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PRIVATISATION and private profit are the factors that underlay the strike earlier this month of South African firefighters sent to Canada, says Terry Bell in his latest Labour Wrap.
The firefighters, employed by Fighting on Fire, a subsidiary of the Kishugu Group based in Mbombela (Nelspruit), were also sent to a Canadian province where a minimum wage is not only in place, it is enforced.
What this meant, says Bell, is that the South Africans, being paid roughly 70% less than their Canadian counterparts, were supported by local firefighters and the provincial prime minister Rachel Notley. This should not be surprising because Notley is a member of the New Democratic Party, the left-leaning labour party in Canada.
But what the strike in Canada has done, says Bell, is to highlight the fact that the government Extended Public Works Programme has effectively provided what trade unionists are calling a “back door to privatisation”. Belatedly, unions such as the SA Municipal Workers have realised that the EPWP has not only undermined wages and conditions in the municipal sector, it has also resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs.
According to the latest statistics, there are now more than 40 000 job vacancies in various municipalities around the country. These are permanent jobs paying a basic wage of R6 400 a month. But much of the work previously done by full-time workers is now handled by EPWP recruits, paid between R50 and R70 a day.
According to Bell, organisations of firefighters and the related emergency medical services have, as a matter of principle, argued that such services should never be in private hands where profit becomes the priority. The saving of lives, property, flora and fauna should always be the sole priority of firefighters and emergency medical personnel who should be able to live, work and retire with dignity.
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