson for the union alliance. Asked about the existence of a standoff between the state and the departments in which the firefighters would bear the brunt, he replied: “Yes, I think so.” According to him, the public authorities now have "not much choice" but to move forward on the subject.

“The current situation means that they cannot continue to pretend not to watch.”

But the spokesperson considers it difficult for trade union organizations to put forward precise financing proposals without knowing the intentions of the executive on the organization of relief. “We are territorial firefighters, we either stay like that or we challenge departmentalization,” he explains. “There are so many avenues to develop.”

Following this meeting deemed unsatisfactory with Laurent Nuñez, the firefighters will launch a "static demonstration" on September 26, 27 and 28, Place de la République in Paris, to invite the population and parliamentarians to come and meet them and understand their demands, before a demonstration on September 29.