Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister announced earlier this week that he is considering temporary measures to reduce government spending on “non-essential” government workers in order to focus on front-line services during the pandemic. These considerations could include reduced workweeks. This is uncharted territory for Manitoba and all of Canada and we are working with the government to recognize that our members’ work is essential to the wellbeing of Manitobans.
The Premier has begun meetings with provincial union leaders on this issue. We expect that in the coming weeks a change will be made that will affect public servants, though, at this point in time, we do not know what that will be.
Our members are engineers who are there for Manitobans, maintaining and building public infrastructure, and can step up should a crisis arise. They are responsible for public works projects that can help kick-start a stalled economy. It's of paramount importance that public service jobs that Manitobans rely on remain secure.
We are providing input to the Government of Manitoba and will do everything in our power to minimize the impact on our members. We will communicate more information to the approximately 150 members of the Manitoba Association of Government Engineers (MAGE) that we represent as soon as possible.
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Harald Larsen, MAGE President, hlarsen@pipsc.ca.