{"id":16253,"date":"2016-06-14T05:04:20","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T05:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/?p=16253"},"modified":"2016-06-14T16:34:43","modified_gmt":"2016-06-14T16:34:43","slug":"sa-firefighters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/sa-firefighters","title":{"rendered":"The South African Firefighters Sent To Canada Return Home After A Wage Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"a6b39195b99473d6c9dd698db2668010\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:2px 0 2px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<center>\r\n\r\n<script type='text\/javascript'>\r\nfunction ShorterThan(widthMax) {\r\n                if (screen.width < widthMax) {return true;}  \r\n                else {return false}\r\n    }\r\nvar LimitWidth = 728\r\nvar MobileZoneID = 348996\r\nvar DesktopZoneID = 348995   \r\n<!--\/\/<![CDATA[\r\n   document.MAX_ct0 ='';\r\n   var m3_u = (location.protocol=='https:'?'https:\/\/cas.criteo.com\/delivery\/ajs.php?':'https:\/\/cas.criteo.com\/delivery\/ajs.php?');\r\n   var m3_r = Math.floor(Math.random()*99999999999);\r\n   document.write (\"<scr\"+\"ipt type='text\/javascript' src='\"+m3_u);\r\n   if (ShorterThan(LimitWidth)) {document.write (\"zoneid=\"+MobileZoneID);} else {document.write (\"zoneid=\"+DesktopZoneID);}\r\n   document.write(\"&nodis=1\");\r\n   document.write ('&cb=' + m3_r);\r\n   if (document.MAX_used != ',') document.write (\"&exclude=\" + document.MAX_used);\r\n   document.write (document.charset ? '&charset='+document.charset : (document.characterSet ? '&charset='+document.characterSet : ''));\r\n   document.write (\"&loc=\" + escape(window.location));\r\n   if (document.referrer) document.write (\"&referer=\" + escape(document.referrer));\r\n   if (document.context) document.write (\"&context=\" + escape(document.context));\r\n   if ((typeof(document.MAX_ct0) != 'undefined') && (document.MAX_ct0.substring(0,4) == 'http')) {\r\n       document.write (\"&ct0=\" + escape(document.MAX_ct0));\r\n   }\r\n   if (document.mmm_fo) document.write (\"&mmm_fo=1\");\r\n   document.write (\"'><\/scr\"+\"ipt>\");\r\n\/\/]]>--><\/script>\r\n<\/center>\n<\/div>\n<p>A few days ago, South African firefighters\u00a0were on the international headlines, joyfully singing and dancing in a video when they arrived\u00a0in Edmonton, Canada, to help tackle the\u00a0Mount McMurray fire.<\/p>\n<h2>A wage dispute<\/h2>\n<p>These 301 South African firefighters were participating in an initiative called Working on Fire organized by the South African government and the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center. The program, which is part of the South African government&#8217;s expanded public works program, aims to send emergency support to countries that need assistance.<\/p>\n<p>Contrary to last year when two crews fought fires in British Columbia and in Alberta through similar agreements, this year&#8217;s cohort did not complete their mission. Indeed, the group went on strike on the 5th day of their 14-day cycle because of a wage dispute with\u00a0Kishigu Holdings, the private company that is implementing the Workin on Fire program.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16288\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16288\" style=\"width: 714px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-16288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/06\/1464931827672.jpg\" alt=\"source\" width=\"714\" height=\"402\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/06\/1464931827672.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/06\/1464931827672-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/06\/1464931827672-85x48.jpg 85w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 714px) 100vw, 714px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16288\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stuff.co.nz\/content\/dam\/images\/1\/c\/2\/j\/j\/h\/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349.1c2j0e.png\/1464931827672.jpg\">source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>A status quo<\/h2>\n<p>As a result of the contract, the provincial government in Alberta agreed to pay $170 Canadian dollars per firefighter per day to the program while the firefighters were hired for $50 per 12-hour workday. To make matters worse, $15 of the stipend was paid immediately, and the rest is supposed to be disbursed within 6 months of return to South Africa.\u00a0<span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">This is way below\u00a0Alberta&#8217;s $11.20 per hour minimum wage. Though\u00a0Kishigu Holdings representatives claim that t<\/span>he $170 cover the stipend, the regular South African pay of the firefighters\u00a0and operational expenses of the program, the Canadian authorities\u00a0confirmed that they were providing lodging, equipment, and meals to all crews.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16290\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16290\" style=\"width: 716px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-16290\" src=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/06\/president-zuma-wades-into-pay-dispute-involving-south-african-firefighters-in-alberta_bvgtcjoaa.jpg\" alt=\"source\" width=\"716\" height=\"403\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/06\/president-zuma-wades-into-pay-dispute-involving-south-african-firefighters-in-alberta_bvgtcjoaa.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/06\/president-zuma-wades-into-pay-dispute-involving-south-african-firefighters-in-alberta_bvgtcjoaa-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/06\/president-zuma-wades-into-pay-dispute-involving-south-african-firefighters-in-alberta_bvgtcjoaa-85x48.jpg 85w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 716px) 100vw, 716px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16290\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canban.biz\/data\/president-zuma-wades-into-pay-dispute-involving-south-african-firefighters-in-alberta_bVGtCjoAa.jpg\">source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The firefighters and Kishigu Holdings representatives were not able to agree and the group decided to return to South Africa. This story was heavily mediatized, causing President Jacob Zuma to intervene. He requested that both parties resolve the dispute.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The DEA will be assisted by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in finding a solution to the impasse, [&#8230;] South Africa warmly welcomes the opportunity provided to South African youth to work abroad,&#8221; Zuma&#8217;s statement read.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Watch the video of the firefighter crew\u00a0at their arrival in Canada:<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Raw: South African Firefighters Sing in Canada\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TKdjOxYdWNE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/police-force\">SEE ALSO:\u00a0A Police Officer Uses Social Media To Change The Perception Of The Nigerian Police Force.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few days ago, South African firefighters\u00a0were on the international headlines, joyfully singing and dancing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":16288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[35],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The South African Firefighters Sent To Canada Return Home After A Wage Dispute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Jacob Zuma requested that both parties resolve the dispute.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/sa-firefighters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The South African Firefighters Sent To Canada Return Home After A Wage Dispute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Jacob Zuma requested that both parties resolve the dispute.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/sa-firefighters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Afrizap World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfriZapMedia?ref=bookmarks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-14T05:04:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-06-14T16:34:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/06\/1464931827672.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"349\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Afrizap\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Afrizap\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/sa-firefighters\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/sa-firefighters\",\"name\":\"The South African Firefighters Sent To Canada Return Home After A Wage Dispute\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-14T05:04:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-06-14T16:34:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e7b2edee11807795d4eaa5ec8a2235bb\"},\"description\":\"President Jacob Zuma requested that both parties resolve the dispute.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/sa-firefighters\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Afrizap World\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e7b2edee11807795d4eaa5ec8a2235bb\",\"name\":\"Afrizap\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5eb515581c44997d055bb0228dbc93bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5eb515581c44997d055bb0228dbc93bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Afrizap\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/author\/buzzer\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The South African Firefighters Sent To Canada Return Home After A Wage Dispute","description":"President Jacob Zuma requested that both parties resolve the dispute.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/sa-firefighters","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The South African Firefighters Sent To Canada Return Home After A Wage Dispute","og_description":"President Jacob Zuma requested that both parties resolve the dispute.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/sa-firefighters","og_site_name":"Afrizap World","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfriZapMedia?ref=bookmarks","article_published_time":"2016-06-14T05:04:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-06-14T16:34:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":620,"height":349,"url":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/06\/1464931827672.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Afrizap","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Afrizap","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/sa-firefighters","url":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/sa-firefighters","name":"The South African Firefighters Sent To Canada Return Home After A Wage Dispute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-06-14T05:04:20+00:00","dateModified":"2016-06-14T16:34:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e7b2edee11807795d4eaa5ec8a2235bb"},"description":"President Jacob Zuma requested that both parties resolve the dispute.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/sa-firefighters"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/","name":"Afrizap World","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e7b2edee11807795d4eaa5ec8a2235bb","name":"Afrizap","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5eb515581c44997d055bb0228dbc93bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5eb515581c44997d055bb0228dbc93bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Afrizap"},"url":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/author\/buzzer"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16253"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16253"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16299,"href":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16253\/revisions\/16299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}