S. African fire-fighters leave for home from Canada following wage dispute

Hundreds of South African fire-fighters left Canada on Monday following a strike over a wage dispute, the SA government said.

The 301 fire-fighters downed tools while fighting a forest fire in Alberta, Canada to press their demand for higher pay. On Sunday, the SA government sent a mediation team to Canada to assist in resolving the wage dispute.

"Following successful discussions, between the fire-fighters and the high-level Working on Fire (WOF) team that we had dispatched to Canada, they have agreed to their demobilization and to return back home to South Africa," said Minister for Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa, who was tasked by President Jacob Zuma to help resolve the dispute.

The mediation regarding continuation of the fire suppression was no longer necessary owing to weather conditions in both Fort McMurray and Edmonton where it has been raining heavily, and therefore meaning that the number of international fire-fighters from other countries had to return home, Molewa said.

Therefore, the SA firefighters have been demobilized and are returning home, she said.

"We call upon the nation not to condemn the fire-fighters. Condemning them for disappointing us can only demoralize them despite their successful track-record. Upon their arrival at home, we will engage in the appropriate manner in which they should raise any legitimate concerns in future, should they have any," the minister said.

She said her ministry will continue to engage directly with the Canadian government to establish an over-arching Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to set parameters for the two implementing agencies to work together in the future.

The fire-fighters were deployed to the Canadian province earlier this month to assist with wildfire suppression, as part of a resource sharing agreement with Canadian fire fighting agencies.

Established in 2003, WOF has received international recognition for its role in supporting conservation and sustaining ecosystems and community upliftment through the provision of job opportunities and skills and training of participants.

The organization is part of the SA government's Expanded Public Works Programme which aims to create job opportunities for South Africans who cannot find work, enabling them to gain skills and increase their capacity to earn income, and to enter the formal workplace. Endit