Fort La Bosse support workers secure contract

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This article was published 25/11/2021 (1764 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Support staff who work for the Fort La Bosse School Division finally have a new contract after four years of waiting.

The new contracts were officially ratified Monday and include retroactive pay dating back to July 2017, wage increases of seven per cent over five years, and a cost-of-living adjustment in year five that will be determined in January 2022, according to a Wednesday news release from UFCW Local 832.

The union represents approximately 130 members through two separate contracts who work within the Virden-based school division and serve in positions like educational assistants, bus drivers, custodians, maintenance workers and administrative staff.

The division encompasses a large geographical region of southwest Manitoba that is made up of approximately 1,400 students and 10 schools.

“Our members at Fort La Bosse have waited a very long time to be recognized for their hard work before and during this pandemic,” UFCW 832 president Jeff Traeger stated in Wednesday’s release.

“We are thrilled to secure these wins for our members without having to get a mandate, which is what other school divisions have had to do.”

Fort La Bosse School Division Supt. Barry Pitz told the Sun Wednesday that he was also pleased with the outcome.

“The bottom line is that I’m happy because they deserve it,” Pitz said. “Four years is a long time to be without a contract and they’re good people, they’re good workers, and we certainly want to acknowledge that.”

Wednesday’s news release blamed the four-year wait for a new contract on Bill 28, also known as the Public Services Sustainability Act.

Bill 28 was introduced and passed by the Progressive Conservative government in 2017 to freeze the wages of around 120,000 public-sector workers.

While the controversial piece of legislation was never officially proclaimed, Traeger told the Sun that it still set a precedent that interfered with the union’s collective bargaining.

“We do negotiate with the Fort La Bosse School Division, but it is the Province of Manitoba that sets the division’s budget,” he said over the phone.

“So if the province sets wage freezes, it restricts the school division’s ability to negotiate with us, which is basically what happened here.”

However, Traeger said the division recently decided to go against the provincial mandate within the last couple weeks and negotiate with the union anyway.

“Our members out of Fort La Bosse were not interested in having a strike at this time,” he said. “So we refused the employer’s offer and waited for some movement. And then, with the recent movement on Bill 28, we were able to get back to the table. And within a short period of time, we were able to put a really good deal together for those members.”

The province announced Wednesday morning that it will repeal Bill 28.

Finance Minister Scott Fielding stated in a news release the province is looking to take a different approach now that the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the economic burden on families and businesses.

“Our government will continue to address these unprecedented challenges and pressures, while avoiding public sector layoffs and providing financial relief for all Manitobans,” Fielding said. “All of these shared concerns are best served by a fresh start.”

Traeger remains skeptical of the province’s true motives, especially since the Manitoba Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Bill 28 last month.

“That always concerns me when a government that’s got a history of cutting positions and cutting services to save money says ‘We’re going to take another approach.’

“So if they’re saying they’re not going to try and take money through wage legislation, it makes me wonder how they are going to save their money, because you know that’s still their goal.”

However, Traeger hopes the repeal of Bill 28 at least gives other Manitoba labour unions the leverage they need to better negotiate with employers.

This includes the custodians and cleaners represented by CUPE 1630, who are currently engaged in a strike with the Rolling River School Division over long-standing wage discrepancies.

“If the government gets some funding out to that school division to enable them to make a better offer … if that happens too, it will be a good sign,” Traeger said.

UFCW Local 832 represents more than 19,000 Manitoba workers in a variety of sectors, including food production, food distribution, warehousing, grocery retail, hospitality, security, personal care and assisted living.

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