Firefighter Protests With Cross and Bible in Half Way Tree – Watch Video

S. PinnockApril 6, 2023

Three weeks after Sergeant Leo Bennett took a drastic stand for better welfare on the roof of the Transport Authority Transport Centre in Half Way Tree, he returned to protest with a large cross and a bible.

The sergeant from the Jamaica Fire Brigade stood as a lone protestor in Half Way Tree this morning and told the media that his colleagues were afraid to demonstrate. “Everyone else is afraid; members are being coerced,” he said in response to a question about him being the only protestor.

“Whenever you protest, members are placed on indefinite suspension,” he explained, adding that most firefighters are poor and cannot afford to lose the money. Bennett, on the other hand, did not mind representing his team alone.

He also explained how the government is “sacrificing” Jamaica by not giving workers better welfare and working conditions. “Jamaica on a whole is being sacrificed for the ego, for the inefficiency of the management and the government,” he stated.

Check out a picture from his previous protest on top of the Urban Transport Center in Half Way tree below:

Protesting for better work schedules and better welfare for firefighters, Bennett requested that they be treated with respect and dignity while noting that firefighters were the only government employees who had to work every day.

Bennett expressed that the ideal work schedule would be “one in which firefighters, which are the only set of people doing it, are not subjected to be at the place of work every day.”

Watch the video of Bennett below:

S. PinnockApril 6, 2023