After two years of meetings and exchange of experiences between fire-fighters' union workers' representatives from many European countries (EPSU fire-fighters' network), on October 29th 2007 EPSU, the European Public Services Union - representing more than 8 million men and women workers from 215 trade unions in 36 European countries - issued the Charter for the Rights of European Fire-fighters
Starting from the contents of the Charter, we maintain and reiterate that the development of specific and well-targeted information and training pathways for union workers' representatives, aimed at providing them with specific and shared knowledge and skills, would be extremely positive to meet the needs of representatives and populations, and cannot but raise the interest of European, national and local institutions.
In cross-border areas there should be agreements between public authorities regulating how firefighters from different countries can assist each other. Agreements should contain provisions for the compatibility of firefighting equipment, firefighting procedures and the safety of firefighters. Firefighters who are involved in cross-border firefighting operations or rescues shall be covered for pay and insurance purposes exactly as if they were in their own country.
Therefore, there is an even stronger need for setting up a European coordination network of fire-fighters in Europe.
Common knowledge enables players from different countries to work fruitfully together. This is even more essential in areas like the Mediterranean where joint work has already been a reality for many years by now, even in tragic situations.
Fire-fighters should be treated no differently from any other worker for the purpose of general health and safety legislation. This means that there should be no exclusion of fire-fighters from EC Directives relating to the health and safety of workers.
GENERAL GOAL OF THE PROJECT
This project aims at fostering exchange of experiences between those countries that have already made considerable steps forward towards a culture of information and training as a tool for an advanced role of union representatives - and whose experience is undoubtedly important - and other countries where such a culture is not so widespread. In short, the project is intended to pave the way for ever more fruitful relations, and this to put a premium on international training.
SPECIFIC GOALS OF THE PROJECT
Building initial baseline knowledge for workers' representatives. The goal being the exchange of knowledge and experiences between fire-fighters' representatives from different European Mediterranean countries, namely fostering stable and ongoing interaction between workers' representatives from the countries that have a more fully-established tradition of workers' involvement, and workers' representatives from countries that do not still have a stable framework for workers' collective representation and involvement in national social relations. The ultimate goal is to think about the need for developing training sets of baseline knowledge for all the workers' representatives, irrespective of their country of origin, the institutional status of the fire and rescue service, and the way it is organised in individual countries. The training modules will cover the following matters:
-
Health and safety;
-
Fire-fighters' organisational patterns, staff members, and budget allocated;
-
Types of man-made and environmental risks;
-
Types of ordinary and extraordinary emergencies;
-
Statistics on deaths, accidents whilst on duty, and occupational diseases;
-
Working conditions, pension and insurance rights;
-
Working time, pay, and career development;
-
Model of social representation;
-
Role of volunteers and their integration with professional fire-fighters.
TARGETS AND PRIORITIES
This project is in line with the aims of the budget headings, in particular with a view to:
-
Developing a trade union common strategy to protect the health and safety of European fire-fighters from the European Mediterranean region, and - through increased information and training of their union representatives - improving working conditions, as set forth in the European Fire-fighters' Charter issued by EPSU on October 29th 2007.
-
Establishing a common bargaining culture for the representatives of workers of fire fighting services from EU member States and/or candidate countries.
-
Active involvement of union representatives from new member States (NMS) and candidate countries.
TRANSNATIONAL DIMENSION OF THE PROJECT
The following countries will be directly involved in the project activities: Croatia, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. The project aims at strengthening the collaboration between these countries already started with their joint work within EPSU.