The Forestry Corps staff is in a state of agitation and is not ruling out a package of strikes just as we have entered the full firefighting campaign.
Insufficient staff numbers, moreover with many officers unsuitable for actively fighting the fires, obsolete vehicles and a contract that is not arriving .
These are the main issues raised by the three unions—Safor Cisl, Fesal, and Uil—who will submit a request to the prefect to initiate a cooling-off procedure, a conciliation attempt to avoid a strike. However, it is not out of the question that the general assembly of workers, which will be convened in the next few hours, will issue a mandate for a package of strikes to be implemented if no response is forthcoming from the Regional Council , which "unfortunately has not gone beyond announcements and promises," emphasizes Ignazio Masala, general secretary of Safor Cisl . These strikes could bring the regional firefighting system to its knees.
"We have a staff of 1,380 employees, but currently fewer than a thousand are employed, more than 50% of whom have an average age of over 60 ," observes Masala. While acknowledging that a competitive exam ends today and that 84 new agents joined two years ago, he still considers these measures insufficient. "In two years, double the number of staff who will be hired will retire." Another concern is that "this is the first time we've heard of fixed-term contracts."
The unions demand that the Region negotiate with the government a plan for extraordinary hiring necessary for generational turnover, as envisaged for the police force.
Gianluca Pinna, secretary of Fesal : "Since 2020, we've had separate bargaining, and after six years, we're still without our own contract. The Region should understand that we're a unique entity." The union representative then lists all the critical issues surrounding the firefighting campaign, from the lack of staff to the extremely old age of the personnel. "Several people," he adds, "are also unfit for active firefighting or have prescriptions." Furthermore, there are delays in medical examinations and a fleet of vehicles that "in certain areas is truly obsolete." And "while today we see the purchase of brand new vehicles for other organizations, unfortunately, we are still waiting to be able to replace our fleet adequately."
Carmelo Presileo, UIL, emphasizes the administration's "resistance" to the requests . "Now there's a state of unrest, and we're starting the cooling-off process," he explains, "to see if we can find a compromise with the Region, putting all our demands on the table."
(Unioneonline/L)