Manitoba Public Insurance says latest offer to union is final after weeks-long strike

Manitoba Public Insurance says it has tabled its final offer to the union representing hundreds of workers who have been on strike for four weeks. 

The two sides agreed to meet with a conciliator Sept. 14. The Crown corporation's latest offer comes after negotiations that started last week, resumed Monday and continued Tuesday morning.

Under Manitoba's labour laws, parties involved 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, MPI board chair Ward Keith noted at a news conference Tuesday. 

"This is the final offer of the organization," said Keith. "We are hopeful it will go to the employees for a vote, but ultimately, again, a strike can continue in the province for up to 60 days."

About 1,700 MPI workers represented by the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union went on strike on Aug. 28, after they were unable to reach an agreement on a contract with the public insurer.

While MPI said its latest offer is final, MGEU said in a news release that it won't put the offer to a vote at this time.

"It's kind of frustrating they keep calling these final offers," union president Kyle Ross said in an interview with CBC. "We know that they'll come to the table and bargain, hopefully sooner rather than later, and we can resolve this." 

MPI's previous offer included general wage increases of two per cent per year over four years and a one-time "signing bonus" of $1,800, according to its website.

MPI said the "enhanced" offer it released Tuesday also includes an additional seventh step in its pay scale, which would be a 3.5 per cent increase across all pay grades. That has been moved forward by a year, so it would now come into effect at the beginning of year two of the proposed contract, according to MPI.

The extra step would expand the six-step pay scale MPI employees go through as their tenure increases, Ross said. Currently, an employee at the sixth step of the salary scale would be "topped out," he said.

However, over the course of a four-year agreement, not all employees would reach that final step in the scale.

"It initially represented about 50 per cent of the members," said Ross. "Now it's … a little over 60 per cent of the members that are able to access that seven[th] step within four years, but it still leaves a lot of our members out." 

An MGEU release Tuesday also said the one per cent "retention adjustment" previously only offered to operations employees was extended to all employees represented by the union in the latest offer.  

MPI strike rolls on

MPI has previously pushed for the union to enter voluntary arbitration, but Keith said Tuesday that is no longer part of the corporation's offer. If the labour dispute does end up going to arbitration, a settlement would be enforced and union members wouldn't be able to vote on it, he said.

"MGEU has been very clear up until now that they do not want to go to voluntary arbitration," said Keith.

"They've been very clear in their public messaging that they want to be able to bargain at the table, and they want … their members to be able to vote on any final offer that's been provided."

Ross said MGEU and the employees it represents understand what happens if the strike hits the 60-day mark.

"In the unfortunate situation it would go 60 days, we're prepared and ready to do that, and I think our members are prepared and ready to do that if they had to," he said.