Kinew states support for striking MPI workers

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This article was published 04/10/2023 (736 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While no concrete plans were laid out by the premier-designate Wednesday, Wab Kinew had a strong message for striking Manitoba Public Insurance workers: “I’ve got your back.”

Some 1,700 unionized MPI workers have entered their sixth week of strike action.

The NDP leader said he’d need more information about the strike during his transition to becoming premier, but reiterated his support.

“We have to take a look at the materials over the course of the transition when it comes to a specific course of action,” Kinew said during his first media availability as Manitoba premier-designate at the legislative building Wednesday.

“One thing I have been very clear about, including during the televised debate, is that for the PCs to stand in the way of these hardworking Manitobans getting a fair deal is just wrong, and so, we are on the side of workers.”

When pushed on a possible timeline and what information he would have to receive, Kinew shared few details.

“One thing that I require is a briefing on how to avoid interfering in labour negotiations, as the current (PC) government has multiple times, and so I am a little cautious about making public commentary in a setting like this one until I fully wrap my head around what is fair game in terms of commentary from a premier-designate,” he said.

Conciliation efforts between MPI and the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union appear to have stalled, with union leaders rejecting what the Crown auto insurer called its “final offer” last week.

MGEU president Kyle Ross said the union was feeling optimistic.

“I would say we’re hopeful. During (Kinew’s) campaign, he indicated that he’s interested in rebuilding the public service and helping our workers at MPI. He walked the picket line with many of our workers, and he said he’d have their back,” Ross said Wednesday.

Last year, Kinew and the NDP expressed support for enacting a legislative ban on the hiring of replacement workers during job action.

Ross said MGEU plans to hold the party to account. “It really just starts with conversations, so we’re hopeful that we can build a relationship where we can have those difficult conversations.”

Meanwhile, MPI released an update on its contingency plans Wednesday, including expanding knowledge testing for all driver licence classes in Winnipeg and Brandon, and providing more Class 5 road testing outside of Winnipeg.

The statement notes hail claims have increased this summer, and MPI plans to double its estimating capacity by contracting dent repair company DCC Hail to set up a second drive-through scanning tool at MPI’s physical damage centre.

DCC Hail set up a first scanner (which uses artificial intelligence to scan a vehicle and can estimate damage in around six minutes) for MPI use two weeks ago. It has since made 2,300 hail damage estimates, the Crown corporation said.

MPI said some striking workers had crossed the picket line and come back to work last week.

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“These employees are being assigned to the core and essential customer service functions they are most suited for and are joining redeployed management and professional staff and replacement workers who have been working hard to maintain core services for Manitobans since the labour interruption began.”

Ross said he hadn’t heard of any MGEU members returning to work mid-strike.

“Not that I’m aware of… Our picket lines are strong as ever, they’ve always been.”

— with files from Danielle Da Silva

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Malak Abas
Reporter

Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.

Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.