Summer of strikes: will job action have impact on Manitoba election?

Manitoba has seen a summer filled with labour unrest.

But as the provincial election looms, will the strikes have an effect on the race?

“There’s limited resources, and that means governments, regardless of whatever stripe they are, have to make very difficult decisions,” said Malcolm Bird, an associate professor in the Master of Public Administration program at the University of Winnipeg.

A nearly six-week strike officially ended Sunday when Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries unionized employees voted to accept a new four-year contract.

It was the first time MBLL workers had been on strike since the 1970s.

“Generally labour action with provincial liquor boards is not very common,” said Bird.

The associate professor says workers went on strike partly because of the rising cost of living.

While liquor store workers resolved their dispute with their employer, Manitoba Public Insurance workers were set to walk off the job Monday.

RELATED: Wages are a key issue in potential strike at Manitoba Public Insurance

And Manitoba Land Titles workers have been continuing their job action since July 21.

“The issue for these in the public sector, of course, is that higher wages oftentimes mean higher draw on the public purse, and that means higher taxes,” said Bird.

Bird says despite unions doing their job in advocating for their workers as the cost of living eats at their spending power, it doesn’t change the role of the government to keep the province’s finances in check.

“The big issue regarding these strikes, I believe, has to do with the precedent that their settlements will have and that precedent will affect the wage gains that other public sector workers receive,” he said. “And that is a much more sensitive issue because, of course, the public finances in Manitoba are not very good.”

WATCH: Manitoba Liquor Mart strike prompts health concerns (Aug. 13)

In a statement to CityNews, the governing Progressive Conservatives said: “MGEU leaders said no to a fair offer and binding arbitration, and are asking for increases double what health care workers received. We believe it’s time for them to stop playing the NDP’s games, and get back to helping Manitobans, especially the thousands pounded by the recent hail storm.”

Manitoba’s other major political parties say the strikes have been happening not because of concern over the public purse but instead because of the Tories’ disrespect for workers.

“We know that Heather Stefanson and Brian Pallister for the past seven years have picked fights with workers, have been unwilling to negotiate fairly. They have delayed a number of bargaining and a lot of these strikes are just the result,” said NDP MLA Lisa Naylor, the critic for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation.

In a statement to CityNews, the Manitoba Liberal Party said: “The PCs’ slogan should be ‘Fighting with Manitobans,’ not fighting for them. The Stefanson PCs are willing to put independent Manitoba businesses at risk of bankruptcy over a campaign stunt that hurts everyone and helps no one.”

Bird says despite all the talk from Manitoba’s political parties, the strike action isn’t expected to affect voters’ decision-making at the polls.

“I think most voters probably have their minds made up. And these types of strikes affect relatively few people,” he said.