Pay bump for government appointees rankles Manitoba civil servants' union
Province says 'modest' pay hike ensures salaries don't fall behind unionized counterparts
A union is crying foul as Manitoba's Progressive Conservative government, which once tried to freeze the pay of public servants, is giving its own partisan appointees a higher pay increase than other government employees.
Political staff, executives and other non-unionized staff are getting a pay bump of 2.4 per cent retroactive to the year that started March 30, 2019, while thousands of unionized public servants will get a 1.4 per cent increase.
Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union president Kyle Ross said the government is propping up its own partisan staff with the new pay schedule, which was approved this summer in a cabinet decree.
"It's insulting, really, for our members," he said.
The union considers the higher increase for non-unionized staff — which exceeds what MGEU members earned in an arbitration hearing — a slap in the face from the same government it fought for pay increases in the first place.
"We had to go to court multiple times to get an agreement and then an arbitrated decision came down," said Ross.
"And then the government turns around and gives their staffers and the people that support them more money."
MGEU won retroactive annual pay hikes of 1.4 per cent in 2019, 0.50 per cent in 2020, 1.65 per cent in 2021 and two per cent in 2022, plus interest, through the decision of an arbitration board earlier this year.
A provincial spokesperson said the government is granting 929 non-unionized staff the "modest" one per cent increase to support recruitment and retention efforts.
He said the pay for these workers has fallen behind, since they're not entitled to the same wage increases that unionized staff receive through collective bargaining.
Ross countered that other areas of government are struggling with issues of recruiting and keeping staff, but their employees weren't granted the same allowance.
The retroactive pay for civil servants comes after the Manitoba government used legislation, passed in 2017, to mandate two years of wage freezes for public-sector workers.
Though the bill was never proclaimed into law, unions say government negotiators acted as though it was. It cast a chill on contract talks, with some employers refusing to entertain pay increases.
MGEU was part of a coalition of labour groups that fought the legislation in court.
A Court of Queen's Bench judge struck down the bill as an infringement on collective bargaining rights, but the Manitoba Court of Appeal overturned that decision last year.
Despite that, Premier Heather Stefanson repealed the legislation, which was one of the most controversial measures of Brian Pallister's tenure in office.
Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor in political studies at the University of Manitoba, said the optics of giving higher wage increases to political staff "aren't that great," but he said there are other drawbacks with those job.
Political appointees are let go when a government is removed from power, he said.
"If the job is precarious, doesn't have much job security, then you have to be paying them a little bit more to attract them," Adams said.
All public servants entitled to retroactive pay will get it in a lump sum on Sept. 23, MGEU said. It estimated the total payout will be around $5 million.
The union said the average member with an annual salary of $65,000 would receive retroactive pay of $6,000, before deductions.
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With files from The Canadian Press