Crown attorneys hope new wage deal keeps prosecutors in Manitoba

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This article was published 04/03/2024 (905 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial government and Crown attorneys are hoping a 13.7 per cent wage settlement over five years will help stem the flow of prosecutors leaving for other provinces with higher salaries.

The settlement, reached through arbitration last month, runs from March 26, 2022 to March 19, 2027 and will see annual wage increases of 2.45, 2.5, 2.75, 3, and 3 per cent. There are also other wage increases in the contract tied to years of seniority.

Crown attorney Rich Lonstrup, president of the Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys, said it is hoped the new wages keep prosecutors in Manitoba and also assist the province in hiring more people.

“Our salaries (now) are at about the midpoint (compared to Crowns across the country),” Lonstrup said Monday. “This increase puts us closer to Saskatchewan, but not equivalent to them.”

For more than a year, Crown prosecutors have been complaining about unmanageable workloads leading to burnout with low salaries compared to their counterparts in other provinces.

The association said in Oct. 2022, that 17 positions were unfilled, while between 2020 to 2022 the department lost 26 prosecutors, 16 to other provinces or who switched to the defence bar, while eight others retired and two were appointed judges.

Then-association president Erika Dolcetti said at the time “Crown offices across the country are recruiting our Crowns because we are not competitive.

“The government is unwilling to do what they need to do and we are losing Crowns at an exponential rate … we are at a point where the government has to do something or things are going to fall through the cracks.”

Lonstrup said as of June 2023, there were 53 vacant Crown positions between the department’s prosecution branch and legal services branch.

He said since then the province has hired 24 Crown attorneys, but there were still about two dozen vacancies in January.

In a statement, Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said he is pleased Crown attorneys now have “a fair deal that brings Manitoba in line with other provinces.

“Under the previous government, we continually saw Crown attorneys pack up and leave to neighbouring provinces in search of higher wages.” Wiebe said. “While crime rates spiked and our courts were full, the previous government left Crown attorneys without a contract that left them burnt out with stagnant wages.

“Crown attorneys play a significant role in our justice system and are critical in keeping Manitobans safe.”

The arbitration decision also puts in place a new maximum step for senior Crowns, giving them four per cent higher pay than in the former high step, but four per cent increases in the next three lower wage steps. It deletes the lowest step.

Crowns with 20 or more years of service will get an additional two per cent long-service step award. All full-time Crowns will get an $1,800 signing bonus while part-time ones get $900.

The province has 250 Crown attorneys.

Meanwhile, Lonstrup said there are still other concerns they are still hoping to take up with the government after working two years without a contract under two different governments.

“The pay is one thing, but there are other issues dealing with work load concerns,” he said. “Crown attorneys face overwhelming caseloads.

“We are concerned with the wellness of our members. The present workload still needs fixing. We want to work with government on this … recruitment and retention remains a huge concern.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca