Health-care support workers will be receiving a wage increase and improvements in working conditions after their respective unions negotiated a new collective agreement with the province last Friday.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees issued a news release Oct. 18, saying the deal will help solve the difficulties around recruiting and retaining health-care support workers.
The agreement affects about 19,000 health-care support workers such as home-care staff, health-care aides, laundry aides, housekeeping aides, dietary aides, ward clerks and recreation coordinators at hospitals, health care centres and personal care homes.
“Our members stuck together to get a really good deal that will help solve the healthcare staffing crises” said CUPE 4270 president Holly Chaperon in the news release. “We have built an agreement that helps recruit new members and retain the ones we have.”
The agreement includes an average wage increase of 27 per cent over four years that will bring Manitoba from the “worst paid support staff in the country to middle of the pack or better,” and an increase in starting wages for “high vacancy positions,” states the news release.
“This shows that this government respects healthcare support staff” said CUPE Manitoba president Gina McKay in the news release. “This is a government that is fulfilling its election commitment to fix healthcare in Manitoba.”
In Manitoba CUPE represents about 37,000 members that are employed in health-care facilities, personal care homes, home care, school divisions, municipal services, social services, child care centres, public utilities, libraries and family emergency services.
The Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union (MGEU), which also represents health-care support workers, issued a news release Oct. 18 saying its members accepted a new four-year collective agreement (effective April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2028).
“The new agreement includes significant wage increases for health care support workers in Prairie Mountain and Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, with an average increase of 27% over the life of the agreement,” states MGEU’s release. “It includes improvements to sick leave, and the addition of two wellness days. In the case of home care workers and mental health proctors, there are also significant improvements to scheduling practices and mileage rates.”
MGEU’s bargaining committee asked the province to prioritize the processing of retroactive payments for its members to April 1. The collective agreement has yet to be signed by the province.
A spokesperson for Shared Health, which oversees provincial health-care delivery, told the Express support staff are valued and the organization is pleased an agreement has been reached.
“Shared Health and other health system employers welcome the ratification of a new collective agreement for community and facility support workers represented by CUPE and MGEU,” said the spokesperson. “The work of our community and facility support staff is both important and valued and we are very pleased that a resolution has been reached for the benefit of these nearly 25,000 members of our health-care teams.”
