Mendacity
The dictionary describes mendacity as follows: untruthfulness.
And now for the rest of the story:
Synonyms for mendacity,
Mendacity
Bafflegab
Bafflegab
The dictionary describes bafflegab as follows: incomprehensible or pretentious language, especially bureaucratic jargon.
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As more and more closures and privatization of government services are announced our president continues to spin her bafflegab on the issues, but as usual very little action is taking place. Looking at the News on the MGEU website we can actually see how unprepared our president is when it comes to our members losing their jobs. The solution? A rally to save Selkirk Laundry? It has been common knowledge for some time that the government was planning to shut down this facility yet at the very last moment our president has a rally. Better yet a rally from what we can confirm was not well attended. Poor planning? Incompetence or does our president have more of an interest in her beloved Health Care groups only?
Next there is the contracting out of Manitoba’s Air Ambulance. Again, this situation has been a long time in coming with the knowledge that the contracting out of these services was the potential outcome for some time. What did our president do? She released a “comprehensive report” a year ago that stated the plan to privatize this service was short-sighted and unsafe. In our humble opinion this would have been a great time to mobilize those northern communities that will be impacted by this announcement and the services they presently enjoy, but alas this did not happen. Yet in her biography when running for president she talks about traveling the province and engaging Manitoban’s? Bafflegab!
Our brothers and sisters who work for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries also appear to be in a precarious position as this government continues to push for the private sector to have increased participation in liquor retail and distribution sectors. Again, what are we doing? Well we have the online petition and radio Ads! We know one thing for sure the MGEU isn’t spending $6.5 million on helping these members!
On the other front, we appear to have between 45 and 50 members and retirees on the Health Care Campaign. There is a new question floating around out here and that is, how many MGEU members does it take to hand out ice cream to other Union members at any given site? Answer, 10 to 12. What a waste of our dues. Little or nothing being done for various other sectors of our membership but large amounts of money being spent on health care with very little to show for it. Cold pizza and warm ice cream! One of the things we find most interesting is that our president who so loudly stated that the Health Care Campaign would only be staffed with members, has now taken on a number of retirees under contract, meaning she is paying them for their time. Bafflegab!
Nothing our president ever says can be taken at face value, because it changes like the wind. Today it is this and tomorrow it is something completely different, yet a larger number of our members are coming under fire from this government with little or no money being spent on them. Radio Ads, petitions and small rallies, are just not adequate to take on this government. If other Union members are buying into the idea that they will be better off with the MGEU they should be doing some major fact checking. If other Unions are thinking that all the free food we are presently handing out is the norm for the MGEU they should be fact checking. If other Union members believe they will be treated with any more respect at the MGEU they should be fact checking and finally contrary to what we are saying at the MGEU, contracts do matter. It is interesting watching our president in action! She presents as all warm and knowledgeable but there is a predator under the surface.
On a good note, the motion made by area 5 to come after the bloggers by hacking has been tabled. We understand that the area 5 director was somewhat upset that he was not able to bring this motion back to area 5 to have it rescinded. It does appear there are a number of Board members that get the big picture and for once the Gawronsky agenda was foiled by much smarter people. What we like best is that there is a permanent record that the area 5 director was asking our members to do something illegal. Maybe he isn’t as smart as he thinks he is.
Contretemps
Contretemps
The dictionary describes contretemps as follows: a small argument or unlucky event, often happening in public and causing social embarrassment.
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Somehow the news just never improves for our MGEU members. This week alone we get information that the Manitoba government has asked Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries to privatize more sales.
Health Inspectors are having to deal with unfilled positions and perhaps putting the public at risk. Lifeflight appears to be falling short of it’s mandate due to government funding and resource issues. Manitoba Housing is going through a significant loss of affordable housing units, the future of the Selkirk Laundry operations are in question, job loss at Manitoba Government Agriculture Services,
and our Trades Component have taken a major hit with department closures and permanent layoffs. These are but a few of the issues facing our membership at this time and there continues to be issues in almost all of our Civil Service Components as well as our Health Care sector. When will it stop, but more importantly where is our president in all this mess?
The small articles on our Facebook page and our president speaking to the media on issues are not the type action our members expect from our Union. We are spending millions of dollars on Health Care, however these members make up less than half of our membership. Stop talking…it’s time for action!!!
While in the midst of probably one of the largest attacks by government, on our public sector workers, our president has chosen to spend unlimited money on finding out who the blogging consortium is. Really? Is that going to help our membership in anyway? We know for certain that it will not save jobs. The money spent on our president’s personal vendetta to shut this blog down only really benefits her. As we have always said, if our president was to actually spend some time and energy on us the membership of the MGEU then the blog would probably disappear. Isn’t it interesting how she just had to be the president of the largest Union in the province of Manitoba, yet, she will accept no criticism on how well she performs the duties of her office. Sad really, and maybe if she just listened to our membership she would learn about what is important to us, and worry less about what is important to her.
Wouldn’t it be nice to know if the $5 million plus that has been spent on Health Care to this point is actually yielding any positive results. We of course will never know as we are not one of the privileged few! Make no mistake, if the MGEU loses members during the Health Care votes, that is also a loss in revenue for our Union. Our president made a threat at Convention last fall. If we keep asking for things she will raise our dues. If we lose members through Department deletions, layoffs, contracting out as well as the Health Care Sector votes we can almost be sure our dues will increase.
Lastly it is important to note that the MGEU has taken a couple of hits on our Facebook page as well as in the Brandon Sun. Even though these posts are from MGEU members we are sure that somehow they will be tied back to the bloggers. It is important to realize it’s not just the Consortium that is disgruntled with our Union, there are many others as well. We are sure that those members that cannot shield themselves in autonomy will take some major heat for their actions. We are with you sisters and brothers. Your fight is our fight!
Hacking
Hacking
The dictionary describes hacking as follows: the activity of illegally using a computer to access information stored on another computer system or to spread a computer virus.
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So, we are at it again. A motion was made at the Area 5 council meeting in April to allow the MGEU to spend an unlimited amount of money to find the bloggers. The consortium is made up of dues paying MGEU members, so in fact we will be paying hackers to find ourselves. Does this make sense? We already know who we are!!!! More importantly we will only find who is hosting the blog, not the actual blogging consortium.
Agreeing to authorize unlimited amounts of money is outrageous!
Isn’t it enough that our president has spent millions on our Health Care Campaign, a small but still significant amount of money on our Civil Service Ads plus, another appreciable amount of money on her exorbitant travels around the country. Enough is enough. This is our money and we find it even more unbelievable that you continue to spend like there is no tomorrow.
Engaging in illegal activity to find a blog! Fortunately, this motion must go to the Board of Directors for approval. Let’s hope that more intelligent heads prevail. More importantly, hacking is illegal and blogging is not. It will be interesting to see a Board of Directors of a union charged with illegal hacking being displayed through the local papers. Blogging is yet another form of freedom of speech. To our fellow brothers and sisters who occupy the coveted positions as elected leaders of our union, do not be taken in when this motion comes forward by buying the rhetoric and being party to a crime.
Shame on you Ms. Gawronsky for putting our members in this position. As president you should lead from a position of honesty and integrity and not from a position of fear, hatred and paranoia!
One last piece of information to consider is that someone very close and personal to our president is himself a blogger of yore.
Please see this attached post. 
This individual has said some pretty nasty things about the labour movement and unions specifically, yet he is our presidents most trusted confidante.
Additionally, why is the union removing comments on Facebook placed there by members when they are expressing their opinions about how the president is dealing with membership issues? More evidence of the chronic double standard that has been evident since 2012!
Machiavellian
Machiavellian
The dictionary describes machiavellian as follows: 1. cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics.
“Machiavellian personality in psychology refers to a personality trait which sees a person so focused on their own interests they will manipulate, deceive, and exploit others to achieve their goals.” For more information look up, “What is Machiavellianism in psychology?” We are not diagnosing but merely seeking to explain things as we see them.
And now for the rest of the story:
Open, transparent and member driven are three of the most common terms used by our president to describe the basis for what the MGEU stands for. She has based the past almost nine years of her tenure on these assumptions, but from the blogging consortium’s perspective this has been nothing but smoke and mirrors. Well, it appears that we are not the only ones that are disgruntled with the lies and half-truths our president tells us.
It came to our attention that there was an interesting debate taking place, on the MGEU Facebook page regarding a posting, “There are 5 things that make the MGEU the best choice for Health Care workers.” The usual faction appeared ready to fight with anyone who had an opposing view of the president’s rhetoric. Members were being challenged for how they feel about our Union if they were not in agreement with the current doctrine. There has to be a better approach, than the in your face pontification that these individuals use when feeling cornered, as we are after all, open, transparent and member driven.
The count for the number of comments made on this article as of the evening of Thursday April 11, 2019 was 101. On Friday April 12, 2019 the comment count is 51, what happened to the 50 missing comments? Is this kind of censorship we as members of the MGEU are going to tolerate when we have a differing opinion than our president? The suppression of debate is very Trumpesque and contrary to our fundamental right of freedom of speech. This may also be the appropriate time to talk about how scripted our Union has become, we lack the spontaneity we once had. Is this really the face of democracy? It would also appear that we are falling far short of our mission statement in allowing our Home Care brothers and sisters to be left so far behind.
And if the insult of censorship is not enough, someone in their ultimate wisdom chose to post a picture of the 1996 Home Care strike. The objective of that strike was to save the jobs of our members, as well as the Home Care Program. We were very successful back then, but now we choose to stiffle these same members voices. SHAME ON US! Censorship on any level is so blatantly undemocratic and contrary to what the labour movement stands for. For our president to allow this sort of behaviour to take place within the MGEU is so Machiavellian on her behalf. Stop talking about democracy, open, transparent and member driven if you will NOT allow our members to have their voices heard!
What is wrong with the concept of some of our health care members going to another Union where they may finally be treated with the dignity they so deserve? We had no issues when the shoe was on the other foot!! We gladly accepted another Unions member’s in the last round of rationalization votes and have never looked back. We have however never lived up to our promises and for that reason alone we may lose some of our Health Care members this time around. Our fault! And who has been
our president since the votes took place in 2012? Michelle Gawronsky! This is not a threat nor is your life in danger, so put away your crocodile tears and step up to the plate and take your own medicine as you deserve everything you get.
Lastly a shout out to our Civil Service members who are at the bargaining table, we wish you the best of luck. We all know this will not be an easy round of bargaining with a government that cares little for their employees.
PS. We have heard about what the Risk and Strategy Committee has been up to and guess what that is? They have spent most of their time focused on this Blog and what to do about it. Isn’t it fortunate for us to have been able to find a way to voice our concerns in a public manner without interference or censorship by the MGEU? We don’t expect everyone to agree with everything we say, but it is freeing to be able to say what we want!
In solidarity
Flabbergasted
Flabbergasted
The dictionary describes flabbergasted as follows: to overcome with surprise and bewilderment; astound.
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Didn’t our president send out the MGEU group of professional picketers to walk the line with CUPW when they were having their hiccup with Canada Post? Isn’t it the Trudeau government that legislated CUPW back to work? So why are you having your picture taken with our Prime Minister, other than for just one more photo-op to stick in your scrapbook? Which party do you want to be with?
Our president states she is the president of the largest Union in the province of Manitoba, yet she is constantly having her picture taken with the political parties that are anything but labour friendly. Again, it comes down to our dues paying for you to flit around having your picture taken for nothing more than the opportunity to say you have met these individuals. Is this really the message you want to send to the labour movement in Manitoba. How much respect do you feel you gain by these sorts of actions? None as far as we can tell.
Our membership is in dire straits with the intermingling votes, Civil Service bargaining, layoffs, and department closures, yet you find the time to gallivant around doing whatever it is you do, and little or no attention being focused on our issues. Better yet what are you doing about the potential loss of wages for our Civil Service members? We had heard nothing from you except your initial announcement on March 22, 2019, that the Manitoba Government needs to insure they have money in their bank accounts to pay government employees and keep programs running, after March 29, 2019. However, Friday you sent out a message saying you “give full credit to the government for making this the first priority when the legislature resumes on Monday.” Your statements are underwhelming, especially when you say you want some assurances that this won’t happen again. Well, we want some assurance you will cut back the spending on rationalization votes we can never win. What we do know for sure is that the MGEU membership will continue to pay their dues to the MGEU, thus insuring you continue to make your six-figure salary without threat, and we are also pretty sure you will not curtail your spending habits.
Obtuse
Obtuse
The dictionary describes obtuse as follows: annoyingly insensitive or slow to understand. synonyms: stupid, dull, slow-witted, unintelligent, imperceptive….
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A number of the blogging consortium members had a chance to listen in on the MGEU Tele-meeting on March 20, 2019. What was the point of this tele-meeting? A number of our members had questions but it appeared that the only one that was really answered was, “why we should vote for the MGEU?” Questions regarding collective agreements were not answered, or we were told you don’t know. How does this inspire loyalty to our Union, when we pay you to know the answers, or to at least appear to have a clue. Obtuse! The question that actually floored us was when someone asked about their seniority, and the MGEU actually answered that question correctly. Section 13, Bill 29. Why are we still denying that this vote has nothing to do with the largest collective agreement in the receiving Union? Section 10, Bill 29. We should know these answers. We should know what classifications we may lose from any collective agreement based solely on classifications and it should be clear after that who is left in what agreement. Then you count who is left to come up with our largest agreements. Just answer our questions and let’s stop pretending it’s all about what Union we want to represent us. Again, Collective Agreements do matter!
It appears as previously predicted by the consortium, our president once again went off to New York, NY to attend the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations Headquarters. What the hell is going on here when our president leaves the country when we have a major campaign under way, the Civil Service will be bargaining soon, the No Lay-Off clause expires this week and government departments are being hit with closures and layoffs. It is obvious our president is not taking our issues seriously but our dues are paying for her gallivanting in New York. She is accountable to us the membership. What exactly does the Commission on the Status of Women have to do with the MGEU? You can’t or don’t want to answer our questions, but let’s take a trip! You want our respect? Step up to the plate and earn it! There is a pool out here among our members on exactly where you will land your next job when you lose your Home Care position to another Union. Big money is on the Civil Service. Yah, we know, this will be just another position you have held for the past 30 years that no one ever knew about (not even the government). It pays to have Conservative friends in high places!
Now let’s talk money. $5 million for the campaign so far with your hand out at the next Board Meeting for even more. A poor girl from the country with pockets as large as the MGEU. How much money have you spent keeping your friends seconded to the MGEU. We know the Area 5 Director and the Community Support Director are a couple friends that come to mind. Both appear to have had the same issue, medical leave then on to time off for the campaign. Interesting, the Community Support Director has been off since Bill 29 was proclaimed, however Home Care just became part of the votes according to the MGEU.
Most of us know that we will not win some of the votes in Health Care namely because of the numbers and the fact that we have left certain health care workers behind. Why are we still running a major campaign and spending this money instead of looking at what is possible and spending our dues on those areas where we can make a difference? Obtuse indeed!
Veracity
Veracity
The dictionary describes veracity as follows: conformity to facts; accuracy. Habitual truthfulness. Synonyms: truthfulness, accuracy, correctness, exactness, realism, authenticity, faithfulness, fidelity…
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Some of us have been having conversations with members from our Health Care locals about the impending rationalization votes that are set to take place at some point this year. We have asked what they believe will be the end results of this quagmire in which we find ourselves. There appears to be a large discrepancy in our members thinking about what these votes mean and the effect they could have on our membership and our collective agreements. Some believe that there will be no changes and it will be business as usual and others are not sure what this means in the greater picture. What are we (the MGEU) doing to assist our members in making informed decisions?
What Bill 29 actually says under Article 10(1) and 10(2) under the title “Negotiating a Revised Collective Agreement” is that, “the commissioner must, by order, designate a receiving collective agreement for the bargaining unit.” Bill 29 then goes on to say under 10(2) Designation, “the commissioner must designate the receiving collective using the following rules:”. What the rules state without printing them all out is that, “the receiving collective agreement is the one that governed the greatest number of employees at that time.” We don’t want you to take our word for this, we would encourage all our members to get a copy of Bill 29 and read it for yourselves. You may download Bill 29 off the internet or maybe we should be asking the MGEU to supply us with a copy. (your Union dues working for you)
We believe there is a lot at stake here not only for the MGEU but also for our members in the Health Care votes. An informed decision is a good decision. We want our brothers and sisters to have the knowledge they need to make a decision that will affect their work lives once this boondoggle is over. So, after reading all the literature we could find on the subject of The Health Sector Bargaining Unit Review Act – Province of Manitoba as well as all the literature being put out by the various Unions involved there are some conclusions to be made.
We hear that we are voting only on the Union that we feel will best represent us now, and in the future, but there appears to be a lot more at stake here than just this simple explanation. We are continually hearing that collective agreements don’t matter, however according to Bill 29, COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS DO MATTER, and it is imperative that all MGEU members know what the largest collective agreement will be, if the MGEU is successful in winning the representation votes in the city of Winnipeg and beyond.
Make no mistake that the largest collective in Winnipeg for the MGEU will be the present Home Care Collective Agreement. What this will mean to all of our current facility support members is that the MGEU as well as other union members (if we win) will start to bargain from the Home Care Agreement. This will mean that our members will have to fight for everything they presently have and to hopefully make new gains. Is this a possibility with our present government who like to slash and burn everything we hold dear?
Let’s look at what other Unions have in way of their largest collective agreements and we may just find that the grass IS greener on the other side. It appears to us that our claim to fame is the “one day” vacations in our current facility support agreements, but if we win that will be lost. It should also be noted that Winnipeg is not the only location in the province that the Home Care Collective Agreement is the largest. So, to our membership be sure you are making the right decision for yourselves when voting.
To our president, it is time to stop telling half-truths to our members and have some veracity in what information you are giving out, our members deserve nothing less! To our brothers and sisters who will be part of the rationalization votes, do your due diligence!
A final thought. It is interesting to note that our president says she is a Home Care Attendant from the Southern Health Authority so, one would think that she would have taken more of an interest in the community support bargaining. She worked hard to establish the one-day vacation for the facility support agreement when she was a member of that group, so why has she not insured our Home Care members have a better collective agreement than they presently enjoy? Interesting!
Chicanery
Chicanery
The dictionary describes chicanery as follows: clever underhanded action to achieve an end. Synonymous with subterfuge.
Just when you thought you’d heard it all our president comes up with something new. We want you all to recognize that NO Union has been formally charged with any of the crimes mentioned by our president, in the following story.
And now for the rest of the story:
When the Health Sector Bargaining Unit Review Act (Bill 29) was passed in the spring of 2018 what did the MGEU do? Our president started her trip around the province to talk to MGEU members as well as CUPE and other Union members about the benefits of everyone coming to the MGEU. Not only did she travel the province she was also buying ice cream and other treats for all these various Union members as well. For those that remember, our Board of Directors then voted to give our president $3 million for the health care campaign. Then we started hosting pizza and sandwich days for CUPE members at the HSC. Obviously the $3 million allotted for the MGEU campaign was not sufficient and our president went back of the Board for an additional $2 million. All was well, the MGEU was way out in front of every other Union in Manitoba.
Around about the middle of October 2018 it became clear that our Home Care staff would also be part of the votes. It appears that another Union jumped on this and was out meeting with our Home Care members where they work and at their offices. Next thing we hear is that this other Union is terrifying our Home Care members and if that wasn’t enough, they were also lying to them. Listening to Home Care members it has become very obvious that these members are very unhappy with how the MGEU has represented them over the past 35 years or so. Most, make no bones about wanting to leave the MGEU and potentially getting the recognition they feel they deserve as part of the Health Care Team.
We have heard from some of these same members that they had a meeting with our president on Monday this week. They have reported back to the Blogging Consortium that they are very troubled with some of the things that were said at this meeting. They were told that anything that any other Union tells them are lies. She told them that she has been threatened and her children are all in fear for her life, (we’ve heard this before) and have suggested she step down as president of the MGEU. (She won’t) She reports that she is being followed and harassed. What a lot of us know for a fact is that when our president is losing, she will resort to these sorts of tactics. We forgot to ask if she was crying while telling our members this nonsense, as this is just one more of the maneuvers she keeps in her arsenal. We have truly never seen anyone that plays the sympathy card as well as she does. If you are not reporting these sorts of things to the police, then either they are NOT true or you have no proof. We understand that the Area 5 Director is with her at all times to be her body guard? She has finally found a job for him after she prevented him from being moved to a CUPE local in the Southern Authority and she seconded him to work at the MGEU when there was no real purpose for that secondment. His employer had an obligation to find him appropriate work after injuring himself on the job. What most of the members may not realize is that this same individual has been traveling with her for years, while trying to intimidate our members with his camera.
What we do know is that all Unions in the province of Manitoba that represent Health Care Members are fighting for their place. No one wants to lose members but at the end of the day it comes down to the wishes of those individuals voting. Laying all this subterfuge at our members feet and asking them to ignore what any other Union has to say is so ignorant on the MGEU’s part we can barely speak. Stop your nonsense Ms. president and start acting like the biggest and best Union in the province, anything else makes you look weak and afraid!
Smellfungus
Smellfungus
The dictionary describes smellfungus as follows: a habitual faultfinder or complainer.
And now for the rest of the story:
In 2012 the MGEU was successful in winning around 5,800 new members from CUPE in the intermingling votes that occurred at that time. The most important question now becomes what did we do with the new members when we received them. Big promises were made to these members about how life would improve once they became MGEU members. They were offered better servicing, better collective agreements and more say in what they deemed important issues. Have we failed them?
After the new members came to the MGEU a new collective agreement was bargained on behalf of our Health Care Support Services Component. Anyone remember what happened? The area that the MGEU had attracted the largest number of new members was from the Prairie Mountain, the western part of our province. When the ratification votes were counted it was clear that our former CUPE members were not happy with the settlement and voted NO to the agreement. Our HCSS Component Director was dispatched to Brandon to try to get these members to reconsider and after some time they relented and accepted the contract. It is obvious that CUPE members expect a lot more from their bargaining committees than our ever faithful MGEU members.
We now find ourselves in the exact same situation as we were in 2012. Unions fighting Unions. The issue here is much more serious however than it was in 2012. The government is looking for much more latitude this time around than just decreasing the number of Health Care bargaining units. They are looking at potentially governing our work lives. Let’s not forget however that this government will be responsible for any outcome that negatively impacts the citizens of Manitoba by potentially allowing Health Care workers to travel around the system. There has been at least a small gesture on behalf of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority saying it is not their intent to “shuffle home care workers and health-care aids around willy nilly once bargaining units are rationalized.”
So, in the end, it becomes which Union will better serve our needs. The greatest concern out here is that if a member has an issue, we are very slow to respond and sometimes we never do. In trying to maintain her fiefdom our president has lost sight of what it means to be a member of the MGEU. Where once we were able to contact our staff reps and were able to get together with them in a timely manner, we now find ourselves waiting forever for a phone call that in many instances never comes. Shame on us, or more accurately shame on our president.
Let’s also think back at what is different this time around for the MGEU. The individual responsible for winning us the votes back in 2012 is no longer employed by the MGEU and is actually working for CUPE. If we remember correctly the only area the MGEU lost last time around was the Southern Health Authority where our president and her BFF were working?? We later heard that those members out there were sick and tired of their bullying tactics. How well does this bode for us as they are once again leading the charge? It also appears that when we have nothing to fight with, we resort to fearmongering. There is nothing helpful to our membership for our president to throw out something for which she has no solution, so the word smellfungus fits!
In our esteemed opinions we must look to the best collective agreement and to the Union that best looks after their members. We are sad to say that after 30 plus years being MGEU members the Home Care Collective agreement leaves a lot to be desired. For those members in the HCSS Component don’t forget that according to Bill 29 you start bargaining from your largest agreement which is the Home Care Collective Agreement. Maybe the MGEU should have paid more attention to this group in the past so we would not be faced with this dilemma now.
Just when we thought we could put this blog to bed we received pictures of our president in Ottawa earlier this past week. We were wondering why Sheila Gordon was speaking on our behalf to the media and now we know. Our president thought it was more important to go to Ottawa than it was to stay here and speak to the press. It is once again coming around to the time of year that our president takes off to New York City, let’s hope she reconsiders this year as we will be in the thick of Civil Service bargaining as well as the intermingling votes.
Bombastic
Bombastic
The dictionary describes bombastic as follows: high sounding with little meaning.
And now for the rest of the story;
On January 23, 2019 the MGEU posted to their web page an article entitled “Government Announcement Adds Even More Chaos to Health Care Representation Votes.” (@ MGEU.ca) There is currently a straw poll in the Winnipeg Sun Online asking the question, “Do you believe the MGEU was fearmongering about the province’s health care changes?”. Check out the results, but it does appear that the vast majority of those voting believe we were fearmongering when we released this article.
There are a number of issues here to note, the first being from the Minister of Health where he countered the MGEU’s assertion that, “The new rules aim to give employers the ability to transfer workers around the health care system, forcing hospital and home care staff to work in other facilities, or even to do home care work, and sending home care staff into hospitals.” The Minister has stated this is not the intent. We are not going to try to tell you that we believe anything this government has to say, however, just think of the logistical nightmare this would cause. Who in their right minds would believe this is a good use of our health care resources, of which the government is ultimately responsible? The intent of Bill 29 appears to be the decreasing of the number of bargaining units in the health care system, first and foremost.
The second issue that comes to mind was reported in the Winnipeg Free Press. In the article, Sheila Gordon admits that the MGEU had knowledge about the Home Care Component becoming part of the rationalization votes as early as last fall. Why in the world did our president choose to keep this information from our members? Sheila Gordon states in the article that, “she felt it (MGEU) had an obligation to alert health care workers to what may transpire as bargaining units are rationalized” but didn’t feel it was important to let them know they would be part of the votes three months ago. Now when this information has been made public the MGEU is putting their own spin on this and upsetting our members with erroneous information. There also appears to be a disconnect in our president’s understanding of what exactly makes a nurse’s aide. Our president does not understand that there is actually no difference in the education between a nurse’s aide in Home Care and a nurse’s aide in any hospital or personal care home, and she says she is an HCA in the Home Care program! The certificate program for all nurse’s aides are exactly the same! So, for our president to suggest that our Home Care workers are somehow less qualified than their counterparts in a facility is ludicrous.
The third issue that we feel is worthwhile mentioning is that in Bill 29, under section 10 (2) Designation, it states: The Commissioner must designate the receiving collective agreement using the following rules:
- Determine whether-immediately before the bargaining agent was determined under section 8- the bargaining agent was a party to more than one collective agreement governing employees in the bargaining unit.
- If there was more than one such agreement, the receiving collective agreement is the one that governed the greatest numbers of employees at that time.
- If there was only one such agreement, the receiving collective is that agreement.
In other words, the largest collective agreement for the MGEU if we win becomes the Home Care agreement vs the Seven Oaks Hospital collective agreement if CUPE is successful.
Knowing how inferior our Home Care agreement is, why would any of our health care workers vote to stay with the MGEU? There is absolutely no comparison between the two agreements when looking for a starting point from which to begin bargaining. Is this why our president didn’t want us to know?
There is just so much to say on this topic and the way in which our president has handled this issue publicly. We want our fellow MGEU members to know we take little satisfaction in finally being able to show what many of us in the blogging consortium have known for a long time, and that is that our president has spent her entire tenure looking after herself. Having information that impacts our membership and keeping it quiet, hoping it will go away, has done no one any justice. Will our brothers and sisters ever believe again that our president is open and transparent, when we have now been hit squarely in the face with her duplicity?
If as predicted by many, the MGEU is not successful in winning back the Southern Regional Health Authority’s health care workers she will once again become a CUPE member. We are ever hopeful that if that happens, she will resign her presidency the way she should have last time. But make no mistake, this blog will not go away as long as she continues to lie to our membership, and if she lands in another made up position so she is able to maintain her presidency, we will have a lot to say! STOP being fooled!
Aegis
Aegis
The dictionary describes aegis as follows: the protection, backing, or support of a particular person or organization.
What is strategic risk management? To simplify, it is the process of identifying, quantifying, and mitigating any risk that affects an organization’s business strategy, strategic objectives and strategy execution. This may include but not be limited to: legal and regulatory changes, merger integration, senior management turnover and stakeholder pressure. If we look closely at the MGEU we will see all these issues coming into play. Now we want to know what is being done to to quantify these risks and then what the plan is to deal with them in an organized fashion. Strategic risk represents the greatest dangers and opportunities an organization faces.
And now for the rest of the story:
The Risk and Strategy Committee was formed by our current president back in 2014-2015. While the committee has been active since then, we want to know exactly what they have found and what they plan to do about it. As far as we have been able to ascertain this committee appears to have no focus nor mandate. Our president has had very few meetings with this committee and we are almost positive there have been no reports coming forward to Convention since its inception. This committee was the suggestion of the Company hired by our president back in 2013 to look at our structure, so we have to ask what has she been doing all this time. Surely to goodness as we count down to the Health Care Rationalization votes and the systematic destruction of our Civil Services something must have popped up, or is this just one more example of how truly unprepared this president is in dealing with the issues that face all MGEU members?
All kidding aside, what is the plan? We know we have spent or are in the process of spending 5 million dollars on a health care vote that we are probably going to lose, and a mere 500 thousand dollars will be allocated to a campaign for the Civil Service. Something wrong with these numbers! Maybe we should be spending some money on pizza lunches for our Civil Service members instead of CUPE members at the HSC, where there is no way we will ever win that vote. If this information makes you angry it should!
There would be no MGEU without the Civil Service and Crown Corps and yet once again our president who knows nothing about our history has divided this union in half to protect what she thinks she knows best…health care. Make no mistake the Civil Service and Crown Corps are the founding members of the MGEU and as such should be treated with a bit more dignity and respect. So, we have a suggestion on how to level this playing field. Our president should give back 2.5 million dollars to support a campaign specifically for our Civil Service members.
We understand that Board Members have been asked to submit to our president, a resume and an intent to be selected for the new Risk and Strategy Committee (2018-2020). Remember this is also the Committee where our president has yet again ignored our Constitution and By-laws in selecting a Committee that is gender equal. At present we have five brothers and one sister making up this Committee. Our hope is she will be able to find it within herself to put the friends and lovers aside in favour of a gender equal, intelligent and a broad cross section of our entire membership. This may be the only way to get this committee functioning the way it should have been since the beginning!
Lastly, we have a suggestion on a political action strategy to let this government know how truely fed up we are with their mandate. Our president should be requesting that our 40,000 members dress up as garden gnomes and march on the legislative building, so we can tell this Conservative Government to shove this wholly ignorant campaign of theirs, up their collective arses. Knowing how much our president loves to have her picture taken, maybe she can dress up as Gerome G Gnome, and if we are lucky, we can leave her there!
PS:
We have received some late breaking news from a few consortium members in Portage La Prairie. It would appear that once again the MGEU will be hosting a pizza day for CUPE Health Care Members on Tuesday January 15, 2019. We have it on good authority that when CUPE has pizza days for members at the HSC it is ONLY for their own members. When the MGEU hosts pizza days at HSC it is again only for CUPE members. Are we trying to buy votes? So, saying all this we are becoming even more disgusted with our Union dues being spent on everyone but us. We would like to invite all MGEU members in the Portage La Prairie area to join the MGEU at the Red River College Campus, 23 5th Street SE, Event Room 2-16 between 1 and 4:15 PM, Tuesday January 15, 2019 for pizza. Enough is enough!
Aegis for our MGEU members not!
Compunction
Compunction
The dictionary describes compunction as follows: 1. a: anxiety arising from awareness of guilt b: distress of mind over an anticipated action or result. 2. a: a twinge of misgiving.
And now for the rest of the story;
On December 21, 2018, the MGEU Civil Servants were sent an email from Fred Meier, clerk of the executive council, introducing Gerome G. Gnome, the garden gnome. This email included pictures of the garden gnome at various locations throughout Manitoba. Supposedly Gerome G. Gnome will be visiting various government workplaces. The email further states, “I can’t wait to meet you and help you share your stories about what you do, how you do it, and why it’s so cool and important.” No compunction here!
It never ceases to amaze us how there are obviously a number of high paid government employees outside of the MGEU that sit in some ivory tower smelling rarified air. Do you really think that a garden gnome will allay our concerns about this governments’ inability to get the bigger picture? The bigger picture in our minds is that you must satisfy more than just your base to keep Manitoban’s happy. Put the garden gnome away and start the dialogue with us, MGEU members.
Just a suggestion…maybe Gerome G. Gnome would be better suited to attend the Vita Manitoba Canada Day Celebrations. This sounds like something our president would come up with!
Gorgon
Gorgon
The dictionary describes a gorgon as follows: noun Greek Mythology, each of three sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, with snakes for hair, who had the power to turn anyone who looked at them to stone.
– a fierce, frightening, or repulsive woman.
The following comments were sent to us by a MGEU member and activist and we felt it was worth posting. We thank the individual for their input and look forward to hearing from you again.
And now for the rest of the story:
“Here’s the story. I don’t usually drive much at night because of all the deer on the roads around here and they LOVE to jump in front of moving vehicles. Due to the holiday season I have had to make a few road trips with the return being in darkness. To try and deal with the deer problem I have deer whistles on the front of my car and because I was raised on disco, I have the music cranked up on Station 103.1 which is Virgin Radio which is kind of light house music during the day and at night is deeper house music which has great bass so you can hear me coming. I even have the passenger window half way down just to make sure the little f***ers can hear me coming.
Now in all this mess, I can tune out commercials really easily and it was a few journeys and a nearly two hour drive before it started to sink in to my brain that there was something odd and out of the ordinary in a repeating commercial, (every hour!) that I was listening to. You probably know that gorgon person that has been running commercials on the radio but……why the hell would she be running them on 103.1 where the demographic is way out of who I would think her target audience would be! In addition, the commercial is not promoting MGEU or health care people or other components of the MGEU. It is a Christmas greeting from the gorgon and then the MGEU. So…knowing what little I know plus I am paranoid and some what money conscious, I can not figure out why anyone would be doing this at a time when money is so very f***ing precious. The commercial has nothing to do with anything except wishing Seasons Greetings to very young people which should probably be near the bottom of the targeted demographic in this case.
So…now I am thinking of motivation. It, (the gorgon) doesn’t care about money…okay. That could happen. The MGEU is obsessed with Holiday Spirit…maybe. She is trying to rally the troops…not likely, (demographic is too young). Trying to obtain an unobtainable lover or impress someone…meh. Blah…blah. So then we get to my 2018 favourites…money and power!!! Yay!!! I love money and power!!! So what the f*** could be the money and the power other than the obvious sack of dough and organization she has control of at the moment? And why does she need a butt load of money for self promotion? And surround herself with a flock of yes people rather than seasoned advisors.
So…in my paranoid and sometimes delusional mind, I truly believe she is considering a political move in 2020. I don’t believe her current retirement plan, why take chances? If her name is out there and she has name recognition, why just f*** the MGEU! Why not go for the big show! F*** the good citizens of Manitoba!!! Plus she likes to make promises she has no intention of keeping cuz she really doesn’t have to…no one seems to be reigning her in at the moment. Government is good for that, especially conservative governments, (please excuse my political orientations) so why the f*** not!!! Money money money! Perceived power galore!!! No accountability as long as you keep the pillaging low key. Money for the condo…really nice fleet vehicle plus gas money, limitless expense account almost and if you do it correctly…making money doing business with other shady folk!!! Sounds like heaven to me!!!
I did go a step further but by the time of the dawns early light…have ruled it out because it would NEVER happen. Election 2020 running in her riding for the NDP. Rack and ruin could be her legacy! Or the Liberal Party although I can’t think of a good reason why except money and power. Not good enough here I don’t think.
So…as you can see, I have way too much time to think and it does get carried away. But I can’t help but think…why and why not! Money money money! Tis the season! Spare change anyone!”
From the blogging consortium plus one, we wish you all a very Happy Holiday Season and a more promising New Year.
Feckless
Feckless
The dictionary describes feckless as follows: lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible.
And now for the rest of the story:
The news just keeps getting better and better. The Civil Service Collective Agreement has not even expired and our government is already talking about the services they plan to contract out. It appears that the Conservative government is ahead of schedule in their plans to decrease the Manitoba Civil Service by 1,200 employees. The date for some of the lay-offs will take effect March 29, 2019, the same day as the NO LAY-OFF clause of the Civil Service Agreement expires.
We know the Civil Service is presently putting together their bargaining package and that the actual bargaining will start in the spring of 2019, but what can we hope to achieve? We have known for some time that this round of bargaining was going to be very difficult because of the Public Services Sustainability Act. This act imposes a two -year wage freeze, followed by a 0.75 % increase in the third year and a 1 % increase in the fourth year. There has also been some talk about getting rid of our Severance package and looking into the Civil Service Pension Plan. To say we are under attack is an understatement.
We know that there will be a loss of eight translator positions, approximately 58 positions lost with the contracting out of the water bomber services, potential layoff of up to 11 employees in the governments Real Estate Services Division and the contracting out of Churchill’s Liquor Mart. There is also talk of contracting out our Air Ambulance services and the privatization of the Pineland Forest Nursery. The Conservative Government has also put out a Request for Qualifications to hire a consultant to conduct “private dialogue” with private construction companies. This could potentially lead to the contracting out of snow removal on our highways as well as safety inspections on our roads, bridges and railways. Another potential consideration of this consultant could be the Red River Floodway, pumping stations and community ring dikes maintenance.
There are a number of government initiatives that the MGEU has known about for some time but here we are at the eleventh-hour scrambling to put together a campaign to protect our Civil Service Members. We currently have two petitions going that address the privatization of the Churchill’s Liquor Mart and the Pineland Forest Nursery, but is this really enough of a strategy to plug the dam? We hate to say this but once there are two cracks in the dam others will be following. If we allow any of our Liquor stores in Manitoba to become privatized without a major fight back campaign then this government will continue down this path unobstructed. As for the Pineland Forest Nursery time is running out quickly and our 1500 signature petition appears to have fallen on deaf ears.
The water bomber service contracting out also leaves Manitoban’s in a precarious position. If the information coming forward is correct then we will still be responsible for the maintenance of these aircraft, while the actual bombing will be carried out by a private company. Fighting forest fires in the summer months in Manitoba is a huge responsibility and this government wants to hand over the reins to a private company? Where is this government’s responsibilities to the citizens of Manitoba? Better yet where is our Union in all this chaos? We get it, let’s sign another petition…. Really?
Lastly, when this government opens the Civil Service Act does this allow the opportunity for our Civil Service Members to have the right to leave the MGEU? We have been hearing for some time that a number of the Civil Service Components are less than happy with the MGEU for a number of reasons. When the MGEU came under the same type of attack back in the ’90’s we stepped up to the plate and fought a good fight. What is happening now? Remember that was a much different time with a much stronger president.
Lord have mercy!
Our president is always talking about how she is out in communities in Manitoba taking to Manitoban’s about their needs. Well it would appear that she is ether hard of hearing or feckless, you decide.
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