Manitoba health-care strike postponed after tentative deal reached in early morning hours

Posted on October 8, 2024 by Peggy

The unions representing around 25,000 health-care support workers across Manitoba say they’re postponing a planned strike after reaching a tentative agreement in the early hours of the day workers were expected to start walking the picket lines.

The agreement was reached at 4:25 a.m. between the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union and employers represented by the Provincial Health Labour Relations Secretariat, the unions said in a news release.

Gina McKay, president of CUPE Manitoba, said the union will soon schedule online information sessions with members to go over the details of the agreement, then offer an electronic ratification vote.

The union has agreed to suspend all job action pending the results of that vote, McKay said.

While the details of the agreement haven’t been shared publicly, McKay said the proposed deal prioritizes wages, better working conditions and staff retention, and “recognizes and respects the important work we do as part of the health-care team.”

“We hope that this can bring people up enough that they don’t have to work two to three jobs and that they can, you know, do the extracurriculars and buy the groceries that they need and ensure that they have housing security,” McKay said.

“And so when we’re recommending the deal, we’re recognizing that this does value and bring workers up.”

The tentative agreement means the workers who were ready to strike this morning will report for their scheduled shifts Tuesday.

Those workers include community and facility support workers at Shared Health Manitoba, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Prairie Mountain Health and the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, and community support workers in the Southern Health region, the release said.

That list also includes workers in Manitoba’s home care program, health-care aides, laundry aides, housekeeping aides, trades, community health centres, dietary aides, ward clerks and recreation co-ordinators at hospitals, health-care centres and personal care homes.