Union supports further expansion of bereavement rules

WINNIPEG — A new contract with expanded paid bereavement leave at Red River College Polytech would be a “good thing” for all Manitoba employees, says the head of the union that negotiated it.

“We’re hopeful that we’ll see more of it,” said Kyle Ross, Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union president.

Last Monday, the college celebrated its new collective agreement with Local 73 representing close to 1,800 staff members at the college. The three-year deal involved reconciliation efforts, including broadened bereavement leave.

The eligibility for a three-day paid leave was expanded to include the loss of a parent’s sibling or a sibling’s child, as well as grandparent or grandchild deaths.

If an employee loses someone they consider to be a “comparable” figure in their life, they are now eligible for up to three days of paid bereavement leave.

A person who is not a blood relative could be akin to an employee’s immediate family, with their death being a devastating loss, Ross said.

“I really think it’s important that people get time to deal with those emotions, and I think it’s a good thing.”

The MGEU leader said he’s not aware of any other provincial employers with the same bereavement leave provisions.

“RRC is the first one to take a wholehearted approach to this and making sure that people feel supported,” the head of the union representing 32,000 workers in the civil service, Crown corporations, post-secondary schools, health care, social service agencies and arts and cultural organizations said.

Ross said he’s not sure if other provincial civil servants will seek similar contract provisions when they bargain their next contracts.

“That’s really up to the members. I would say we’re actively coming into a big round of public sector bargaining over the next year. I suspect we’ll see some of these proposals come forward,” Ross said.

Raising the bar for public sector workers can benefit private sector employees, Ross said, pointing to the 1981 Canadian Union of Postal Workers strike. Labour groups have called it a turning point for workers in Canada by accelerating the adoption of paid maternity, parental and adoptive leave across other industries.

“When the Canada Post workers took on the fight for maternity leave, that trickled through many other jurisdictions, across provinces and everywhere,” Ross said.

“Normally, unions lead.”

Small businesses already tend to offer flexibility to their employees without needing additional mandates, said Tyler Slobogian with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business that has more than 100,000 small and medium-sized businesses as members.

“Most small business owners work closely with their teams and understand the importance of supporting staff during difficult times,” the CFIB senior policy analyst said in an email.

“When governments or public-sector contracts expand leave provisions, it can sometimes create pressure for small firms to follow suit, but the reality is that many simply don’t have the capacity to absorb new, across-the-board requirements. Any changes in this area need to recognize the tight financial and staffing constraints small businesses are facing.”

The head of the Manitoba Federal of Labour said expanded bereavement provisions are good for workers and employers.

“Having an employer that is respectful of folks and gives them some of that time probably earns greater loyalty and appreciation and gets them to work twice as much when they return,” MFL president Kevin Rebeck said in an interview.

“I think healthy workers are productive workers and that includes your mental health. When we’ve lost someone close to us, our mental health is damaged and we need some time to recover. Giving people that faith, treating them with that respect, often earns that respect in return and, I think, makes for a very productive workforce.”

Labour Minister Malaya Marcelino said she works on standards for all workers across the province and has no involvement in collective bargaining with the public service.

She was pleased to see the RRC contract that expanded paid bereavement leave, however.

“This is one of the things that actually makes me happy as as a labour minister. We worked really hard to be able to empower workers to organize and collectively bargain for priorities for them,” Marcelino said in an interview.

Expanded bereavement leaves was important for the RRC workers, the minister said.

“Maybe in another group, it’s going to be other types of different kinds of employment standards.”

» Winnipeg Free Press