Winnipeg, Manitoba – Manitoba’s NDP government has replaced most of the Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) Board in an effort to resume strike negotiations.
Matt Wiebe, the justice minister and the minister in charge of MPI, has said that the top priority of the new board is to end the workers’ strike that started in late August.
“It’s absolutely vital to be perfectly clear with the workers of MPI and with all working people across Manitoba that … as a new government, we’re setting a new tone and we’re setting, in this case, a new mandate for the board of MPI,” said Wiebe in a news conference last Friday.
Wiebe has reportedly directed the board to not immediately seek binding arbitration. Instead, he has directed the new board to work with the union in establishing new dates for bargaining.
Kyle Ross, the president of the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union, called the development a positive turn for workers who have been striking for weeks.
“I think there’s a bit of a sigh of relief for our members where they can say, ‘We’re going to get treated fairly now and we can get a fair deal,’” said Ross.
While details of future negotiations have yet to be discussed as well as a timeline for the new board to begin bargaining with the union, Wiebe stated that “we have asked the board to move quickly to get to work to begin the negotiations, or reset the relationship and start negotiating, but we’re not being prescriptive on a timeline.”
