Appeals court rules Manitoba had right to freeze wages

WINNIPEG—A court ruling that struck down the Manitoba government’s public-sector wage freeze as a violation of collective bargaining rights was overturned by a higher court Wednesday.

The provincial Court of Appeal ruled the government was within its rights to legislate the wage freeze. It said the original Court of Queen’s Bench judge erred in deciding the legislation violated bargaining rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“The case law establishes that the type of legislative interference does not amount to ‘substantial interference’ when it is broad-based and for a limited period of time,” Chief Justice Richard Chartier wrote on behalf of the three-member panel.

Public sector labour groups said they are considering an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

“Unions believe in free and fair collective bargaining. It works, and we don’t think governments should be tipping the scales (and) dictating outcomes,” said Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour, on behalf of the unions representing some 120,000 civil servants, teachers, health-care workers and others.

The Progressive Conservative government introduced the wage-freeze bill in 2017, saying it was necessary to address growing annual deficits.

The bill called for any new public-sector collective agreement to start with a two-year wage freeze, followed by pay increases of 0.75 and one per cent in the third and fourth years.