The Government of the Canadian Province of Manitoba wants about 6,250 Public Servants within core Government Departments to take five days of unpaid leave to cut costs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The letter, written on behalf of Deputy Secretary of Cabinet, Michael Richards and Civil Service Commissioner, Charlene Paquin (pictured) says the unpaid leave is the only way to avert temporary lay-offs.
The letter says the proposal would cover “top to bottom” employees, including Deputy Ministers (Secretaries of Departments), non-unionised executives, staff who belonged to a union and those who did not.
“In our view, this type of approach offers clear advantages by enabling — to the extent possible in terms of participation — our collective ability to much more broadly and equitably shoulder a relatively modest financial impact,” the letter says.
Half of the nearly 12,000 Public Servants within core Government Departments would be asked to take unpaid days off under the plan.
The letter says the five days off must be taken in the 2020-21 fiscal year.
It says employees could mainly reach the target between Christmas and New Year’s Day, providing it is “operationally possible and agreeable”.
The Government had previously warned of much deeper labour cuts as the economy took hits from closed non-essential businesses and inflated health-care costs.
In defending the need for reduced costs in the Public Service, Premier Brian Pallister has said that a worker should be paid for an honest day’s work, and that was not possible for some Public Servants during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Winnipeg, 20 May 2020
