Young firefighter: “My job is my dream job, but how can I wake up motivated?”

GREAT BAY--Shanella Jeffrey’s voice carried what many emergency workers have been feeling for years. Nearly six years in the fire service, she said she still has no stripe on her shoulder, still appears on her payslip as an “aspirant,” still earns a scale that she described as cleaner’s pay, about two thousand guilders a month (scale 4).

She passed her exams, she has responded to house fires and dump fires, she is raising a daughter, and she cannot secure a basic bank loan. “How would you wake up for work in the morning motivated to do this every day.” she asked. She added one more sting: after multiple courses, she has no official diploma to show that she is a firefighter, only the fact that she rides the back of the truck.

Her story was part of a radio interview on Sunday (PJD2 Wendell Moore) with representatives of the fire department, the ambulance department, and WICSU/PSU President Sharon Cangieter, who tried to stitch together the chronology behind the current go-slow actions of the departments and the deeper grievances that have driven it. The workers were clear, this is not about Carnival which many are incorrectly saying that it is solely about, it is about agreements that were put in writing, delays that became a pattern, and respect that keeps arriving late.

Cangieter traced the current action to April. Firefighters initiated a go-slow on April 14, she said, an action that was not even formally acknowledged. On April 29, with pressure mounting to save the April 30 Grand Carnival Parade, the union and workers met government and agreed to lift the action in good faith. They did their part, she said, they inspected, they assisted, they worked a heavy day of calls so the event could proceed safely. The understanding was simple, the go-slow would be lifted, the agreements would be honored, minutes would be shared promptly, and follow up would happen on schedule.

Instead, minutes took about two months to arrive. A meeting fixed for August 6 was cancelled the evening before, then pushed to August 15. Meanwhile, ambulance personnel said points that required timely decisions went unanswered.

Workers asked to meet the Council of Ministers, not a string of individual ministers, because the problems cut across portfolios. They argued that decisions on placement, pay, HR policy, and working hours are inter-ministerial. Government’s response, according to the union, was to insist on separate meetings. “How does the Minister of VSA commit to solutions that sit with General Affairs, or vice versa, if everyone is not at the same table,” Cangieter asked.

The substance of the dispute is not a mystery. Workers described a function book that changed in 2010 in ways that froze promotions by assigning fixed numbers to ranks, a technical shift that closed the pathways that existed in 2008. A new function book was approved for 2025, they said, with more flexible staffing and more FTEs, yet the required placement process has stalled. Acting leaders have carried responsibility for years without formal placement or compensation. Young firefighters like Jeffrey pass their exams, spend two years behind the truck as required, and remain stuck in the entry label.

Compensation and pensions are sore points. Firefighters work 24-hour shifts, often 11 or so days per month, which equals roughly 247 hours, compared with the standard 173.33 hours for civil servants. To bridge that gap, an extra rest day and a 16 percent allowance were introduced. Workers say that allowance was folded into salary in a way that disappears on retirement, reducing pensions for veterans who gave four decades of service. Retirees feel the cut twice, they said, first in the pension calculation, and again in the lack of formal appreciation at the end of service. The union wants irregular hours and standby time recognized correctly, not as a vanishing line on a payslip.

Equipment and uniforms add a daily, physical burden. Fire suits are supposed to protect against heat, shards, fumes, and the trauma of road collisions. “Right now we only have one,” a firefighter said. After a four or five hour incident, the suit is soaked and contaminated, yet it must go back on for the next call," Mr. Chase of the Fire Department explained. In the past, he said, several sets were provided from the Netherlands. New sets were promised after the last standoff, but none have been received. Reusing a saturated suit is not only miserable, he said, it is unhealthy.

Ambulance personnel spoke about risk, not as an abstraction but as an ordinary day. Mr. Jean Illidge of the Ambulance Department said that at a scene two years ago, as he stepped out of the ambulance from tending to a vuctim to alert police of ongoing arguments at the scene, a man across the street fired at a woman standing next to him. 'So that is the kind of risk we face. But if we have to do it again tomorrow, we will do it again tomorrow,” he said. The point was sharp: the work is dangerous, it is often thankless, and it continues even while negotiations stall.

The interview also pulled back the curtain on public expectations. Many people do not know the difference between life-threatening A-calls and B-calls, Illidge said. A scraped knee on a sidewalk is not an ambulance emergency, a cat in a tree is not a fire emergency. That confusion spills into pressure on workers, into social media criticism, and into a sense that these services should be provided regardless of staffing, budget, or law.

Cangieter’s stance on tactics was measured. “I do not support go-slows,” she said, “but when it has to happen, it has to happen.” She described months of talking, then talking some more, then keeping the peace, and then reaching the point where the members ask: when do you stop talking. Her approach is to build a file, document commitments, and give space for good faith. “I gave you the opportunity to keep your side of the bargain,” she said, “and you did not.” She was equally clear that the union is not a reflex hammer. If a member is wrong, she tells them. Rights and responsibilities go together.

The HR process is a recurring friction point. Workers want the union at the table early, with the people who draft and implement the function book. Too often, they said, HR calls it an internal matter, the union is told to wait for CCSU, and by the time it arrives there the decisions are already taken. Advisory bodies are heard, they said, but rarely heeded. That dynamic produces bad documents, then bad morale, then bad outcomes. It also leaves the union untangling meetings it was not allowed to attend.

What do the workers want now. A Council of Ministers meeting that treats the issues as the inter-ministerial puzzle they are. A clear HR cycle that implements the approved function book and completes the placement process. Recognition of irregular hours in a way that protects pensions. A budget for uniforms and PPE that is not cut in half. Retroactive settlements that do not forget retirees. And, more than anything, the feeling that a promise is not a comfort to a fool.

The most persuasive case for urgency was the one Jeffrey began with. She loves the job, she wanted fire, immigration, customs, prison, she planned to work her way in and to grow. She has served nearly six years, she has been on major fires, she has passed her exams, and her payslip still says aspirant. “You have to decide as a government worker what bill you want to pay at the end of the month,” she said. The island asks her to run into smoke, to ride the truck at all hours, to keep showing up. She is asking for the basics in return, a path to promotion, a payslip that reflects her work, a diploma that proves what she is, a firefighter.

𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘑𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘺, 𝘔𝘳. 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘐𝘊𝘜/𝘗𝘚𝘜 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘔𝘴. 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳.