U of M would have to cover $9 million if union wins court case

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This article was published 25/09/2017 (3243 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The University of Manitoba has calculated it will be on the hook for $9.4 million if it loses an unfair labour practice case to its employees directly linked to Premier Brian Pallister’s public-sector wage controls.

“In the event that the University of Manitoba Faculty Association is successful in (its) complaint, the unfair labour practice charge being heard at the Manitoba Labour Board could result in a cost of $9.4 million to the university,” states a financial report being tabled at Tuesday’s board of governors meeting.

That money is the equivalent of 2.6 per cent in provincial grants, or 5.8 per cent in tuition fees, and represents damages the union claimed before the Manitoba Labour Board — primarily lost wages and benefits during a three-week strike in November of 2016.

The labour board has yet to rule on the union’s complaint the university bargained in bad faith.

UMFA president Janet Morrill said Monday the union has not made its own calculation of damages.

“We would get the value of any damages awarded by the labour board. If the value of those damages is different than $9.4 million, that would be the amount we would be entitled to,” she said.

At the labour board hearing this spring, the university acknowledged the provincial government told the university it was imposing a one-year wage freeze, and further acknowledged the government ordered the university not to divulge that information to the union during ongoing bargaining. The university obeyed.

At the time, the Conservative government had not yet publicly announced its plans to freeze public-sector wages and were still months away from tabling Bill 28 — since passed but not yet proclaimed — which limits the next collective bargaining agreement for 120,000 public sector workers to a zero per cent increase in wages and benefits in years one and two, 0.75 per cent in year three, and 1.0 per cent in year four.

The government froze its post-secondary operating grants for this school year and has limited tuition-fee increases to the cost of living. Meanwhile, the financial report to the board of governors says that when adjusted for size and number of students, the U of M’s provincial operating grants are $75 million below the average received by Canada’s largest 15 research universities.

President David Barnard will tell the governors Tuesday he has sent the provincial government a report on responsible management at the university, noted some uncertainties about some areas of the government’s intentions and request clarification on some aspects of the school’s relationship with the government.

The report was the university’s own idea and was not ordered by the province, said John Danakas, executive director of public affairs at the U of M.

“(Barnard’s report) goes back to the beginning of the conversation with government on the financial pressures/uncertainties on the U of M and the measures taken over the years by (university) leadership to optimize resources… relatively flat tuition, rising costs, the argument the president has been making for some time,” Danakas said.

However, there’s been no clarification from the government, nor has there been any further word on possible government-ordered management cuts, he said.

Pallister vowed to extend the 15 per cent management cuts to the post-secondary system that he earlier ordered the civil service, health-care system and Crown corporations to carry out, but has yet to do so.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca