Cape Verde’s capital city, Praia, praises firefighters’ strike suspension

“The Praia City Hall informs the country that the Municipal Firemen have already suspended the strike. It has been 35 days that the country’s capital was practically deprived of Civil Protection services,” the mayor said in a press release.

“However, dialogue and common sense spoke louder, and today we are all satisfied with the return to the battlefield of the fire department of the capital of Cape Verde,” added Francisco Carvalho.

On August 1, the municipal firefighters of Praia started a strike for an undetermined time, demanding, among other points, career progression, a part that was fulfilled for 46 of these professionals last week.

The president of the Union of the General Industry, Food, Civil Construction and Related (Siacsa), Gilberto Lima, who called for the strike, said that the strike would end as soon as the list of career progressions for the firefighters of the country’s largest municipality and capital was published in the Official Bulletin, but this did not happen.

However, on Monday, September 5, the union leader announced the suspension of the strike after more than a month, justifying it with the need to help the population in any eventuality in this rainy season, but did not rule out a return to the protest in the future, if other demands are not met.

According to the mayor, the process opposing the fire department and the municipality has been going on since 2010. In 2018, the council, then led by Óscar Santos of the Movement for Democracy (MpD), moved forward with the progression of the firefighters.

However, Francisco Carvalho of the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) said that this act “was born crooked,” explaining that it was not accompanied by the enabling resolution, entering the field of illegality.

“And to rescue the legality, we decided to submit the proposal to the approval of the City Council, which ended up being rejected at the first attempt by the opposition councilors,” he recalled, indicating that the proposal was approved at the second attempt, but another obstacle appeared.

“This time promoted by the interested parties themselves because, in tripartite consultation with the Directorate General of Labor, the firemen declared that they would continue to strike at least until the publication of the resolution in the Official Bulletin, with the guarantee of the payment of the first installment of back pay equivalent to 100% of monthly salary, as well as the updating of the risk allowance to 15% and immediate progression with effect from March 2022,” he listed.

Francisco Carvalho said that the idea of payment of the first installment of compensation in the amount equal to or greater than the net salary for September is based on the fact that they will not receive the salary for that month because of the strike.

“These demands, unfortunately, the financial situation of the City does not support it, no matter how much goodwill one may have,” commented the mayor, guaranteeing that the largest municipality in the country is committed to solving the problems of all the workers in the city.

The Municipality of Praia said earlier that it had requested a civil requisition from the Government to end the strike, but the executive responded that it could not do so because the minimum services have always been met.

On Monday, the National Service of Civil Protection and Firefighters (SNPCB) of Cape Verde also praised the suspension of the strike of Praia firefighters for supporting the population during the rainy season.

With information from Impala