MPI board chair says letter to striking workers not meant to create further division

The board chairman of Manitoba Public Insurance says a letter released with information on how striking workers could cross the picket line wasn't meant to create further division.

The Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union released a letter Friday sent from the Crown corporation to employees, dated Thursday and signed by MPI vice-president Lisa Gendreau. The letter directed MPI employees to an email address they could contact if they wanted to return to work. 

"It was never intended as a request for MPI employees to cross the picket line, it was never intended to create mischief for the MGEU, or the members of the union that are picketing on the picket lines," said MPI board of directors chair Ward Keith.

"It was strictly as a way to let people know how they could express interest if they were prepared to do so."

He also said the corporation was clear in the letter "that if these folks were interested in crossing the picket line and returning to work, that they should be speaking to their union representatives as well."

About 1,700 MPI employees have been on strike since Aug. 28. 

Keith said he thinks there were more than 30 employees who had previously expressed interest in returning to work, but MPI didn't take action at the time.

However, three weeks into the labour disruption, he said the Crown corporation decided things have gotten to a point where it needed to provide employees with a way to express their interest in returning to work and start tracking inquiries. 

He added in the event MPI decides to take action on those requests, tracking the number of employees who are interested in returning to work could help the corporation figure out where to utilize them during the strike.

"The number of employees that were reaching out sort of informally … to their managers, or sometimes to the HR department of MPI, or even to executives" asking about the process to return to work is something MPI has seen "grow over the last three weeks," he said. 

Keith is currently on a pre-planned trip to Arizona tending to what he said were personal matters. He added he doesn't have a designated workspace in the MPI offices and that most of his dealings with the Crown corporation are by phone or virtual meetings. 

Keith also said he's made himself "fully available" to MPI officials during the time he's been away. 

"I know that there has been some concern raised about my current absence, but again, I do not want it mischaracterized as being on vacation at a vacation home somewhere," he said.

"My wife and I are fortunate to have a retirement residence because I have been retired for five years and I'm currently dealing with some personal matters at my retirement residence. I will be back in Winnipeg this week." 

Crossing picket line would hurt fellow workers: MGEU

MGEU president Kyle Ross said if an MPI employee decided to cross the picket line, it would hurt their fellow workers. 

"If this employer would just bargain we could probably get this settled," he said.

He said that he's seen "a couple" of instances — but believes there are more — where managers have reached out to employees and texted them, trying to encourage workers to cross the picket line. 

"In the one text message I read it says, 'Oh, no pressure,' with a smiley face at the end," he said. 

Both sides have recently agreed to meet with a conciliator to help put an end to ongoing strike action. Keith said he's hopeful those discussions will start as early as Monday. 

"We are hopeful that the conciliator will assist in bringing this to a resolution and if not, then helping to sort of streamline the process for eventually moving to arbitration on general wage increases, as well as settle any other issues that may be still on the table," the MPI chair said.

The hope is that "what actually goes to arbitration at the end of the day can be narrowed to the greatest extent possible," he said.