MPI strike continues as union members vote to reject latest offer

Striking Manitoba Public Insuranceworkers rejected the latest offer from the Crown corporation in a vote Monday, after the new NDP government ordered its newly-appointed board back to the negotiating table in an effort to end the months-long strike.

The Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union announced the resultof thevote Monday evening.

"We gave our members the opportunity to vote," MGEU president Kyle Ross said in an interview.

"We knew the deal was improved from when they last votedand we want to give them the opportunityand they chose to reject it."

Ross would not give a breakdown of how many membersvoted to accept or reject the offer, but he said the vote was "overwhelmingly in support of rejecting the offer."

It means the provincewide strike, which began on Aug. 28, will continue.

After clearing the MPI board of all but one of its members appointed by the previous Progressive Conservative government, the newly-appointed minister in charge of MPI, Matt Wiebe, had given explicit instructions to the new board to offer workers a new deal, rather than go to arbitration.

MPI's latest offer would haveprovided wage increases of 12.2 per centover four years, with three per cent increases in 2022 and 2023, 2.9 per cent in 2024, and 2.8per cent in 2025.The contract also includesa0.5 per cent "retention adjustment memorandum of agreement," which the union says adds up to a general wage increase of 3.3 per cent in the final year of the contract.

It also would have included aone-timelump-sum signing bonus of $1,800 per full-time employee (pro-rated for part-time employees).

That offer fell short of the union's expectations, Ross said.

"It just leaves the workers short. They've been on strike nine weeks now, and the expectations were set really high by the government and they've ramped up those expectations after the election, while they were campaigning, when they're walking our picket lines, and our memberswant those expectations met."

Union still hopes for negotiated settlement

The Crown corporationpresented what it called a final offer last month, and the two sides were supposed to head toward binding arbitration.

Parties in a labour dispute can apply for binding arbitration in which a decision is legally binding and enforceable, similar to a court order if a strike or lockout continues for 60 days, underManitoba labour law.

Ross said he still hopes the union and MPI can negotiate a settlement.

"I think there's plenty of discussions to be had at the table," he said. "We're looking for a deal that we could take to our members and recommend. And this last one unfortunately wasn't that."

After the vote, a spokesperson for the Crown corporation said it is willing to keep talking.

"MPI is committed to continuing to work with MGEU to resolve this dispute and bring our 1,700 employees back to work," spokesperson Kristy Rydz said in an email.

Minister Wiebe, in an email statement, said he was "disappointed" by the result of the vote, but"after being kept on the picket line for weeks by the PC government, workers are feeling frustrated.

"We are committed to rebuilding the relationship and coming to a fair deal."