Manitoba is asking public workers to reduce their hours to help the province save money during COVID-19.
Premier Brian Pallister announced the new measure in a April 14 media conference, adding the province will be compensating any frontline health care workers who needed to quarantine due to possible exposure to COVID-19.
“When I say frontline, I'm referring to people who make the beds and clean the floors and the washrooms and do the frontline work of protecting people when they're in our facilities,” Pallister said.
“It's for frontline workers in health care.”
Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals president Bob Moroz said he has been calling on the Manitoba government to give more assistance to self-isolating workers for weeks.
“[Manitoba was] the last province in the country who got to this point,” he said.
“We were the only ones, sitting on our hands and leaving it up to our members to burn through their own hard-earned time off in order to cover this pandemic issue.”
Moroz said health care workers in the north are under more pressure to perform.
“Our members want to be at work. They want to be on that front line,” he said.
“There's nobody sitting around waiting for work. We are short, we are tight across this province and especially in the north. If somebody has to go home because they're self-isolated for two weeks everybody else has to pick up the slack."
Pallister said he would be meeting with over a dozen public sector unions April 14 to see if they would agree to reduced hours for members. He added those workers would be eligible for Employment Insurance for those reduced hours. The press conference was held before the aforementioned discussions with unions.
“We're hoping the union leadership will see the wisdom in this approach,” Pallister said.
“It is really far preferable to layoffs. As a government, this week will be our fourth anniversary. We have not resorted to layoffs. We have done our best to help people stay at work.”
A CUPE spokesperson said they would be communicating with the government later April 14.
Pallister said the reduced work week was a way for other public workers to support front line health care workers and those in the private sector who have lost their jobs.
“[An hours cut] might generate about a dime towards the dollar that we would have to borrow,” he said.
“It doesn't solve all our problems. It's not designed to, but it does give a chance for all of us who are not on the front line to support those who are. I think that that solidarity is something that many public servants want to demonstrate today.”
Pallister also confirmed during the conference he was in discussions with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe on how to open up the economy after COVID-19 winds down. Moe said he was considering plans to reopen some portions of the Saskatchewan economy as soon as next week.
