“The forest rangers of the Coimbra Municipality are staging a strike today, symbolically on the eve of April 25th, the day of freedom and expression, to express their indignation towards this municipality,” stated the president of the Independent Forest, Environment, and Civil Protection Workers’ Union.
Alexandre Carvalho highlighted a situation of “disrespect and deceit towards the workers and the general public” within the Coimbra Municipality.
“In November 2024, we had an initial meeting with the Mayor, who told us that the forest rangers were eligible for integration into the career under decree-law 86/2019, dated July 2nd, which is the professional career of forest firefighter,” he explained.
However, during a second meeting in January, “this career became illegal,” and it was “promised to these workers the hardship and insalubrity supplement, since they are part of the Environment Department.”
“There were no longer any forest rangers, but we check the staff charts and see that there are ten job positions listed. We discovered that workers were never informed that this supplement would be granted to them,” Carvalho added.
In the Montemor-o-Velho Municipality, within Coimbra’s district, forest rangers are included in the career, which is also the case in other municipalities across the country, noted the union leader.
“Therefore, if some have it, others must have it too. The union is going to take legal action against this municipality for non-compliance with the law,” he emphasized.
Currently, the Coimbra Municipality employs eight forest rangers, all of whom participated in today’s strike.
José Conceição, aged 55, who has the most years of service, recalled being hired almost 13 years ago for the role of forest ranger, for which he received training.
“We are forest rangers only in appearance because, in reality, they see us as road workers. We perform the functions of forest rangers, but officially we are not, and that is why we only earn the minimum wage,” he lamented.
Diogo Ludovina, 31, the most recent hire for the role of forest ranger about four years ago, complained about not always performing those duties.
“We are asked to attend to cemeteries, often working in areas with discarded needles from drug users, which is not our role. I decided to strike to fight for both materials necessary for our profession and recognition of our career as forest firefighter rangers,” he stated.
During the latest municipal executive meeting in Coimbra, held on Tuesday, PS councilor Hernâni Caniço referred to the upcoming fire season and the unfulfilled obligations of land clearance.
“As the fire season approaches, will the executive deploy forest rangers and provide them with working conditions, or will they resort to direct contracts for forest clearance, costing citizens thousands of euros despite having specialized workers in the municipality?” he questioned.
In response, Carlos Lopes, the councilor responsible for Civil Protection, accused the opposition councilor of lacking knowledge regarding the rangers’ activities, advising him to review municipal reports and indicators containing “reliable data.”
Carlos Lopes affirmed that the forest rangers cleared 17,500 square meters and refuted insinuations regarding direct contracts, clarifying that “they are public tenders.”
To Hernâni Caniço, Lopes further mentioned that while the career of forest firefighter rangers does not currently exist, efforts are underway to resolve it, noting that legal services are evaluating the eligibility criteria for the hardship and insalubrity allowance.
