Big labour vote on edge of new era in government — union relations
Next boss of Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union faces new employer across table
Who ever wins the top job at Manitoba's biggest union will face perhaps the biggest challenge of any labour leader in the province in a generation.
Delegates representing 42,000 workers will vote Saturday for the leadership of the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union (MGEU). Current president Michelle Grawonsky is on the ballot along with Melissa Dvorak and Michael Hameluck.
What's new for the MGEU are the faces on the other side of the bargaining table — they are bright, shiny and new and sport Progressive Conservative membership cards.
Gawronsky says the next MGEU leader will have to somehow forge a relationship with the PC government and make in-roads with Premier Brian Pallister. Something she says has not gone so well in the first half-year of the new administration.
"I will say that I was actually disappointed in the first six months that he was there. I had asked repeatedly to meet with him to discuss some of the issues our members have, some concerns they have, and perhaps to give him a tour of our workplace," Gawronsky said.
But those meetings haven't happened.
Pallister for his part has sent mixed messages about his stance on unions.
"I believe in the rights of workers to organize. I believe in collective bargaining. But I do not believe in a province that's run by CUPE," Pallister said during the last leaders' debate before the election.
Perhaps the now-Premier was reaching a little far in suggesting the Canadian Union of Public Employees control Manitoba, but wages account for a massive portion of provincial spending and Pallister has made it abudantly clear his number one priority is to balance the books.
He also inherited less wiggle-room than he and his Finance Minister Cameron Friesen might like while plotting their next budget. 14,000 MGEU members have a no lay-off clause in a contracts that doesn't expire until March 2019.
Pallister's rhetoric on unions goes further. He frequently peppers responses to questions on his government's legislation requiring secret ballots for certification with references to his own union background.
"I'm a former union rep. I'm the son of a union rep," he added. "I can tell you that sometimes tactics are used to influence the outcomes of votes that are, I don't think, acceptable," Pallsister said.
The proposed labour relations amendment act, calls for the end of automatic certification for unions, even if 65 per cent of employees in a workplace sign membership cards.
The change would instead require secret ballot votes among workers before a union can be certified as their bargaining unit.
Late last spring the Manitoba Legislature saw the first serious reaction to the act when 60 members of Unifor stormed the Legislature and hissed at the government during session. Their red shirts standing out in relief to the new Tory blue on the government side of the house.
It was perhaps the first demonstration of its kind by organized labour in more than a decade and probably not the only one to come. Pallister responded with the same sort of double-barrel, some might call passive-aggressive language, that could make your average shop steward squirm.
"I'm glad to see my brothers and sisters in any union movement here at the legislature," said Pallister. "I encourage Manitobans to be here and I'm not anticipating anything but a healthy debate and constructive debate about the issues we're bringing up," he said.
Regardless of whoever is chosen this weekend to lead the MGEU, there is a new employer on Broadway.
Current president Gawronsky is keenly aware the old days of open doors and rapidly returned emails appears over.
"It was disapointing that anytime I want to talk to a minister, I can't get them on the phone. That is a huge change compared to what we've had in the past," Gawronsky said.
Premier Pallister, the man that frequently brandishes his union background, has promised an open and transparent government that is hungry to consult.
Perhaps his government is returning calls and getting a busy signal?