CFS agency workers seek wage parity
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/03/2025 (363 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Pickets are likely to continue on Rosser Avenue today as the union representing employees from several child and family services agencies told the Sun negotiations have not budged.
About 25 Manitoba Government and General Employees Union members in Brandon are part of a strike that launched Tuesday. MGEU workers from the Métis Child, Family and Community Services and Michif Child and Family Services received a contract offer from the province, but are pushing for higher wages.
Contracts expired in January 2023 for roughly 330 employees at the two agencies represented by the union. The bargaining process has continued since.
Michif Child and Family Services employees picket outside the office on Rosser Avenue on Wednesday after Métis Child, Family and Community Services and Michif Child and Family Services employees belonging to the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union went on strike Tuesday. (Photos by Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)
This week’s strike is a push on the province to pay employees wages equal to what similar workers make in bigger organizations. The sticking-point was written on picket signs in Brandon, reading, “Same Work, Same Pay.”
A union spokesperson told the Sun on Thursday that the Métis CFS received an offer from the province short roughly $2 an hour compared with contracts that the province pays to similar staff at other agencies, or about $3,800 less per year. The Michif CFS received an offer at roughly $2.80 an hour below contracts, equal to about $5,000 less per year.
In an interview with the Sun, MGEU president Kyle Ross said the wage disparity creates issues. He said workers will leave jobs at smaller agencies like the Métis and Michif CFS in order to land bigger paycheques.
“Workers migrate to the jobs that pay more,” said Ross. “Smaller agencies like Michif and Métis, they have struggled to recruit workers … And then they struggle to provide the service.”
Ross said the wage level that the union is hoping to match is from contracts at the General Child and Family Services Authority.
The MGEU on Monday released a statement that the province recently offered those wages to workers in the Southeast Child and Family Services. As a result, the union suspended a planned strike.
Striking workers share a laugh on the picket line.
Ross said a strike can last 60 days before either side can apply for binding arbitration. A short while after this period ends, employees can be directed to return to work.
Essential services are still being provided, as about 50 per cent of employees are required to continue their work during the strike.
» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com