Union asks minister to review inspections at Gargždai fire station

Lithuania’s Firefighters’ Union has asked Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas to assess the actions of the Fire and Rescue Department after a series of inspections at the Gargždai Fire and Rescue Service. The department says it launched checks in response to reports of possible violations, LRT reports.

The department said two official investigations were opened this year after separate anonymous reports: one concerned working-time records and the other the use of a service vehicle. It also launched another investigation after an unannounced operational inspection to assess officers’ actions related to readiness, department communications head Jolita Orentaitė told ELTA.

Orentaitė said inspections of various kinds are regularly carried out at fire and rescue services across the country. She said reports of possible violations are handled under the law, whether they are submitted anonymously or not.

The union said the Gargždai service had undergone several different checks from July to October. According to its account, an investigation began in July into nine employees’ records of work in hazardous conditions. An operational inspection followed in August. In early September, checks covered occupational safety, the use and accounting of property, and the organisation of state fire supervision. Later that month, another investigation began into five employees’ actions in organising activities at the unit. In early October, two further investigations were opened over alleged failures to follow procedures for identifying drivers through a telemetry system.

The union said it was concerned about what it described as the selective application of disciplinary accountability and restrictions on union participation in investigations. In its letter to the minister, it said department leaders were focusing on possible individual violations rather than longstanding problems with work organisation and pay. The union questioned whether the concentration of inspections at one unit was proportionate and objective, and whether it could amount to pressure on staff.

The union also pointed to earlier disagreements involving the station’s chief. In February, he was transferred to a lower-ranking position until June on the grounds of “service necessity”. In May, as that period was nearing its end, the department’s director offered him the option of remaining in the lower post; he declined. The union said these circumstances should be assessed objectively to address concerns about possible selective oversight.

The union also said provisions of the National Collective Agreement concerning trade union rights may have been breached during the investigations.