Conciliation sought in MPI strike

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This article was published 13/09/2023 (725 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The union representing 1,700 picketing Manitoba Public Insurance workers has requested their employer bring in a conciliator to help settle the strike.

“The (Liquor and Lotteries) strike was eventually resolved through good-faith negotiations in the assistance of a conciliator, and we’re hopeful that this will bring up those discussions at the table and we get these members a fair offer to vote on and put an end to the strike,” Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union president Kyle Ross said Wednesday afternoon.

When 1,400 Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries workers represented by MGEU went on strike earlier this summer, the employer requested its contract dispute be taken to conciliation. After originally rejecting the idea, the union agreed to conciliation on July 25, six days after strike action began. The strike did not end until Aug. 24.

MPI has previously called on MGEU to take its wage-increase demands to arbitration, rather than negotiating them at the bargaining table. Board chair Ward Keith said the Crown corporation is open to conciliation as a means to get there.

“Conciliation is not required to end this strike – that could happen tomorrow without any risk to our employees. But we’re still open to exploring conciliation with MGEU if we’re on the same page,” Keith said in a statement.

“Obviously, we won’t resolve the impasse over general wage increases, but a conciliator can help us streamline the arbitration on that issue, and we can discuss other issues to narrow the overall dispute.”

Meanwhile, the union and the public insurer exchanged jabs over the details of the offer on the table from MPI.

Ross said the union was “pretty optimistic” after comments by Keith in the Free Press Tuesday that described the general wage increase offer as eight per cent over four years, which he said MGEU took to mean that MPI was acknowledging its reported offer of a 17 per cent increase was overblown.

Keith called MGEU’s comments “disappointing,” noting MPI’s 17 per cent offer also includes one-time signing bonuses, expanded benefits, a new permanent wage step and a market adjustment for operations employees. Outside of these enhancements, across-the-board wage increases remain two per cent per year for four years.