Mayor wants city workers facing layoff to be redeployed to province

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This article was published 25/11/2020 (1965 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg may temporarily lay off hundreds of community services staff on Sunday, though it hopes a portion of them will be redeployed to the province’s effort to battle COVID-19.

About 600 temporary staff are without work because many facilities are closed due to pandemic public health orders under Winnipeg’s code-red status.

Mayor Brian Bowman said officials are reaching out to the employees to determine how many are willing to work for the province instead. The mayor hopes those workers can support the provincial response to COVID-19 in administrative roles, though he noted the province hasn’t committed to any specific redeployments at this point.

“We’re hoping as many of (the employees) as possible can be redeployed with the province. We think that the province needs some help right now and we want to be there to support their efforts,” said Bowman.

The mayor noted the layoffs are set for Nov. 29, so the province might not make a decision before then.

The city will consider transferring some staff to support Harvest Manitoba (formerly Winnipeg Harvest) and other non-governmental organizations, said Jason Shaw, Winnipeg’s assistant chief of emergency management. The city devoted about 25 community services staff to Harvest in the spring.

Shaw confirmed that hundreds of staff members could be laid off if provincial redeployment isn’t possible. He also noted some layoffs are expected, even if that option is available, though he did not provide an exact number.

“I think it would be fair to say that not all 600 are going to be able to move forward to the province or in other roles. But we do want to be able to make that offer to try to help out as much as possible,” he said.

This is the second round of layoffs for community services staff during the pandemic, after 674 workers were temporarily laid off on April 25. All of those workers had returned to their jobs by July 30, the city says.

The affected employees normally work at city pools, arenas and libraries, which closed for a second time on Oct. 31, due to pandemic restrictions.

A union leader who represents the affected employees said he’s grateful the city is attempting to keep as many people employed as possible.

“We’ve said to the city, first off and foremost, our biggest concern is we want to keep people with a source of income prior to Christmas,” said Gord Delbridge, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500. “There’s a lot of alternative work that can be taking place.”

With many facilities still closed, the city has also decided to postpone all winter recreation programs until further notice.

Shaw said it is possible some programming could start later, if the pandemic health risk declines.

The city does plan to partially reopen some libraries on Dec. 7 to allow Winnipeggers to pick up books they’ve put on hold and return borrowed material at 10 branches, which will preserve some jobs. The contactless service will be offered at the Charleswood, St. James, River Heights, Millennium, St. Boniface, Louis Riel, Pembina Trail, Transcona, Henderson and Sir William Stephenson locations.

Joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga