Latest news with #MGEU
CBC
19-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Educational support workers in Winnipeg School Division give strike mandate to union
Support workers in the Winnipeg School Division have given their union bargaining committee a strike mandate. The Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union represents about 1,800 educational assistants, clerks and other support workers, such as library techs, crossing guards, dispatchers, computer techs and food co-ordinators. They've been without a contract since July 1, 2024. Voting to support a strike took place from June 16-18 but there is no plan yet to hit the picket lines, a union spokesperson said, adding the bargaining committee will continue its work during the summer. The vote follows a recent member survey which showed growing dissatisfaction, with many saying they have considered leaving their job in the past year for better wages elsewhere as the cost of living keeps rising, a news release from MGEU said. Other school divisions pay support workers more, which puts the Winnipeg School Division at risk of losing staff, MGEU president Kyle Ross said in the release.
CBC
17-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Métis, Michif CFS agencies call for review of 'unreasonable' arbitration decision
Two Manitoba child welfare agencies have filed for a judicial review of amendments to a collective agreement after binding arbitration ended a strike by their workers. The agencies — Métis Child, Family and Community Services, and Michif Child and Family Services — have filed a notice of application in Court of King's Bench seeking a review of the arbitrator's May 20 decision, calling it "unreasonable." The Manitoba Métis Federation said in a news release Tuesday its agencies "cannot manage" financial liabilities set by the decision due to lack of adequate funding from the province, and that having to comply while offering families necessary services puts them in an "impossible position." More than 330 employees with the agencies — represented by the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union — went on strike March 25, demanding a new agreement that would match a wage increase other civil servants got in 2024. They went back to work two weeks later, after MGEU reached an agreement with the employer to resolve outstanding contract negotiations through arbitration. The Manitoba Métis Federation has previously blamed budget constraints for recent layoffs at the agencies. The federation said in early March the cash crunch resulted in about 60 workers being laid off while the agencies were still bargaining, warning about 100 to 150 were at risk of being laid off eventually. "We bargained with this employer for over the last year or longer, and they never once brought up their ability to pay," MGEU president Kyle Ross said Tuesday. "It only came to fruition once we issued a … strike mandate. So it's really challenging when they say these things. They may be true, they may not. But for us, we're working to solve a collective agreement, to get a deal for these workers." 'This agreement is fair': union The binding arbitration resulted in wage parity for staff. The union said in a release both agencies got "fair and reasonable" wage increases, with workers set to see a 14 per cent pay increase over four years under the deal, which is set to last until Jan. 31, 2027. It included an additional maximum step, a one-time automatic step progression, and retroactive pay to Feb. 1, 2023, for all staff employed as of the decision. "This agreement is fair.… When an arbitrator takes in all the information, they rule with a fair ruling," said Ross. "This deal that was imposed on both parties was already bargained by other people that do the exact same job, do the exact same work, have the same education," he said. "Workers doing the same job should be paid as equally as possible." A provincial spokesperson said in an email the Manitoba government can't comment on the agencies' filing as the matter is before the courts. The MMF said the agencies are seeking an urgent hearing to provide a quick answer to staff and clients.
CBC
08-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
Strike at Métis, Michif child and family services agencies ends, members back to work Tuesday: MGEU
Social Sharing After just under two weeks in the picket lines, workers at two Métis and Michif child and family services agencies will go back to work on Tuesday, after their union says it's reached an agreement with the employer to resolve outstanding contract negotiations through arbitration. More than 330 employees of the two agencies — the Winnipeg-area Métis Child, Family and Community Services, and Michif Child and Family Services, serving the Dauphin, The Pas and Brandon areas — went on strike on March 25. The employees, who are represented by the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union (MGEU), have been without a contract since the previous agreements expired on Jan. 31, 2023. Workers had been asking for a new agreement that matched the four-year, 14 per cent wage increase members represented by the MGEU in other civil services got last year. Late Monday evening, the union announced it has reached an agreement with the agencies to resolve outstanding contract negotiations through interest arbitration, effectively bringing the strike to an end. In a statement, MGEU president Kyle Ross said the resolution "is an important step forward in our efforts to achieve wage parity for CFS members." "We will continue to advocate for that outcome in arbitration," he said. Last week, MGEU applied to the Manitoba Labour Board to have the current contract dispute with the agencies resolved by an independent arbitrator. On Monday, the union said it would withdraw that application, after the employer agreed to voluntary arbitration. As part of the agreement, the parties are scheduled for a hearing on April 22, with the arbitrator committing to deliver a ruling within four weeks. Union members from both agencies will return to work on Tuesday, MGEU said.
CBC
03-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
MGEU tests new Manitoba labour legislation in strike by child and family services agencies
Labour legislation passed last fall in Manitoba is about to be tested by one of province's largest unions. The Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union has applied to the provincial labour board under new provisions of the Labour Relations Act to (LRA) have the current contract dispute with two child and family services (CFS) agencies resolved by an independent arbitrator. More than 300 members at Michif Child and Family Services and Métis Child, Family and Community Services are now in their second week of a strike, fighting for wage parity with other provincial workers who do similar jobs, MGEU president Kyle Ross says. "It's alarming to note that neither of these employers has approached the MGEU to get back to the bargaining table with a fair and reasonable offer for these workers," Ross said Thursday at the Union Centre on Broadway in Winnipeg. That foot dragging is putting families and kids at risk, even moreso as layoffs to 20 per cent of the unionized staff at the agencies take effect Thursday, he says. MGEU's filing argues those layoffs infringe on the workers' ability to strike in a meaningful way because, in order to maintain a certain level of essential service more workers will now have to leave the picket line to go back to work. The recent amendments to the LRA mean a union can ask the Manitoba Labour Board to order a dispute be resolved through arbitration if the requirement to perform essential services has compromised the right to strike and the right to collective bargaining. Most of the striking workers are employed at shelters operated by the CFS agencies, created to prevent Métis children and youth in care from being placed in hotels and to help young adults aging out of care. As a result, not all of the unionized workers have been on the picket line. About half have been working to maintain an essential level of care required for vulnerable youth, whose quality of life could otherwise be at risk, the MGEU says. The layoffs have added another concern for workers who are trying put pressure on the employer by striking while also balancing a level of care. They have now been without a contract since the previous agreements expired on Jan. 31, 2023. Any wage increases bargained into a new contract should be retroactive to that date, but Ross is concerned the employers will argue those payments only apply to members still working when the new deal is ratified. "Those workers who were laid off today stand to lose two years of retroactive pay," he said. The Manitoba Métis Federation has said budget constraints led to the layoffs but "the employer hasn't laid bare what their financial situation is," Ross said. "They have a duty to let us know what their financial situation is so we can understand when they're issuing layoffs and when we're bargaining. But we have yet to hear that from them," he said. In the meantime, funding from the province to CFS agencies has increased by more than 14 per cent over the past three years, including more than $2 million in new funding in last month's budget, Ross says, "so the money for wage parity is there." "We believe those layoffs are part of a bargaining strategy. We've been arguing with them for over two years and there was no mention … at any time that there would be layoffs coming. Then, once our members chose to push back and take a strike mandate, they brought down these layoffs." On March 24, Southeast CFS was able to avert a strike and reach a new collective agreement by offering wage parity, Ross says, adding both the Métis CFCS and the Michif CFS received proportionally similar funding increases.
