At MNU, we are deeply disappointed with the recent decision by the Supreme Court of Canada to not hear our appeal on the public-sector wage freeze legislation known as Bill 28: The Public Services Sustainability Act.

Since the Supreme Court refused to hear our case, this effectively upholds a previous decision made just over a year ago (on October 13, 2021), when the Manitoba Court of Appeal overturned a ruling made in 2020 by the Court of Queen’s Bench that found the Pallister government’s Bill 28 wage-freeze mandate was unconstitutional.

It has been a long, tough road to get to this end and while we are disappointed, we’d also like to thank the efforts of the Partnership to Defend Public Services (PDPS), which was spearheaded by the Manitoba Federation of Labour (MFL) and was comprised of dozens of unions including MNU, and especially our legal team.

For the record, the Government of Heather Stefanson did repeal that original Bill 28 earlier this year when the Bill 2: The Public Services Sustainability Repeal Act was passed and received Royal Assent on June 1, 2022.

Even though the Stefanson government officially repealed Bill 28, the PDPS chose to pursue the appeal to the Supreme Court out of concern that a similar legislation could be brought back at any point in the future.

To read a news article on this Supreme Court decision, please visit this link