Firefighters protest in Rishon against ‘destructive behavior’ of commissioner
Some 100 firefighters from around the country blocked the main entrance to the central firefighting unit in Rishon Lezion Monday morning, protesting the conduct of Fire and Rescue Services commissioner Brig.-Gen. Dedi Simchi.
Protesters obstructed entry to a meeting of the senior echelon of the organization, burning tires, chanting and waving signs against Simchi’s “destructive behavior.” This comes after the Tel Aviv Labor Court’s order to hold fair negotiations on labor relations in the organization.
This is the latest in a series of demonstrations against Simchi in recent weeks. Last month, firefighters blocked Azrieli Junction, and since then have held demonstrations in several locations around Israel.
The firefighters are protesting “severe damage to their working conditions, in view of the harsh reality of their ongoing activities in the past year, primarily the war on terror kites in the South.”
The firefighters are demanding that Simchi uphold the collective labor agreements signed when he took office a year and a half ago, and put an end to the “abuse and intimidation against the firefighters.”
Avi Ankori, chairman of the Firefighters Association said this demonstration came after two weeks in which they honored the Labor Court’s order and tried to negotiate with the Fire and Rescue Authority. The protesters, he said, seek to “restore the labor relations in the organization, after Commissioner Dedi Simhi worked unilaterally for many months against the workers’ union, the Histadrut and the workers themselves.” After three meetings in the past two weeks, he said, they understood that the officials they are negotiating with are “fooling them,” and have no desire to reach an agreement.
“In practice, during the two weeks of the negotiations, Simhi continued to harm and destroy every good part of the commission, and we understood that we have no reason to sit with the representatives of the management but to return to the court today and ask it to intervene and instruct Simhi to implement the collective agreements,” Ankori said.
In January, more than 2,000 firefighters signed a no-confidence letter demanding Simchi’s resignation.
Simchi, 53, was appointed to the position in March 2017. He previously served as Home Front Command chief of staff and its Southern District commander, National School of Search and Rescue commander and the IDF’s military attaché to China.
The firefighters’ concerns with their working situation have been exacerbated in the past five months since Palestinians in Gaza began the phenomenon of launching incendiary kites and balloons into Israeli communities close to the border.
These have caused hundreds of fires which have scorched more than 3,000 hectares (about 7,500 acres) of land.