Province behind on nursing staff-retention payments: union

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This article was published 24/08/2023 (837 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Many nurses still haven’t received retention payments to entice them back to full-time work, their union says.

A bonus of up to $10,000 over two years was promised to nurses who delayed retirement and those who returned to the workplace after retiring or resigning, to work in a full-time position as of Dec. 1, 2022.

Only 168 nurses who work for Shared Health and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority had received their payments as of Wednesday, based on completed return-of-service agreements filled out by employees, Shared Health stated.

“Information for other regions is not immediately available. Employees who have applied for the benefit and have not received payment should speak with their manager,” a Shared Health spokesperson stated.

Under its health human resources plan, the provincial government announced the incentive in November 2022. The first payments of $5,000 were to be paid within six months of the start of employment, with the remaining $5,000 to be paid after 18 months of employment, as per the employer’s memorandum of understanding with the Manitoba Nurses Union.

The agreement set Dec. 1, 2022 as the earliest date that could be deemed the start of employment, meaning nurses who’ve been working since then could be paid as early as June 1.

The Manitoba Nurses Union said it doesn’t know how many nurses still haven’t been paid.

“We don’t have (as we were never told) the total number of nurses who were eligible. However, for the nurses that did qualify, many would have been eligible to have received the payment on or about June 1,” union president Darlene Jackson said in an emailed statement.

“Numerous notifications were made by (the union) to Shared Health and those responsible were providing labour relations advice to the various regions in regard to the clear commitment as to the timing of the payment.

“We were repeatedly told that it was ‘being (worked on,)’ but continued to hear from our members that payments were not made. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until MNU began filing grievances that the payments began.”

A Shared Health spokesperson said the number of nurses who are eligible for the incentive is unavailable.

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com