A tentative four-year contract for thousands of health-care aides in Manitoba would raise their wages from rock bottom to fourth-highest in Canada.
The contract is for 25,000 health support workers, including aides, who are represented by either the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union or the Canadian Union of Public Employees of Manitoba, who are employed by Shared Health, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Interlake-Eastern RHA, Prairie Mountain Health and Southern Health.
By September 2026, the unions say health-care aides would be the sixth highest-paid in Canada. In 2027, they would rise to fourth place, with only Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia workers earning more.
If the contract is ratified, all workers are set to receive increases of 2.5 per cent in the first year, 2.75 per cent in the second year, and three per cent in each of the final two years.
In addition, roughly 75 per cent of workers — employed in areas where vacancies are tough to fill — will get an extra 50 cents per hour in both 2025 and 2026 and $2 more in 2027. This includes health care aides, unit clerks, ward clerks and maintenance helpers.
The other 25 per cent will receive wage adjustments of 45 cents per hour in both 2025 and 2026 and $1.75 per hour in 2027. These positions include staffing clerks, activity aides, fourth class engineers, power engineer second class, and cooks.
MGEU president Kyle Ross said they know it’s unfair to have workers receive different wage increases, but the employers insisted on it.
“It’s unfortunate the employer chose to divide this group,” said Ross. “Part of it is trying to get people through the doors to choose health care.
“We tried to get this for everybody. Even though it is 35 cents, it creates division.”
Ross said he knows some workers are upset the contract has lower increases at the start and larger ones near the end because they have been hit by inflation.
The employer wouldn’t budge on flipping it around.
“This is the best we could do with what we were given,” he said. “This is a good deal.”
The union released figures that show by the end of the contract, health-care aides and home care attendants will have received a 26.2 per cent wage hike, housekeeping and dietary aide workers will have had a 28.1 per cent increase, and staffing clerks will earn 23.9 per cent more than they do now.
The agreement was reached 90 minutes before the workers were poised to walk off the job Oct. 8, which would have caused disruptions at hospitals, care homes, and the provincial home care program.
Shared Health would not comment on the deal, but issued a statement that said “health system employers were pleased to reach a tentative agreement with staff represented by CUPE and MGEU. We will defer comment… out of respect for the ongoing ratification process.”
The contract, if approved on Oct. 18, will run from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2028.
Gage Haubrich, prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said he hopes the provincial government knows how it is going to pay for the wage increases.
“It’s obviously going to be a lot of money, which the government is committing to spend, when it is already in deficit,” said Haubrich.
“Paying people is already the government’s biggest expense, it is almost half the budget. So, if the government is going forward with this deal (and) it is going to be ratified, they need to find a way to pay for that that doesn’t mean more debt for taxpayers or tax hikes.”
The Progressive Conservative party declined to comment on the tentative contract.
Manitoba Liberal Party interim leader Cindy Lamoureux said she’s glad a tentative agreement was reached, but fears it “does not adequately consider the cost of living, especially considering the increases being spread out over four years.”
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Kevin Rollason
Reporter
Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.
Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.