City Hall, 510 Main Street (CITY OF WINNIPEG / TWITTER)
The City of Winnipeg is temporarily laying off approximately 600 employees as a result of ongoing public health orders.
The city said on Wednesday the layoffs are in the community services department as Manitoba remains in critical (red) on the province’s Pandemic Response System.
As a result, all winter recreation programming has been postponed through January until further notice. This includes the printing and release of a Winter 2021 Leisure Guide and associated registrations.
The city says it’s working with CUPE, the union representing the employees, to remove restrictions on collective agreements that exist. Doing so will enable the city to redeploy some of the laid-off employees into other opportunities, should they become available. Some possible placements include assisting the province with its COVID-19 response.
“Calls to these employees are taking place today to determine if they are interested in being redeployed if opportunities become available, and to work out next steps,” the city said in a statement.
Employees who are temporarily laid off will have access to mental health supports. Those eligible to receive Employment Insurance (EI) benefits will also see a 75% top-up of their regular gross weekly salary for four weeks through the federal government’s Supplementary Unemployment Benefit Plan (SUBP).
The temporary layoffs take effect Sunday, November 29. Once city facilities reopen and programming can restart, the city will welcome the employees back to work.
