Workers with Métis, Michif child and family services agencies hit picket line

Workers with two Métis and Michif child and family services agencies hit the picket line on Tuesday, saying they're fighting for wages in line with other agencies in Manitoba.

"We are fighting for wage parity and unfortunately, at the bargaining table, we have yet to see it. We know it's possible," Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union president Kyle Ross said at a picket line outside the Métis Child and Family Services building on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg.

"Talking to these people today, it's not where they want to be."

Ross said the gap in wages leads to high turnover rate at the agencies, affecting the ability to build relationships and trust with the children and families the agencies serve.

Social services, family support, youth care and administrative workers at the two agencies — the Winnipeg-area Métis Child, Family and Community Services, and Michif Child and Family Services, serving the Dauphin, The Pas and Brandon areas — voted for a strike mandate in December and issued a two-week strike notice earlier this month.

The contracts for about 390 employees with the agencies expired on Jan. 31, 2023.

When asked, Ross did not say how many children or families would be affected by the limited services offered under the essential services agreement in place during the strike action that started Tuesday, but said he hopes to get back to the bargaining table as quickly as possible to prevent any further reduction in care.

Approximately half of workers with the two agencies are required to continue working during the strike under the essential services agreement.

Workers are asking for a contract similar to the four-year, 14 per cent wage increase MGEU members in other civil services got last year, Ross previously told CBC.

About 170 workers with a third agency — Southeast Child and Family Services, which provides services to eight First Nations in southeastern Manitoba — had also voted in favour of strike action but reached a tentative agreement on Monday, which includes wage scales that meet or exceed those of equivalent classifications in the civil service, said Ross.

 A ratification vote on their tentative offer is planned for later this week, MGEU said in a Monday update on its website.

Not enough movement on wages: union

Since the two-week strike notice was issued, some progress has been made for members at the Métis and Michif agencies, but there hasn't been enough action on wage parity with other government workers, Ross said.

"They do the same work, they have the same education. It's really important to us that they are treated as equal as the other people who are paid who work in government, who work for other agencies," he said. 

Workers with the agencies earn $31.31 to $43.56 per hour, according to the MGEU. The union says if the latest offer was accepted, the hourly wages for Métis CFS members would fall $2.06 behind the civil service by the end of the proposed contract, amounting to an annual shortfall of more than $3,800.

Michif CFS members would be $2.85 per hour behind the civil service by the end of the contract, leading to an annual shortfall of $5,300, according to the union.

Civil service wages are set to increase by another three per cent next year, which would set the agencies' members back further, MGEU says.

The union's wage concerns are compounded by layoffs in the sector, said Ross.

Earlier this month, the Manitoba Métis Federation said budget constraints led to 60 people being laid off from the Métis Child and Family Services Authority — which includes both the Métis and Michif Child and Family Services — with a total of 100 to 150 staff at risk of eventually being let go.

Ross called that a "heavy-handed" bargaining tactic. 

"We really feel it's the employer trying to push down on these workers and trying to scare them into taking a less than ideal agreement," he said. 

The Manitoba Métis Federation met with the union over the weekend, but they could not reach an agreement, Mona Buors, MMF child and family services minister, said in an email.

She said MMF is unable to meet the workers' financial demands because of a dispute between the provincial and federal governments about funding the child and family services agencies.

"Until this dispute is resolved, the funding situation of the Red River Métis CFS system will remain the same," she said.

Speaking to reporters at the legislature on Tuesday, Manitoba Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said the province can't interfere with the bargaining process, but she hopes both parties will get back to the bargaining table and prioritize the needs of the children and families they serve in those negotiations.

She said her government has "put real money on the table" for CFS agencies, including $2.4 million for wages for the Métis and Michif agencies.

"That is our commitment to ensure that those that are on the front lines of doing this very, very important work have the supports and the resources that they need," she said.