Kinew touts labour improvements

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This article was published 11/05/2024 (549 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba NDP and the Manitoba Federation of Labour reaffirmed their working relationship at the MFL convention in Brandon on Friday, promising to undo the “damage” done under the last eight years of Tory rule.

On the second day of the convention, which is held every three years, Premier Wab Kinew thanked the labour movement for its role in returning his party to power and touted actions they’ve already taken to support workers.

“I think we understand how difficult it’s been for the past eight years in this province,” Kinew said.

“You folks know firsthand (about) the wage freezes, the legislation, the anti-democratic approach, the cuts to inspection enforcement, the cuts to mediation, all the challenges around having the ability to organize made more and more difficult … The lack of having any sort of enforcement and oversight meant that anti-union behaviour in the province was going unchecked.

“The good news is all of that changed on Oct. 3, 2023.”

Kinew said the bill implementing this year’s provincial budget includes the “biggest positive changes for labour law in Manitoba in a generation.”

That includes the introduction of single-step certification for unions, which would let a workplace unionize if 50 per cent of workers plus one sign a union card.

It also includes a prohibition against employers using replacement workers during a strike.

While Kinew’s entry onto the convention stage earned a standing ovation and many of his comments received boisterous applause, taking aim at scabs earned the premier his loudest plaudits.

Kinew also brought up his government returning the apprenticeship ratio for skilled trades back to one-to-one after the previous government had increased it to two-to-one. He said the move would keep people safer in their workplace.

Fresh from a visit to Carberry to announce the reopening of the community’s emergency department, Kinew thanked health-care workers in attendance and said it was an example of how his government was going to work with people on the front lines to make sure they’re able to take care of patients across the province.

In his remarks opening day two of the conference on Friday, Brandon East NDP MLA and Minister of Sport, Culture and Heritage Glen Simard touted his ties to the labour movement as a member of the Brandon Teachers’ Association and thanked it for its role in his election to the Manitoba legislature last year.

“Our government is doing a lot of work for people,” Simard said. “Anti-scab legislation, contract certification at the bargaining table … all of those things we agree that it’s necessary to move forward as a province.”

Simard said he wanted unions to feel comfortable reaching out to the government to tell them about what working conditions they want an eye kept on and the culture in different working environments.

Speaking to the Sun during the lunch break, MFL president Kevin Rebeck said this year’s convention is the first held in person since 2018 as the 2021 edition was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the NDP have “changed the attitude” that the provincial government has had toward working people in the seven months since they won the election.

“The last several years has been a lot of standing outside a building with a bullhorn asking them not to do something,” Rebeck said. “Now we’re invited in the building to be a part of a solution and to be working together with government to make lives better for working Manitobans.”

Rebeck expressed hope that the government would continue its willingness to bargain with public-sector workers and that the MFL and the government can work together to address workplace violence, mental health, public-sector staffing shortages and overall health care.

A total of 328 delegates from about 30 unions were said to be at this year’s event.

In the last few years, Rebeck said the federation has grown by more than 34,000 members. Part of that, he said, is likely due to seeing the impact of provincial and federal workers on strike over the last year.

The 2027 conference is scheduled to take place in Winnipeg and the 2030 edition is supposed to return to Brandon.

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