When a fire is raging throughout Montenegro or when victims need to be rescued, everyone talks about the brave firefighters, however, that story quickly dies down, and when their problems need to be solved, it's as if no one is there to hear them.
They are looking for regulation of retirement and the passing of laws that are important to their business.
The professional union of firefighters repeatedly appealed to the authorities in vain, pointing out the difficulty and complexity of the work they perform.
Nikšić firefighter rescuer Goran Tripković in 20 years in the Service has seen everything...
He says that the authorities remember them only when there is a more difficult fire season or major accidents, then they ask them to help, to meet and solve the problem, and sometimes they do jobs that are not theirs...
"Ask your colleagues in Jablanica what they were or we were in Turkey, this is what is happening in our city, every day there are some traumatic situations where human bodies are seen which, as I would say, are at least not human bodies, but they are all ours fellow citizens, citizens of this country, who, due to the unfortunate events that happen to them, are simply no longer human, simply disappear, and we are watching all of this, we have to do our job and we have to do our best". said Goran Tripković, president of the Professional Union of Firefighters.
That is why they are surprised by the relationship between the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) and the Directorate for Emergency Situations, because they have been waiting for a solution to their problems for years.
The Law on Protection and Rescue stipulates that the active service of a firefighter and rescuer lasts until the age of 55. The problem arises when a firefighter with so many years does not meet the requirements for a pension in accordance with the regulations, because he is awaiting assignment to another workplace or dismissal. In 2022, an article was passed that allowed them to request an early pension upon reaching the age of 50, with additional conditions, and using this benefit, about 60 of them used that right.
They launched an initiative to extend the validity of that article, which is valid until the end of next year, with the proposal that it be valid until the end of 2028.
"We hope that in the next three years, early retirement will be enabled for all those people who wish, who exercise that right, to receive these additional conditions of a 30 percent pension increase for all those people who retire early, but so that during that period, the next three years, the method of receiving and training firefighters in the service will be resolved, because we hope that someone from the top will hear us and will start solving systemic problems," said Tripković.
Specifically, they request the following from the Ministry of Interior:
"First, solving this issue of early retirement, i.e. the retirement of people who reach 55 years of age and do not have enough years of service, according to the current legal solutions, that is 32 years of effective work, that means without benefits, we want it to be solved once for sure, that not one of our colleagues who reach the age of 55 should worry about whether they will stay on the street," Tripković said.
There is another request from the firefighters...
"To finally pass laws that concern our profession, the law on fire protection and the law on firefighting, because we are the only country in Europe that does not have these two crucial laws that solve all these problems," said Tripković. Finally, Tripković on behalf of the Montenegrin firefighters and rescuers, says:
"Let them put their finger on their foreheads and think about how difficult and stressful our work is and what price we pay. We are not looking for hills and valleys, just to fix our system," he said.
Bonus video:
