Less paid
The institution emphasizes that volunteer firefighters “make a vital contribution to the public service, to the point of having become essential to its overall functioning”, and considers that the difference in treatment between volunteer and professional firefighters is “discriminatory” in nature. . Currently, 78.6% of France’s firefighters are volunteers, for a workload that represents 34% to 66% of the current activities of rescue centers. However, the amount of compensation represented “less than a quarter of the entire payroll of the Civil Security system” in 2017, notes the Committee.
Guard duration rarely capped
This also emphasizes that the provisions limiting the working time of professional firefighters do not apply to volunteer firefighters, for whom “the notion of full time is rendered inapplicable in practice”. He recalls that “the vast majority of departments do not respect” the obligation to set a ceiling on the working time of volunteer firefighters.
78.6% of French firefighters are volunteers
The Committee therefore concludes that there has been a violation of the Charter due to the “failure to take into account all of their working time”, and the “regulatory void” concerning their working time.
2024-02-14 14:48:51
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