Strike like the fire brigade

“Firefighters on strike.” Banner on building behind burning tire in Clermont-Ferrand, September 8th

Paris. Imagine calling the fire brigade - and they don't come. This scenario is not yet threatening in France, despite a prolonged strike to which professional firefighters have been called; it started on September 8th. The staff is called on to take industrial action until October 20th. This was preceded by a warning strike on August 13th. In the evening of the same day, a meeting between the nine unions represented among employees with Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez was disappointing from their point of view. The idea of a longer-lasting strike then came up.

Despite the strike, the firefighters will continue to carry out their most important tasks; In addition to extinguishing fires, this also includes rescue operations, for example in the event of traffic accidents or heart attacks. Operations that involve saving lives cannot simply be omitted. The prefecture, i.e. the government authority in the department or administrative district, could also, if necessary, impose punitive service obligations for such operations.

The union demands arose directly from the experiences of the extreme summer with its forest fires.

However, depending on the severity of the emergency, the emergency vehicles should sometimes deploy with reduced crew numbers. The strike could have an impact on less urgent work, such as fire safety assessments on construction sites and other preventative measures.

On the first day, Tuesday last week, the strike call was largely heeded. According to the website maville.com, which specializes in local politics, strike participation of 100 percent was reported in the Breton cities of Vannes and Lorient, while in Boulogne-sur-Mer and Marquise in northern France it was “between 75 and 90 percent,” according to the regional newspaper La Voix du Nord, and around 90 percent in Strasbourg in Alsace.

In France there are around 44,000 full-time firefighters with employment contracts. In addition, there are around 200,000 volunteers who do not work full-time and, unlike the professional fire department, cannot be available around the clock. The unions are calling for the hiring of 21,000 additional professional firefighters.

Their demands arose directly from the experiences of this year's extreme fire summer with its forest fires, which highlighted the sometimes severe shortage of personnel and the understaffing of many fire brigade barracks and emergency vehicles. For example, in the eastern French district of Moselle (Mosel) around the city of Metz, where 782 full-time firefighters work, the unions put the shortage at 200 professional firefighters. In addition, the responsible industry union, the CGT, says that there are only half as many emergency vehicles suitable for fighting forest fires as there were ten years ago.

Strike participants also point out that there is a lack of material to protect the health of the emergency services. "We breathe in toxic gases and fumes through a cheap head mask that costs ten euros," the regional newspaper Midi libre in southern France quoted fire department strikers who had gathered on Montpellier's Place de la Comédie as saying on Saturday. Back in August, Cyrille Albanese, a representative of the firefighters' union SSP-PATS 34, which is not affiliated with any cross-industry umbrella organization, told the radio station France Info: "The hood of the uniform we are currently using has neither a gas nor a fine dust filter and is therefore dangerous."

"The hood of the uniform we are currently using has neither a gas nor a fine dust filter and is therefore dangerous." Cyrille Albanese, a representative of the firefighters' union

There are also demands for better protection for firefighters through professional and statutory health insurance companies as well as for increases in earnings; The entire public service has had to accept several rounds of zero wages in recent years.

A climax of the fire brigade strike is scheduled to take place on September 29th - on that day other public service sectors in France are also expected to be on strike. The day of the strike in Paris is to be preceded by a three-day long demonstration by firefighters, a kind of vigil on the centrally located Place de la République.

On September 29th, there will also be defensive battles against social cuts in the budget law for 2027 that is currently being planned. In addition to cuts in public services, the government also plans to limit continued wages for victims of work-related accidents and occupational diseases, thereby saving 270 million euros, which is causing particular outrage.

The budget law for the current year already contained some social cruelties, such as increasing the deductible for medication for those with health insurance. Now, unlike last year, the social democratic Parti Socialiste also wants to bring down the budget for 2027 because the government is going too far. But the 120-member faction of the right-wing extremist Rassemblement National under its leader Marine Le Pen does not want to vote against it this time, the newspaper La Tribune dimanche wrote on Sunday. Le Pen said that if she were elected president at the beginning of May next year, there would still be time to make changes.