House votes to extend short-term contracts of some 2,000 firefighters

Lawmakers Thursday voted through legislation to extend the short-term contracts of some 2,000 firefighters for another three years before they are hired on a permanent basis.

The legislation was approved on the very day their contracts expired and followed union protests. Hundreds of firefighters gathered outside Parliament while the draft legislation was being debated Thursday.

According to officials of the union representing firefighters, 4,000 of the country’s 12,000 firemen were on five-year contracts that expired Thursday.