Civil servants in the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union (MGEU) have rejected a government contract and are in favour of a strike mandate.
MGEU officials say the contract offered a two per cent wage increase year over year for four years.
“This is the first time in MGEU history that civil service members have voted to give their bargaining committee a strike mandate,” said the union’s president, Kyle Ross.
He said members of the union in the civil service have been reviewing the contract for two weeks and were told the results of the review Friday.
Ross said this doesn’t mean a strike will happen.
“The goal here is to get back to the bargaining table and get a fair deal. A strike is the last resort, but our members have said clearly that they are prepared to go there, if necessary,” he said. “Manitobans need these services. It’s our duty to avoid a strike if we can.”
Ross said he is hopeful a new approach to labour relations will be found in Manitoba’s premier-designate, Wab Kinew.
“Wab Kinew and his team walked the picket lines with workers on strike at (Manitoba Public Insurance) and (Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries). He told members, ‘I have your back,’” Ross said.
With regard to the ongoing Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) contract dispute, the new premier said, “We are on the side of the workers,” and that he hopes “people get a fair deal.”
Ross said the union has to wait for the New Democrat government to be sworn in before conversations can happen.
He said a major reason for job action is that 3.3 per cent and 3.6 per cent wage increases are being given to members of the legislative assembly.
“If 3.3 per cent and 3.6 per cent wage increases are fair for them, it should also be fair for their employees.”
The previous Progressive Conservative government, under Heather Stefanson, were unwilling to move on wage increases proposed by the union.
The MPI and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries strikes prompted Stefanson to post a video on social media stating the government couldn’t accommodate MGEU’s demands. She “accused them of seeking higher wage increases than those recently given to health-care workers.”
The MGEU said “the Corrections Component of the civil service has a separate bargaining table for its sub-agreement to the civil service collective agreement. Corrections members participated in a second vote, and voted overwhelmingly to reject the governments offer on their sub-agreement.”
The union represents about 11,000 civil servants, including correctional officers, conservation officers, public health inspectors, snowplow and grader operators, sheriffs, clerks of the court, social service workers and others.
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