Manitoba’s health-care support workers have accepted a new four-year contract carrying an average wage increase of 27 per cent to lift their pay out of Canada’s basement.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees and Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union, which represent more than 25,000 support workers, are hoping new recruitment and retention measures help to ease chronic staff shortages.
“We know there is a lot of work left to do, but with the government committed to filling vacancies, and now wages that are competitive, we have a shot at taking real steps toward really fixing the health-care staffing crisis,” said Margaret Schroeder, president of CUPE Local 204, after an electronic voting period closed at noon Friday.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES
MGEU president Kyle Ross said wages for some staff will be the fourth- or fifth-highest in Canada by the time the contract expires.
Local 204 represents about 16,000 support workers employed by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and Shared Health.
MGEU research showed Manitoba support staff were the lowest paid in Canada. Union president Kyle Ross said wages for some staff will be the fourth- or fifth-highest in Canada by the time the contract expires.
“I’m pretty hopeful that this will bring more members into health care and get that service to the quality that Manitobans expect,” he said.
Workers ratified a tentative deal that was struck about 90 minutes before a strike deadline Oct. 8. The unions did not disclose how many votes were in favour of or against the deal.
Retroactive to April 1, the contract is in effect until March 31, 2028.
Support staff include health-care aides, home-care workers, ward clerks, recreation co-ordinators and maintenance and housekeeping employees.
In addition to Shared Health and the WRHA, the last-minute negotiations included Interlake-Eastern RHA, Prairie Mountain Health and Southern Health.
“It is always a good day in Manitoba when workers get a fair deal,” said Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara. “This is a big win for workers. It’s a win for families across this province who count on these workers all across our communities, all across our health-care system.”
Asagwara said the NDP will respect staff and bargain in good faith, in response to a question about where the government will find the money for another public-sector wage increase.
The contract includes 11.25 per cent general wage increases over four years, a one per cent market adjustment this year, and additional flat wage increases for every employee in the second, third and fourth year, which add up to $3 an hour, said Schroeder.
The unions said many workers have been forced to take on extra jobs, because wages under previous deals left them struggling to make ends meet.
Starting rates for health-care aides will rise from $20.09 an hour to $26.45, or by nearly 32 per cent, over the duration of the deal.
Housekeeping aides will start at $23.54, up from $17.07, by the end of the contract.
The first step of the wage scale is being eliminated for classifications that make up 70 per cent of support roles. The contract also includes long service steps at 15 and 25 years.
Other highlights include up to three more paid sick days per year, two paid wellness days per year, and a nearly 50 per cent mileage rate increase for home-care direct service staff.
Holly Chaperon, president of Local 4270 in the Southern Health region, said the increases will be “life-changing” for some staff.
“I’ve personally had a home-care worker say that they were going to quit, and they said that this is going to keep them there and it’s going to change their life for their family,” she said.
Gord Delbridge, president of CUPE Local 500, which represents Riverview Health Centre staff, said every support worker will make at least a living wage.
“This is a standard contract, but after (Progressive) Conservative cuts, zeroes, the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis, this contract is exactly what these members need and deserve,” he said.
Allied health is now the only health-care sector without a new contract, said Jason Linklater, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals.
MAHCP’s 7,000-plus members include rural paramedics, respiratory therapists and lab and diagnostic technologists.
They’ve been without a contract since April 1, along with 1,055 technical professional workers represented by MGEU.
“Our front line has been told to hang on, help is coming, but it’s not happening quickly enough,” said Linklater.
With a shortage of more than 1,000 workers in allied health, retention must be the top priority in a new, competitive contract, he said.
“You can’t plug that huge gap with an expired contract,” said Linklater. “We lost hundreds under the previous government due to contract delays. Manitoba can’t afford to go backwards again.”
— With files from Carol Sanders
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Chris Kitching
Reporter
Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.
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