Manitoba public servants ask court to nix wage freeze
WINNIPEG • Unions representing some 110,000 publicsector workers in Manitoba have asked a judge for an injunction against the provincial government’s plan for a two-year wage freeze.
The Progressive Conservative government’s decision last year to unilaterally impose the freeze was a violation of the right to collective bargaining for nurses, teachers, civil servants and others, union lawyer Garth Smorang told court Tuesday.
“The government did not engage in discussion or good-faith consultation,” Smorang said.
“The die was cast. There was no open mind.”
The government passed its wage-freeze bill last year as part of its plan to cut the deficit. The legislation mandates wage freezes for two years followed by a raise of 0.75 in the third year and one per cent in the fourth.
Smorang says the move violates the freedom of association under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and pointed to legal precedents from British Columbia and other jurisdictions.
In 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned a B.C. law that gutted parts of collective agreements for health-care workers. The court ruled the government interfered in the workers’ right to bargaining.
The high court ruled the government was not prevented from legislating labour provisions but, in essentially replacing negotiated contracts, it had a duty to consult the unions before it acted.
The Manitoba government’s statement of defence says its plan respects the charter because the wage freeze only kicks in as each collective agreement expires. Current contracts are not affected.
Government lawyers are to make their submissions Wednesday.
Smorang said the Tory government did not listen to suggestions from unions about possible alternatives to wage controls. The unions told the government the deficit could be cut more slowly or by delaying promised cuts to income and sales taxes, he said.
Instead, Smorang said the government decided to act like the last Tory government in the 1990s, when civil servants had to take unpaid days off.
“This is the same thing all over again.”
The wage-freeze bill was passed by the legislature last year, but it has not yet been enacted. Still, union leaders say it is affecting contract talks because negotiators for the government and other public agencies such as school divisions already feel bound by it.
Any injunction would be temporary pending a full hearing on the unions’ challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A date for that hearing has not been set.