Statement by MFL President Kevin Rebeck in response to the Kinew government’s 2024 Speech from the Throne:

We were encouraged to hear the government mention the importance of strong workplace safety and health laws in today’s Throne Speech. It has been over a decade since the last update to our Workplace Safety and Health Act, and today’s workplaces have changed a lot since then. It is time for our safety and health rules to catch up to these new realities and provide stronger protections for workers on the job. 

We were particularly glad to hear the government specifically mention the need for new workplace training standards for handling asbestos, as it is an incredibly dangerous material and the number one occupational killer in Canada. Diseases caused from exposure to asbestos account for the majority of Manitoba’s occupational disease deaths every year.

But Manitoba has totally inadequate rules to protect workers when it comes to doing the hazardous work of asbestos removal and remediation. There are no mandatory training standards for workers, and there is no licensing or certification system in place for companies that employ workers to do the hazardous job of asbestos abatement and remediation. When it comes to rules for working with asbestos, it is truly the Wild West out there.

In the first eight months of 2024 alone, Workplace Safety and Health officers issued 68 stop work orders related to asbestos. With more of our buildings showing their age, and requiring demolition or repair, many workers continue to be exposed to it. Without strong regulations to protect workers from this deadly hazard, we could be facing a new wave of asbestos-related deaths in the not-too-distant future.

As always, the MFL will make sure that the priorities of Manitoba’s unions are front-and-centre when it comes to any updates to Manitoba’s Workplace Safety and Health Act.

In addition to safety on the job, the cost of living is also on the minds of workers across our province. While the pace of inflation has slowed down in recent months, working families in Manitoba are still dealing with the effects of skyrocketing prices over the last few years. Economic anxieties are high, and working people are looking to government to do what it can to make life more affordable.

That is why it is so important that the Kinew government passed historic legislation to give workers greater freedom to choose to join a union and negotiate bigger paycheques, greater job security and safer workplaces.

We will continue to encourage the provincial government to introduce new measures to make life more affordable, particularly for lower-wage workers, by making the minimum wage a living wage, ensuring all employers provide at least 10 paid sick days to their employees, closing the gender pay gap and opening more $10/day childcare spaces.