The Lot-et-Garonne firefighters are demonstrating once again this Thursday, October 31 in front of the Agen Departmental Council following the president's proposal for two additional positions. They are asking for twenty-one. This is why they are continuing their movement initiated on September 23, to demand more staff and better working conditions. A petition to gain the support of the population has also been launched.
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“We are being abandoned!” The representatives of the firefighters of SDIS 47 should be received on November 6, by the president of the Departmental Council, Sophie Borderie. But nothing is less certain, because communication seems difficult between the two parties for weeks. The last meeting was postponed until next week.
This October 31, they finally intend to truly begin the dialogue. “We demonstrate in front of the Departmental Council, without knowing if we will be received“, adds Christophe Vidal, the president of the autonomous union 47, doubtfully.
Lot-et-Garonne firefighters are expected to gather in large numbers in front of the Department's headquarters in Agen this Thursday at 11 a.m. The strike, lasting one hour daily without intervention, has been fairly popular among firefighters since the start of the movement.
We could not stand by and do nothing after the president's announcement to create two positions when twenty-one were needed!
Christophe Vidal
president of the Autonomous Union 47 (Lot-et-Garonne)
For the union representative, it is the safety of the inhabitants of Lot-et-Garonne which is at stake, because the lack of staff lengthens intervention times and increasingly isolates rural areas far from emergency centers. Teams also exhausted who also say they suffer, internally, from a “fear management” to be able to carry out their relief missions.
This Thursday morning, they hung a banner in front of the Departmental Council of Lot-et-Garonne in front of which they demonstrated. We can read “Abandonment of relief in the field”, because according to them this is the consequence of this lack of personnel.
“Today, we are extending the strike for another month, we have not really made any progress. We are asking for solutions, for efforts”, Jérôme Faurie, firefighter in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, member of the same union, still hopes.
If there were financial efforts, where did the money go?
Jérôme FaurieFirefighter from Villeneuve-sur-Lot and member of the Autonomous Union 47
“We have a certain number of firefighters in the city barracks, a number calculated to cover the city and its surroundings, but with this same number, we are obliged to cover cantons!“, he explains.
He also explains the difficulty of really taking their alert into account. “It took us a month to sit around a table, meet with the board of directors” composed of the president of the departmental council and elected officials from several municipalities. “We are talking about the same thing, we all agree: we lack emergency personnel, we lack professional firefighters“, but the answer is laconic, according to Jérôme Faurie, “we have no more money, we can't do anything. Basically, we're abandoning relief!” he laments.
“Two positions when twenty-one would be needed to make our department function more or less normally in terms of response time for the population.” summarizes Christophe Vidal who specifies that while waiting for the possible meeting with their supervision, they are now appealing to the Lot-et-Garonnais.
On their latest leaflet, the words are strong: “Relief on sale, liquidation of stocks until staff is completely exhausted. They recall that in ten years, interventions have increased by 12% and that the number of professional firefighters in barracks has declined by 3%.
“We created a QR code on the flyer which links to an online vote to support us in our action.”
A show of force from the firefighters which risks remaining a dead letter today, during school holidays, the president not being present in the premises of the Departmental Council.