As of 1 October, Sweden's municipalities and regions are changing their rules for daily rest. The European Commission has questioned whether the collective agreement is compatible with the EU Working Time Directive in certain parts.
The directive means that employees must have eleven hours of rest in a day. This may mean that schedules change for firefighters, among other things, and that they are prohibited from working day-long shifts. Instead, they will work more shifts per month.
Patrick Falck is a firefighter at Ekerö fire station and is one of those who have signed the petition. According to him, the new working hours make it more difficult to combine the profession with parenthood. He is a long way from work and has his children every other week.
According to one of the proposals that has been put forward, Falck says, the firefighters will work Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, from 19 p.m. to 07 a.m.
"To do it three days in a row is total madness, I've never heard anything worse.
Petition has been started
The Swedish Firefighters' Association has started a petition among the country's 5,000 full-time and 10,000 part-time firefighters. So far, more than 2,000 firefighters have signed the petition demanding exemptions for emergency services. It is believed that the new rules will lead to a deterioration in working conditions with the risk of mass redundancies.
Patrick Falck will also be looking at changing professions.
"I'm absolutely sure that many of my colleagues will go the same way," he says.
"Exceptions not possible"
According to Magnus Krantz, ombudsman for the Swedish Firefighters' Association, the parties must try to negotiate an exemption.
"We see that an exception needs to be introduced for the functions that support society, including the emergency services," he told TV4.
SALAR, which represents employers, stresses that an exemption is not possible.
– It is not a free choice to follow the directive, says Jeanette Hedberg, head of negotiations at SKR, to Aftonbladet.