Manitoba health support staff vote to strike

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This article was published 25/08/2021 (1565 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Health-care support staff have voted 97 per cent in favour of strike action.

“We’re happy with the results,” said Shannon McAteer, health-care co-ordinator at CUPE, which represents about 18,000 workers in Manitoba. “We hope it shows the government that the support workers are feeling frustrated and angry.”

The turnout for the vote was “really high,” she said.

The union expected such a result after 18 months of the pandemic in which staff complained about working conditions, said McAteer.

“They want the government to hear them,” she said.

The results parallel the Manitoba Nurses Union strike vote in early June, in which 98 per cent of nurses voted in favour of job action.

That yielded the desired outcome later that month, when the province and the nurses union came to an agreement to have the dispute settled through binding arbitration without strike action first. Under Manitoba labour laws, unions must strike for 60 days before they can push for arbitration.

McAteer said last week the nurses strike vote inspired health-care support staff to push for equal treatment, saying her staff want the province to recognize “they are a part of the health-care team.”

Health-care support staff are responsible for many tasks, including patient care, data entry, logging physicians’ notes, janitorial services and laundry. If the province and the union can’t reach an agreement and union members take job action, support staff will still have to complete essential duties as required by the Essential Service Act.

“They are committed to the care of their residents, patients, clients,” said McAteer. “No one’s care will be affected if we have to go on strike.”

However, union members would cease to do all non-essential work and would set up picket lines.

McAteer said she hopes the high strike mandate will prompt the province to negotiate a fair collective agreement.

NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara issued a statement after the vote.

“Instead of treating health-care workers with respect, the PCs forced an unconstitutional wage freeze on them and left them without contracts for years. It’s time for the PC government to recognize the value of their labour and give them the fair deal they deserve,” Asagwara said.

cody.sellar@freepress.mb.ca