MGEU files complaint to get health-care support-services employers to bargain

Employer says Bill 29 stalling talks: Union

MGEU files complaint to get health-care support-services employers to bargain
The union said it will make a case to the Labour Board that the employers must stop stalling and begin negotiations immediately. GOOGLE STREET VIEW

The Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union (MGEU) filed an unfair labour practice on Jan. 5 against the employers of about 7,500 health-care support-services (HCSS) workers whose contracts expired March 31, 2017.

“For months now, our bargaining committees have been ready to begin negotiating,” said Michelle Gawronsky, MGEU president. “But the employers have refused to schedule dates. Our members are working through chaotic changes in their workplaces right now, and not being able to move forward with a new collective agreement is just adding insult to injury.”

When negotiations didn’t begin, the MGEU wrote twice to the employer’s bargaining representatives, asking for dates to talks. But the employer maintained that due to Bill 29 — government legislation aiming to cut the number of bargaining units in Manitoba’s health-care sector — negotiations could not begin, said the union.

The union said it will make a case to the Labour Board that the employers must stop stalling and begin negotiations immediately.

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