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TRUCK drivers contracted to the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) ceased work yesterday and threatened to stay off the job if the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development does not address long-running grouses they have about salaries and general treatment on the job.A handful of the drivers staged a peaceful protest yesterday outside the Domes, at 85 Hagley Park Road in St Andrew, which houses the head offices of the JFB. They complained that they have been without a contract since 2012, which was the last year they got a pay increase.The drivers said they have one of the most vital jobs in the fire service, which requires them to be responsible for trucks that cost millions of dollars as well as the lives of firefighters as they travel to and from fire scenes."When the bell turns up, we have to drive these multimillion-dollar trucks and we have six or seven lives in our hands, night and day, and through storm. We have to drive carefully to get the firefighters to and from emergency," Paul Roberts, one of the drivers, told the Jamaica Observer."Every year or two years we get a thousand dollars on our pay, up to 2012. We are mature people so we just come to work and do what we supposed to do," he added.Anthony Williamson, chief delegate for the drivers, said all he wants is for Local Government and Community Development Minister Desmond McKenzie to come through on his promise to resolve the issues they have been complaining about, because it is becoming more difficult to buy food and comfortably finance their children's education.Williamson was also peeved that when the trucks are damaged the contract drivers have to foot the cost of repairs, even if they are not at fault."In 2018 we had a protest like this and Minister McKenzie promised us that he would take it to Parliament, and we don't hear from him until this blessed day. We are getting poorer and poorer. There will be no driving in the fire brigade by us until this thing is settled. They have a few firemen drivers. They call us contract drivers, and they have been using us for years and our children can't go to school and we can't buy food," he said."One of these units cost $120 million and we take them into various terrain, to and from fire, and if you damage it, you have to pay for it. A lot of us pay for trucks that get damaged and they always say we are at fault and say it was because of our negligence. They take it out of our gratuities," Williamson said.His colleague, Michael Tomlinson, said the contract drivers have been receiving empty promises that things will be resolved."Everybody is saying they feel our pain but nobody tries to settle the situation with us. Back in the days you paid $150 for a lunch. Now, if you don't have $700 you can't get a good lunch. It's the same salary since 2012. We have to be borrowing loan to keep our kids in school. It is very hard and we are fed up," Tomlinson said.Newman Francis, who was dismissed from his job in May after being injured twice while at work, demanded attention for his plight. He said none of his former superiors has pledged help to cover an $8-million surgery due to his injuries on the job."I was injured two times on the job and none of them have been addressed. I was sent home without any form of compensation. My health card was taken and right now I have a surgery for over $8 million and nobody seems to care about my situation. I am being treated worse than a dog. I am fed up. From 2012 we have no contract and there is nothing to say we were employed to a reputable place. I was terminated under a contract situation with only a few hours' notice. I was told that I would get a month's pay and not even that I have received," he told the Observer.