The City of Winnipeg says that due to current COVID-19 restrictions and the postponement of programming the Community Services Department has approximately 600 temporary staff members who have no work.
The city shut down all recreation facilities, gyms, indoor pools, arenas, and libraries on October 31 in response to Manitoba Public Health orders. The city has also postponed all winter recreation programming until further notice.
Tempory lay-offs of those staff members begins on Sunday November 29, 2020.
The city says that they have been working with The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in an effort to remove restrictions within the collective agreements to enable redeployment of these employees. The city says that they have begun to contact employees to determine if they are interested in being redeployed if opportunities become available.
Employees who are temporarily laid off will have access to mental health supports. The City has registered a Supplementary Unemployment Benefit Plan (SUBP) with the Government of Canada. The SUBP will provide a top-up to 75% of their regular gross weekly salary, for a period of four weeks, while they are on temporary lay-off if they are eligible to receive regular EI benefits.
© News4.ca 2020
