Province orders Hydro wage freeze

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This article was published 23/10/2020 (1803 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Hydro has been ordered not to give its workers a pay raise for the next two years, due to the ongoing pandemic.

“In this extraordinary context, government’s collective bargaining mandate is that the parties focus on an immediate two-year horizon based upon zero per cent increases for each of those two years,” Finance Minister Scott Fielding and Crown Services Minister Jeff Wharton wrote in a letter obtained by the Opposition NDP.

The order to not negotiate a pay raise comes after the province introduced legislation last week to hike hydro rates 2.9 per cent, effective Dec. 1.

“All Manitobans are meeting unprecedented disruption and hardship,” says the letter to Hydro board chairwoman Marina James and company president and chief executive officer Jay Grewal.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers can take the hit, the letter suggests. “In this particular workforce context, we note as well that the 6.5 per cent in cumulative base compensation increases achieved over the predecessor and now expired collective agreement mitigates impacts on IBEW workers.”

On Friday, the union representing 2,280 front-line Hydro workers said the referred-to 6.5 per cent was over three years, and barely above cost-of-living increases.

IBEW business manager Mike Espenell said the Crown corporation has dedicated workers on the job around the clock, the publicly owned utility is profitable, the province plans to hike customer rates in December — and yet the government is pushing their employer not to negotiate a wage increase.

“None of it makes any sense,” Espenell said, adding the union has already made concessions and experienced staff level reductions.

“At the outset, this government (the Tories took office in 2016) said it would let Hydro manage itself as it had for 63 years,” he said. “We’ve seen more political interference with this Hydro (management) than at any point in history.”

After workers went all-out to restore power to Manitobans during the historic ice storm one year ago, the government’s refusal to now talk about a pay increase is “disheartening,” Espenell said. “They say thank you with one hand, and give you a backhand with the other.”

The provincial government is trying to chip away at good-paying public-sector jobs, NDP Leader Wab Kinew said at a news conference Friday. “Unfortunately, we’re seeing the Pallister government’s obsession with the wage freeze getting implemented again.”

A controversial wage-freeze bill for public servants was struck down in June by the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench, on the grounds it violated the freedom of association rights of public servants under the charter. The government took that decision to the Manitoba Court of Appeal.

“This time, it’s hurting Manitoba Hydro workers and their jobs. The government is stepping in and trying to force Manitoba Hydro to push another two years of wage freezes on their employees,” Kinew said. “That’s not fair bargaining when you predetermine the outcome.”

Wharton said part of government’s role is to set broad public-sector mandates.

“We have done this in an open and transparent way, recognizing the unprecedented challenges caused by COVID-19,” the minister said in an email, noting many Manitobans have lost their jobs as the pandemic rolls on.

“We appreciate the efforts of all Manitobans, including public-sector unions and employees, as we lead an all-hands-on-deck approach to fighting the pandemic while avoiding layoffs and keeping taxes low.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca