Workers’ issues at forefront of election

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/09/2023 (778 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WE’RE now officially in an election. Quick — who had labour issues on their election bingo card for top issues? Not me.

It’s certainly shaping up to be the Achilles heel for the Stefanson Tories, underscored by an ill-considered video which aired on “X” — formerly Twitter.

It all started in July, when the provincial government lost a court of appeal decision to the University of Manitoba Faculty Association, and it’s continuing with the strike of Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union workers employed at Manitoba Public Insurance.

Just ahead of the Labour Day long weekend and about a week before the official dropping of the writ, the Conservatives dropped a video with leader Heather Stefanson mugging for the camera.

“I like to say ‘yes’ to everything, but sometimes the answer just has to be ‘no.’”

She goes on to decry the recently settled Manitoba Liquor & Lottery strike and criticize MGEU leader Kyle Ross for pursuing wage hikes greater than those given to health-care workers.

Which begs the question: Why not give health-care workers more money too?

But according to Stefanson, that’s where she “draws the line.”

But let’s start with this whopper. Stefanson likes to say “yes?” Certainly, her government has been slow to say “yes” to much. Most of these labour disputes have been ongoing since 2022.

Here’s a lengthy list of the labour problems the Tories have ad to deal with so far this summer:

1. The province was ordered to pay $19.4 million to the University of Manitoba Faculty Association (UMFA) for interfering in labour negotiations on July 14. The province appealed a February 2022 decision from Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench which said in 2016 the province secretly involved itself in the late stages of negotiations between the University of Manitoba and UMFA, demanding the university offer a zero per cent wage increase.

2. Beginning July 19, Manitoba’s Liquor and Lotteries workers began work stoppages and at the beginning of August walked off the job, as they bargained for increased wages. On Aug. 27, the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union (MGEU) announced a new four-year deal had been reached. Under the new contract, customer service clerks and warehouse workers who have clocked more than 330 hours of service will receive a total general wage increase of just under 12 per cent over four years, according to the union. The same workers with fewer than 330 hours are slated to get a general wage increase of about 21 per cent over four years.

3. On July 21, half of the people responsible for handling land titles in Manitoba began job action. Teranet Manitoba, the service provider for Manitoba’s land titles system and personal property registry, has 35 unionized workers. On Aug. 11, they went on strike. This is causing some delays for those who are buying or selling homes in this province.

4. A day after the liquor store strike was settled, about 1,700 Manitoba Public Insurance employees walked off the job. At issue are wages, with the union asking for increases to follow those given to Stefanson and all MLAs — 3.3 per cent in 2023 and 3.6 per cent in 2024 and 2025.

Listen, I don’t disagree with Stefanson that there is a problem with unions playing politics. I loathe unions endorsing politicians in exchange for promises. It’s far too transactional and it makes both parties look sleazy.

For example, recently NDP Leader Wab Kinew was endorsed by the United Firefighters of Winnipeg after he promised to hire 40 more firefighters for southwest Winnipeg if elected. That same union had backed Stefanson after she promised to expand the list of cancers that entitled firefighters to work-related compensation. Everyone looks sketchy in this case.

However, I do believe in those people walking the picket lines. That’s who Stefanson seems to have forgotten in all of this. Scowling at the camera, berating workers who will probably never see the kind of privilege she enjoys — certainly never $31 million in real estate deals.

These people aren’t union managers or politicians. They’re working stiffs walking the picket line in the rain, the wind and the crazy heat so they can try to make their mortgage and put food on their table during inflationary times. They deserve to be treated with respect. Not ridiculed in a video by a premier who lives in one of Winnipeg’s toniest ridings.

Shannon Sampert is a communications consultant, freelance editor for Policy Options and former politics and perspectives editor at the Free Press. She teaches part time at the University of Manitoba.

shannon@mediadiva.ca