Union representation votes triggered by the provincial government’s Health Sector Bargaining Unit Review Act (HSBURA) resulted in significant change for health care workers in Manitoba.
CUPE is proud that health care workers in the Southern Health – Santé Sud Community Support and Facility Support votes, including Villa Youville, and Home Care and Community Programs, chose CUPE to lead them into bargaining.
“CUPE is ready to fight for our members at the bargaining table, and represent them in the workplace,” said Darrin Cook, President of CUPE Local 4270. “With the representation votes concluded, CUPE is turning our efforts to welcoming our new members to CUPE, and getting to the bargaining table for everyone”.
CUPE will now represent approximately 3,000 members in Southern Health – Santé Sud, welcoming approximately 1,000 new members.
The voting period ran from August 8th to August 22nd. The results were released by Robert Pruden, the Commissioner appointed by the provincial government to implement and oversee the votes.
CUPE thanks all participating unions, including the MGEU, MNU, MAHCP, PSAC, OEM 987, UFCW 832 and others, and is committed to working together to fight back against health care cuts and privatization, as well as any attempts made by the government to undermine workers’ rights in Manitoba.
The Health Sector Bargaining Unit Review Act aims to reduce the number of collective agreements in health care. As a result, union representation votes were triggered.
Voting sectors CUPE participated in across Manitoba included Facility Support, Community Support, Professional Technical, and Nurses.
CUPE now represents over 35,000 workers in Manitoba, becoming Manitoba’s largest union.