Many of Sweden’s firefighters may resign. The reason is new EU rules that will change the scheduling this autumn. The current 24-hour shifts, which are popular with firefighters, are banned. Instead, they have to work more shifts each month.
– Employees often think that they can decide for themselves: they want to work a lot and for a long time with shorter breaks in order to be free for longer periods, and they won’t be able to decide that anymore, says Lise-Lotte Argulander, labor law expert at Företagarna.
Protest march in Stockholm
A group of firefighters, Protect the emergency services’ working hours, has started a petition among the country’s 5,000 full-time firefighters and 10,000 part-time firefighters. So far, nearly 3,000 firefighters have signed the petition demanding exceptions for the rescue service.
In Stockholm, a couple of hundred firefighters gathered today to show their dissatisfaction with the new working hours, which disrupt the family lives of many employees.
– I am here because these new working hours will not work. We will not get time to be with our families. It makes me very sad, says firefighter Niklas Gullback, who participated in the protest.
Other professional groups also go out in protest against the tightened rules. In a few weeks, 16,000 personal assistants have signed the petition “Save the 24-hour shift”, writes Expressen.
The new working time directive has been met with both praise and criticism. In the clip above, labor law expert Lise-Lotte Argulander goes through the pros and cons of the new rules.