By Seraj Essul.
Tripoli, 27 April 2014:
Tripoli’s fire-fighters went on indefinite strike today after a colleague was injured . . .[restrict]while attending a fire early this morning in the Ben Ashour district. They are demanding safety equipment, new vehicles, substantially better work conditions, danger money and health insurance.
This morning’s accident was the last straw, firemen at the central fire station on Shara Al-Saydi in Bab Ben Gashir told the Libya Herald today.
“We’ve had enough. We decided to strike after we came back from the fire in Ben Ashour,” said one of the leaders who did not want to be named. That was at 4 am.
Other colleagues had previously been injured in call-outs, he said, but requests for better facilities had fallen on deaf ears. Masonry from a balcony had fallen on one recently, seriously injuring him and he was now unfit for work. Just after the revolution another of their number had died while fighting a fire.
“We have been to the GNC so many times and one of the GNC members came to see us and promised us there would be changes. But nothing has happened.”
The firemen say that many fire fighting vehicles are unusable and that they need new ones, along with other equipment such as oxygen masks. The firemen say they have none.
They also want danger money for working in dangerous circumstances, plus health insurance.
Workplace conditions, said another fireman, are unacceptable. The central fire station has been on Shara Saydi since Italian times and some of the facilities seem almost to date back to that time.
With usually around 30 people during any one 24-hour shift, there is only small room for a few to sleep with makeshift beds and matresses on the floor. There is no kitchen, toilet facilities are filthy and unhygienic with sewage seeping through broken pipes.
Asked how long the strike would last, the response was simple from strikers. “Until we get our demands”.
They appear to be split, however, as to whether they would turn out in serious emergencies.
One leader said they would. “It depends on the seriousness of the case. We have to go if lives are at risk.”
However, according to another, “we are not moving at all. It’s the only way we can ensure our demands are met”.
There are no indications that the National Safety Authority which is responsible for the fire brigade or the Ministry of the Interior have yet made contingency plans. [/restrict]
