MPI resumes Class 5 tests via replacement workers

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This article was published 05/09/2023 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Public Insurance has resumed Class 5 driving examinations, after plans to waive road tests for some potential drivers were introduced and quickly scrapped last week.

As the strike by 1,700 MPI employees and Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union members enters its second week, the Crown auto insurer says it has finalized its contingency plan to continue services.

Those who had their appointments cancelled at the beginning of the strike are being called to reschedule, MPI board chairman Ward Keith said Tuesday.

“MPI is working closely with its industry partners to ensure Manitobans are able to open claims, get their vehicles estimated and repaired, receive front-counter service for all types of transactions, and schedule Class 5 road and knowledge tests,” Keith said in a statement.

Last week, MPI announced it would be waiving driver tests for graduates of its high school driving education program, Driver Z. After push-back from stakeholders, the Crown corporation doubled down on the plan Aug. 30, before axing it entirely several hours later.

MPI takes high-speed detour on plan to issue no-road-test licences during strike

As of now, all drivers seeking a licence during the strike will have to take a road test, as MPI has contracted private driving instructors as replacement workers for that service.

Keith said last week there had been 70 driving instructors brought on to carry out road tests, and 2,048 Class 5 road tests had been cancelled since the strike began Aug. 28.

Meanwhile, MGEU said bargaining was at a standstill, because the employer would not engage.

“Our bargaining committee is available to resume negotiations, but MPI and the government continue to refuse to come back to the table,” MGEU president Kyle Ross said in a statement Tuesday. “Unfortunately, Manitobans continue to be impacted by the strike while we wait for MPI and the government to come back with a fair wage offer.”

Negotiations between the province and Manitoba civil servants represented by MGEU — around 11,000 people — will be put on hold until the election is decided Oct. 3.

Tories, MGEU clash on summer labour war’s third, largest front

In that case, the union has recommended core government employees reject the latest offer from the province, which has been described by the government as a monetary package of a 16.2 per cent increase over four years, with an offer to go directly to binding arbitration.

The union has called the number misleading, as it includes signing bonuses for staff, benefit improvements, targeted premiums and allowances and a special adjustments fund. The wage increase being offered to all staff, MGEU said, is two per cent yearly for four years.

MGEU will spend the time up to the provincial election informing members of the state of negotiations, Ross said.

“Bargaining for core government employees is suspended during the election period. During that period, our civil service bargaining committee is planning meetings across the province to update members on bargaining,” Ross said.

“At these meetings, the committee will explain why they are recommending rejection of the government offer and approval of a strike mandate.”

Voting on that strike mandate will take place in late September and early October, and the final result will be announce three days after the election (Oct. 6).

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Meantime, Premier Heather Stefanson made no apologies for a 30-second video published on social media Aug. 28 that suggested MGEU was “playing politics” and encouraged striking workers to go to binding arbitration, as the Tories kicked off their election campaign Tuesday morning.

“There’s a fair deal on the table, MPI’s offered binding arbitration, and they’re refusing that. I think it’s a fair comment (to ask) why are they doing this now?” she told reporters.

When asked why she would comment on negotiations between the Crown corporation and the union representing its members, she said: “Because they’re doing it, so I’m responding to it.”

— with files from Carol Sanders

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.