(Winnipeg) – The Manitoba Federation of Labour has given the provincial government a grade of C+ in its 2024 Workplace Health and Safety Report Card, MFL President Kevin Rebeck announced today.

“Workplace health and safety rules keep workers safe on the job, helping us come home to loved ones once the workday is over,” said Rebeck. “While some positive steps have been taken on the health and safety front under the Kinew government, inaction and steps backwards that were taken by the previous PC government means that a lot more work needs to be done to strengthen health and safety laws in Manitoba.”

The last MFL Health and Safety Report Card was issued in 2022, and it gave the previous provincial government a grade of D. In assessing the government’s performance on workplace health and safety, the 2024 Report Card evaluates the last year of the Stefanson government and the first year of the Kinew government. Overall efforts by government on workplace health and safety have been measured against recommendations made by unions to keep workers safe and healthy on the job, as well as to ensure proper care and rehabilitation for workers who are hurt so they can safely return to work.

Rebeck commended the Kinew government on the steps it has taken to improve workplace health and safety, including restoring the 1:1 ratio so that experienced journeypersons directly supervise apprentices who are learning their trade, making it as easy as possible for workers to join a union and re-establishing the multi-stakeholder Minister’s Advisory Council on Workplace Safety and Health.

At the same time, he added that Manitoba’s unions want this government to take action on a number of concerning health and safety trends, including:

• Manitoba’s skyrocketing rates of workplace violence, which have quadrupled in the last decade;
• The lack of mandatory training standards for workers handling asbestos and the need to bring in strong rules to protect workers who are exposed to Canada’s number one occupational killer;
• The need to ensure workplace health and safety laws protect against workplace mental health injuries, just as they protect against physical injuries.

The provincial government has been graded in the following categories:

• Workplace Health and Safety Laws: C
• Enforcement: C+
• Prevention: B-
• Workers Compensation: C

Rebeck noted that it has been almost 20 years since the last major update to the province’s Workplace Safety and Health Act, and the realities of today’s workplaces have changed a lot since then. He was glad to hear the Kinew government state that it wants to strengthen the Workplace Safety and Health Act in its recent Throne Speech.

“Now is the time to make sure our workplace health and safety protections match the realities that workers face on the job,” said Rebeck. “We have a government that is focused on making life better for working people, and that starts with having strong health and safety rules on the job.”

You can read the full 2024 MFL Workplace Health and Safety Report Card here.