WINNIPEG — The premier says a contract offer to 14 thousand Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union members that promises no-layoffs for five years shouldn’t come as a surprise.
“It was in the last agreement and it’s in this agreement,” Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger said.
But in 2010 the trade-off for the province agreeing to include it, was a two-year wage freeze.
In this latest offer to MGEU members there is a wage increase of one, one, two and two percent over four years, plus a job-security clause which promises that anyone hired before April, 2015, will not be laid off for the next five years.
MGEU civil servants, that includes a long list of employees like highway workers, social workers with Child and Family Services, correctional officers and sheriffs, have been without a contract for 18 months.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation Manitobans should be concerned by this offer.
“The rest of us don’t get that kind of security,” Todd MacKay with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said. He says the government ‘can’t afford’ this kind of province.
“Manitoba is out of money, we’re running a deficit of half-a-billion dollars a year, we are paying 842 million dollars every year just to cover the interest on the debt, which means ultimately we have to start trimming spending.”
MGEU members are still voting on the contract. Its union president has taken a ‘neutral’ position on the offer but Michelle Gawronsky said job security was important for her members.
“You want to keep those people and have them there, so job security is a way to maintain the services for Manitobans,” Gawronsky said.
Voting results should be known by the end of the month.
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