In August of 2006, the MGEU won an arbitration that required the government to pay employees at overtime rates for travel. Since that date, the Union has made repeated requests to the government to pay employees who should be compensated as a result of that Award. The MGEU had to return to the Arbitrator to hear arguments that the government was making in an attempt to limit the number of people who would receive a remedy. They were unsuccessful in this attempt.
The government has provided some information to the Union indicating that they have paid certain individuals, however, the Union believes that a large number of people who are entitled to a remedy have yet to be paid. The problem is that the government has all of the records and it is impossible for the Union to fully understand the scope of the remedy. However, we believe that the amount of money owing to MGEU members could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In a further attempt to try and get the government to pay what they owe our members, the Union has once again asked the Arbitrator to involve himself in this matter and order production of the government’s records so that we can ensure those employees who are entitled to receive money finally get paid. It is unfortunate that we have to take these types of extraordinary measures to have the government pay out on an arbitration that they lost. The majority of employees affected work in the Department of Conservation.
We will continue to put pressure on government to live up to its commitment to Manitoba public employees, and we will continue to update the membership as this process unfolds.