Winnipeg, Manitoba — Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) workers are now in their second week of strike action after the public insurer and the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union (MGEU) failed to reach a deal.
“With more unnecessary strike action scheduled for next week, MPI continues to call on MGEU to accept binding arbitration–to end the strike immediately, end ongoing income losses for our employees and cease disruption for all Manitobans,” wrote MPI in a Sept. 2 release.
The public insurer said its “enhanced and guaranteed total monetary offer of 17 percent over four years” could be actioned immediately, which includes general wage increases of eight percent over four years, and a new permanent wage step of of 3.5 percent that will apply globally to all unionized employees.
“The specific issue of general wage increases beyond two percent per year is resolved through a fair binding arbitration process as MGEU makes its case for further increases,” wrote the insurer.
MPI says its offer to the 1,700+ striking employees also includes a lump-sum signing bonus of $1,800 or 2.8 percent of average salary, and other benefit enhancements totaling 1.7 percent of average salary. A further special wage adjustment of one percent is included for employees in the Operations division, which accounts for three-quarters of unionized staff.
Thus far, MPI has refined its services in an effort to streamline processes amid the strike. Actions include:
- All general enquiries and service transactions, including driver’s licence and insurance renewals, new insurance policies, and payments can be handled by any one of Manitoba’s 300 broker partners
- The MPI Contact Centre remains open for reporting new personal injury claims, collision claims involving non-drivable vehicles, and total thefts
- Customers reporting all other passenger vehicle (car, SUV and light-duty truck) claims can begin the process by filling out MPI’s new online claim form
- Other essential services, such as income replacement payments for personal injury claimants, will continue uninterrupted
- MPI has resumed Class 5 driving test services and customers with cancelled appointments are being contacted to reschedule
In response to a high volume of hail repair claims, MPI will also open one of its Winnipeg locations for scheduled hail estimating appointments, beginning Sept. 11. Customers who have begun the hail estimating process at a repair shop can continue to work directly with their shop to have their vehicle repaired, said the insurer.
Stay tuned to our daily e-zine and social channels for more news on the ongoing MPI strike, or click here for our report on the repairer perspective.
10 Responses
MPI now needs to back up their employees and call on Heather Stefanson to lift her wage mandate so fair negotiations can begin. It’s all in Heather’s hands and as such MPI needs to be responsible to Manitobans and help end the strike by calling g on Stefanson to stop saying “no”.
Our province has the worst credit rating, we are billions in debt, we have no economy or industry. How are we supposed to pay admin workers like nurses and still keep nurses and teachers in the province? How are we supposed to improve infrastructure for future generations when unions hold our province hostage? Selfish scum is what MGEU are and y’all don’t deserve a penny. RIH.
If this was not politically set up by NDP and Union at election time I would feel less upset
Maybe MPI should return to the bargaining table like a good employer and stop listening to someone who will likely on the street after the election next month if they truely want their employees to return to work. They likely wouldn’t be in this situation if they treated their unionized employees like essential workers and not slaves.
You aren’t essential. The union gives you power. Otherwise you are just an administrator desk jockey. Admin isn’t essential. You can be replaced by literally anyone at anytime. That is why y’all have a union, not because you’re essential but because a monkey can do your job and you’re disposable. You don’t deserve your raises, especially after inconveniencing and holding your hat out to your neighbors. Shame on you.
Please open new driving road test it is urgent some of them are waiting job due to driving licence condition
What about the vehicle’s collision report, we can not go on application if your vehicle is not drivable?
Time to replace all these unionized desk jockeys. You are forcing your neighbors (during record inflation and a cost of living crisis) to fund your raises. It is bad enough we have had to pay glorified retail employees of the mlcc and the people who barely passed post secondary math courses in taxation workers. Now we have to pay for MPI workers vacations and rasises now? No one has had a raise in 4 years, the last 3 were a pandemic. What makes you think that after collecting CERB and staying home working with taxpayer and ratepayer funded laptops that you deserve a raise? Where is the raise for front liners? Where are the savings in our stores and service providers? You all gouged us this entire time. You don’t do anything or contribute anything that deserves these raises. You don’t dangle off the side of buildings or build anything. You do not defend our radical policies across the world. You do not help the next generation. You are desk jockeys. Why you are allowed to be unionized is beyond me because you people are lazy pathetic excuses of administrators. Nurses and teachers deserve raises, not adjusters and grumpy lazy middle aged Susan’s and Karen’s answering phones. Shame on you all.
This website censors anti-MPI rhetoric. Even after taking money from our federal government.
Hi Chris, we do not censor any comments, they simply go through a spam folder before approval and appearing on our website. We’re not quite sure what you mean by censoring rhetoric. Feel free to email me at allison@mediamatters.ca if you’d like to talk further.