The Manitoba Government and General Employees Union

As an MGEU member, you work under the protection of a collective agreement negotiated with the employer. Any given year, the MGEU oversees more than 100 collective agreements that cover over 1,000 job classifications.

Collective Bargaining Begins at Local meetings

By definition, collective bargaining is a process of negotiation to determine the terms of a labour contract. These contracts are usually effective for two or three years and cover a range of work-related concerns, including wages, hours of work, benefits, overtime, and health and safety. The terms of the contract are negotiated between:
1. a bargaining committee of union members who’ve been elected by fellow members to speak on their behalf, along with professional union negotiators;
2. management representatives of the employer.
For you as a member, the process begins at Local meetings. It’s up to you to either have your own name put forward for election to the bargaining committee, or to elect a co-worker. Those elected to the committee are responsible for organizing a series of meetings to collect bargaining proposals. These meetings are your chance to share what you’d like to see in the contract, or suggest improvements to what currently exists.

 

The Give and Take of Bargaining

Based on the feedback at Local meetings, your elected committee, along with union staff support, pulls together a package of proposals to take to the bargaining table on behalf of the rest of the Local.
The employer also comes to the table with changes they’d like to make to the contract.
The negotiating process, which can last anywhere from a few weeks to several months, usually involves a kind of give and take, with the union bargaining committee working at all times to maintain and/or gain as much as possible for their members.

 

Below you will find a downloadable version of the MGEU Bargaining Proposal Form. If you have specific proposals to be considered for the next round of bargaining, please fill out the form and present it at your local meeting.