the Metropolis targeted, Bruno Bernard sets things straight

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A broken window, a security guard who received 5 days of ITT, two complaints filed… The forceful passage of around fifty striking firefighters to the headquarters of the Lyon Metropolis on Tuesday, October 1, went badly.

Angry and on strike following “too many disappointments” and in particular the elimination of their compensatory housing allowancethe firefighters decided to move up a gear and demonstrate their dissatisfaction.

A few days after this event, Bruno Bernard, president of the Metropolis, summoned the press to his office to take stock of the situation and clarify things.

“It’s not up to us to decide how the SDMIS distributes its money”

“We are only in the role of financier, not decision-maker. In two years, we have already added more than 10 million euros at the SDMIS and in 2024, the budget allocated to it is 130 million euros,” the elected official would like to point out.

Concerning the compensatory housing allowance, the elimination of which was recommended by the Regional Chamber of Accounts in a report, Bruno Bernard specifies that the Metropolis has nothing to do with it. “It is not up to us to decide what SDMIS does next or how it distributes its money. We continue to pay the same amount. We recovered nothing from the cessation of this payment,” he assures.

An expected government reaction

If the president of Greater Lyon says “understand anger” firefighters, he nevertheless thinks that the latter have “the wrong target”.

Since 2022, there have been a huge number of reports, mobilization of elected officials and presidents of SDIS to alert the State to the fact that the system is running out of steam and cannot continue like this. Everyone knows the problem but nothing happens. With recent events, we at least hope that this will have the merit of provoking a reaction from the government.

A meeting planned between several actors

Next week, a meeting with the firefighters’ inter-union, the SDMIS, the Métropole de Lyon and the Rhône prefecture is planned. Bruno Bernard hopes that this meeting will calm things down and above all, that answers can be provided to the firefighters.

According to our information, this public outing by Bruno Bernard annoys the side of the State, who considers that the Metropolis discard, the latter being widely represented on the SDMIS board of directors with a majority of members elected with deliberative voice. In services, we also consider that communities are employers of firefighters and therefore accountable for decisions.

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