Striking firefighters will only attend calls if life is endangered

Panama firefighters tired of broken promises, announced a nationwide work stoppage on Thursday, March 30, after the directors of the institution failed to comply with agreements made over salary adjustments for promotions that were promised in June 2022.

The red shirts announced that will only attend fires or emergencies where lives are in danger.

From the early hours of the morning, fire trucks from different stations in the capital arrived at the main headquarters of the Fire Department on Avenida Cuba to attend the protest call. With banners in hand and the sirens of their tankers sounding, the units demanded that the institution complies with the agreement.

Major Cruz Gómez indicated that yesterday they held a meeting with the directors, but they could not reach an agreement for the salary adjustments for promotion. The problem is that the two million dollar item that was promised to meet the agreement has not yet been assigned.

Goméz pointed out that the then Minister of Government, Janaina Tewaney, together with the directors of the Fire Department signed the agreement last June, committing the permanent units to make salary adjustments as long as they complied with the certifications required in the agreement. Since then, more than 900 firefighters have met all the requirements and the adjustments have not yet been made effective.

“The director made the general orders for salary adjustments and now it turns out that the money is not there because it was cut by the MEF and nobody had informed us of anything. Until Monday, we believed that the money had been allocated because that was what they told us at the institution,” he said.

He added that, during the last three months, the union worked tirelessly together with the administration so that the promotions were given, achieving that all the permanent units complied with everything that was required of them and now the government dishonors its word and fails to fulfill its promise. That is why, a nationwide strike is declared and only fires and emergencies will be attended where lives are imminently in danger.”

In addition to the permanent firefighters, paramedics, security offices and all stations nationwide are also participating in the strike.