Manitoba health-care support staff vote 97% in favour of strike action
Workers want protected benefits, wage bumps, rules around working conditions: CUPE
CBC News · Posted: Aug 25, 2021
A health-care worker holds a patient's hand. Health-care support staff in Manitoba have voted in favour of strike action. (Interstid/Shutterstock)
Health-care support staff from across Manitoba have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action, their union says.
Across Shared Health, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, the Northern Health Region and Southern Health, workers voted 97 per cent in favour of a strike mandate.
Shannon McAteer, health-care co-ordinator for the Canadian Union of Public Employees in Manitoba, said those workers have been without a contract for between four and five years.
Now, they're angry and frustrated.
"They feel that they've been touted as part of the health-care heroes. And now they don't feel like they're certainly being treated that way," McAteer said.
"They're done, quite frankly. They're exhausted. They're frustrated. They want some recognition. They want some acknowledgement of everything that they've gone through."
Health-care workers inducted into Order of the Buffalo Hunt for pandemic efforts
Employees in Shared Health and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority voted 99 per cent in favour of strike action, while those in the Northern Health Region voted 98 per cent in favour, the union said in a news release.
In Southern Health, health-care support staff voted 92 per cent in favour.
Union still 'optimistic'
Voting started Aug. 18 and continued until noon on Wednesday. McAteer said talks at the bargaining table have been slow moving, but she hopes the strike mandate will help speed things along.
"We're optimistic and we're hopeful that the talks will continue ... in a fruitful manner and that we'll get to a collective agreement," she said.
"That's always the goal of any strike mandate is to ... ultimately not to have to go on strike. But if we have to, we will."
McAteer said the union is hoping for protections for benefits and pension plans, wage increases and better rules around safe working conditions — something that came up during the pandemic.
The union also asked for a similar agreement to the one the Manitoba Nurses Union came to with the province, where both parties agreed to go to binding arbitration without job action if bargaining is unsuccessful. McAteer said that request was denied.
Manitoba ICUs could be overwhelmed during 4th wave without more vaccinations, modelling suggests
"They wouldn't give it to us," she said.
"Support workers just want to be treated with the same respect and in the same way that the rest of health care is treated."
Those support workers include health-care aides, clerical staff, biomedical engineers and people working in dietary, laundry, trades and maintenance areas in health care.
More bargaining dates are set to take place in the fall, McAteer said.
With files from Caitlyn Gowriluk
Workers want protected benefits, wage bumps, rules around working conditions: CUPE
CBC News · Posted: Aug 25, 2021
A health-care worker holds a patient's hand. Health-care support staff in Manitoba have voted in favour of strike action. (Interstid/Shutterstock)Health-care support staff from across Manitoba have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action, their union says.
Across Shared Health, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, the Northern Health Region and Southern Health, workers voted 97 per cent in favour of a strike mandate.
Shannon McAteer, health-care co-ordinator for the Canadian Union of Public Employees in Manitoba, said those workers have been without a contract for between four and five years.
Now, they're angry and frustrated.
"They feel that they've been touted as part of the health-care heroes. And now they don't feel like they're certainly being treated that way," McAteer said.
"They're done, quite frankly. They're exhausted. They're frustrated. They want some recognition. They want some acknowledgement of everything that they've gone through."
Health-care workers inducted into Order of the Buffalo Hunt for pandemic efforts
Employees in Shared Health and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority voted 99 per cent in favour of strike action, while those in the Northern Health Region voted 98 per cent in favour, the union said in a news release.
In Southern Health, health-care support staff voted 92 per cent in favour.
Union still 'optimistic'
Voting started Aug. 18 and continued until noon on Wednesday. McAteer said talks at the bargaining table have been slow moving, but she hopes the strike mandate will help speed things along.
"We're optimistic and we're hopeful that the talks will continue ... in a fruitful manner and that we'll get to a collective agreement," she said.
"That's always the goal of any strike mandate is to ... ultimately not to have to go on strike. But if we have to, we will."
McAteer said the union is hoping for protections for benefits and pension plans, wage increases and better rules around safe working conditions — something that came up during the pandemic.
The union also asked for a similar agreement to the one the Manitoba Nurses Union came to with the province, where both parties agreed to go to binding arbitration without job action if bargaining is unsuccessful. McAteer said that request was denied.
Manitoba ICUs could be overwhelmed during 4th wave without more vaccinations, modelling suggests
"They wouldn't give it to us," she said.
"Support workers just want to be treated with the same respect and in the same way that the rest of health care is treated."
Those support workers include health-care aides, clerical staff, biomedical engineers and people working in dietary, laundry, trades and maintenance areas in health care.
More bargaining dates are set to take place in the fall, McAteer said.
With files from Caitlyn Gowriluk
Kayla Rosen
CTVNewsWinnipeg.ca Editorial Producer
Published Thursday, August 26, 2021
WINNIPEG -- Health-care support staff in the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA), Shared Health, Northern Regional Health Authority and Southern Health-Santé Sud have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.
According to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the union that represents the workers, the fact that these workers have been putting their lives at risk during the pandemic is not being recognized at the bargaining table.
“Right now, Manitoba has 18,000 health-care support staff who are exhausted and who feel disrespected by the government, despite being lauded as heroes,” said Debbie Boissonneault, President of CUPE 204, in a news release from Aug. 25.
“This is both an overwhelming mandate, and a scathing review of government’s inability to recognize health-care workers.”
“It’s time for the provincial government to show leadership and recognize the sacrifice that health-care support workers have been making and immediately make settling health-care contracts a priority,” said Christine Lussier, president of CUPE 8600.
CUPE told CTV News Winnipeg they are still at the bargaining table and no strike date has been set. The union said they want the same deal the nurses got but are being offered less.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Shared Health said they are committed to negotiating a fair and long-term collective agreement for Manitoba’s health-care support staff.
“Unlike the status of ongoing negotiations with the Manitoba Nurses Union, the regular health care bargaining pattern means that negotiations with CUPE are still in early stages, with both sides continuing to work diligently through the comprehensive proposals associated with merging more than 100 collective agreements into just eight,” the statement said.
“We look forward to continuing this extensive collaborative work in the days ahead on shared goals that achieve the security of a fair agreement while addressing the needs of all Manitobans who rely on our health care system.
Required essential service agreements are part of the ongoing negotiations to guarantee continue staff coverage and care in any scenario so any operational impacts are minimal.”
Published Thursday, August 26, 2021
WINNIPEG -- Health-care support staff in the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA), Shared Health, Northern Regional Health Authority and Southern Health-Santé Sud have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.
According to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the union that represents the workers, the fact that these workers have been putting their lives at risk during the pandemic is not being recognized at the bargaining table.
“Right now, Manitoba has 18,000 health-care support staff who are exhausted and who feel disrespected by the government, despite being lauded as heroes,” said Debbie Boissonneault, President of CUPE 204, in a news release from Aug. 25.
“This is both an overwhelming mandate, and a scathing review of government’s inability to recognize health-care workers.”
Province-wide CUPE health-care workers voted 97 per cent in favour of a strike. However, when broken down by region the results are:99 per cent of workers in the WRHA and Shared Health, represented by CUPE 204 and CUPE 500, voted in favour of strike action;98 per cent of staff in the Northern Regional Health Authority, represented by CUPE 8600, voted in favour of strike action; and92 per cent of those in Southern Health-Santé Sud, represented by CUPE 4270, voted in favour of strike action.
“It’s time for the provincial government to show leadership and recognize the sacrifice that health-care support workers have been making and immediately make settling health-care contracts a priority,” said Christine Lussier, president of CUPE 8600.
CUPE told CTV News Winnipeg they are still at the bargaining table and no strike date has been set. The union said they want the same deal the nurses got but are being offered less.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Shared Health said they are committed to negotiating a fair and long-term collective agreement for Manitoba’s health-care support staff.
“Unlike the status of ongoing negotiations with the Manitoba Nurses Union, the regular health care bargaining pattern means that negotiations with CUPE are still in early stages, with both sides continuing to work diligently through the comprehensive proposals associated with merging more than 100 collective agreements into just eight,” the statement said.
“We look forward to continuing this extensive collaborative work in the days ahead on shared goals that achieve the security of a fair agreement while addressing the needs of all Manitobans who rely on our health care system.
Required essential service agreements are part of the ongoing negotiations to guarantee continue staff coverage and care in any scenario so any operational impacts are minimal.”
No comments:
Post a Comment