Wildland Firefighters hold two-day meeting in Toronto

"We want to take this opportunity to commend these highly trained workers for their selfless bravery, and to wish them a very good meeting.”— Larry Brown, NUPGE President

Toronto (27 February 2020) - The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is holding a working group meeting on Thursday, February 27 and Friday, February 28 that brings together wildland firefighters from across Canada to discuss issues confronting their sector.

An opportunity to discuss issues of common conern

This meeting will be an opportunity to share a variety of topics such as:

Occupational disease presumption for cancer and mental injury (PTSD)
The WFX-FIT fitness test
Pension accrual rates
Lessons from the Australia bushfire season

Larry Brown, NUPGE'S President, expressed his thanks to the firefighters, and wished them a good meeting.

“We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the wildland firefighters for their work. We want them to know that their bravery has produced an incredible pride and honour among all our National Union brothers and sisters. We want to take this opportunity to commend these highly trained workers for their selfless bravery, and to wish them a very good meeting.”

Workers need better support from federal and provincial governments

Brown offered a reminder that there were Canadian firefighters volunteering in Australia, many of whom are NUPGE members from our Component unions across Canada. ”These are public sector workers who risk their own lives to protect and help others," said Brown, who added that these workers need better support from federal and provincial governments. “They deserve presumptive legislation for cancer and other illnesses, and they deserve regulations that allow for earlier retirement without penalty.”

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