Pallister considers opening contracts to gain wage concessions

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This article was published 28/11/2016 (1224 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Pallister government will ask for wage concessions from public sector unions and even seek to open up existing collective agreements.

Premier Brian Pallister said Monday he will be speaking with unions representing teachers, civil servants and other publicly funded workers in the next several weeks to get their support for his austerity measures.

The government signalled in its recent throne speech that it was ready to back up its requests from unions with legislation.

"Something has got to give. I mean you can't keep rolling out $900 million (government operating) deficits and think you're doing anything but deferring a tax obligation to your kids and to yourself when you're older," the premier told reporters after question period. "That's exactly what's gone on, and there's a reason we got two credit rating downgrades because that was the practice of the previous government."

The province's 14,000 civil servants inked a five-year deal with the province in January, retroactive to 2014. Under the deal, the government workers are set to receive a two per cent increase on April 1, 2017.

That increase may now be in doubt.

"I ran on this. Our government was elected on this. We're trying to fix the finances of the province. We're asking for help. We need all hands on deck," Pallister said.

He said about $10 billion in government expenditures annually go to wages and benefits.

The premier acknowledged he is "taking an approach that's been seldom taken in the past." He emphasized he wanted to work co-operatively with union leaders on behalf of their workers.

'Likely unconstitutional': MGEU

Michelle Gawronsky, president of the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union, said Pallister did not say anything about opening up existing contracts when she met with him recently.

In fact, she said, the premier assured her he supports fair collective bargaining and wouldn’t dictate a mandate before bargaining starts.

"Reopening contracts or imposing settlements wouldn’t be fair and both would likely be unconstitutional," Gawronsky said in a statement to the Free Press.

"The reality is that provincial government wage increases in Manitoba have just kept up with the cost of living over the past decade. Private sector wages have grown at a faster rate."

Manitoba's Opposition NDP said Pallister should have campaigned on the fact he would open up collective agreements.

"It’s not a surprise to us, but it is to Manitobans. It didn’t come up as an issue he was campaigning on," NDP MLA James Allum said.

He said there would be significant constitutional issues should the Tories try to open up signed contracts.

While the unions will be upset, said Allum, it is the ordinary union members counting on increases they’ve already negotiated to take care of their families who will be hurt the most.

No clear yes or no on teachers

NDP education critic Wab Kinew tried and failed repeatedly in question period to get Pallister and Finance Minister Cameron Friesen to give a clear yes or no on whether the government would break existing contracts.

Pallister said he will not use teachers as political pawns, nor will he play into the NDP's efforts to frighten teachers.

Manitoba’s 15,000 teachers have division-by-division collective bargaining agreements through June 30, 2018. They received a two per cent wage increase in September, and are scheduled to receive two 1.5 per cent raises in 2017, phased-in six months apart.

Teachers with 10 years or less experience also receive seniority increments that can increase their wages by an additional one to two per cent.

Salaries paid to teachers amounted to $1.1 billion this year, an increase of $41 million — only a small portion of that amount could be attributed to an increase in the number of teachers on the payroll.

When all public school employees are included, the salary increase over one year is $63 million. Wages account for $1.76 billion in the $2.3-billion public education system.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca