Bill 28: The Public Services Sustainability Act
On Friday, June 2nd, a number of media outlets reported that Bill 28: The Public Services Sustainability Act had passed third reading in the Manitoba Legislature. This act imposes severe restrictions for public-sector workplaces insofar as wages and other monetary factors are concerned.
Although our AESES collective agreements are not set to expire until 2019, this new law will direct that our general salary increases for the following four years (2019 to 2023) are already set at 0%, 0%, 0.75% and 1.0% respectively.
The Pallister Government has made their intentions clear. Regardless of when the act is proclaimed, the impact of the government’s new law is already being felt at the bargaining table. Instead of negotiating at the bargaining table, the Pallister Government has chosen heavy-handed legislation to get their way.
Manitoba’s public-sector unions have come together to create a Partnership to Defend Public Services and will launch a legal challenge. AESES has joined this partnership and is actively supporting the legal challenge in order to defend the bargaining rights of our membership.
All communications going forward will be organized through the Partnership to Defend Public Services. As they become available, we will ensure they are forwarded on to our membership.