Bargaining

Health Care Workers at Ten Ten Sinclair Set Strike Date

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WINNIPEG – Approximately 160 health care workers at Ten Ten Sinclair Inc. have set a strike date of March 6, 2024, calling on the independent living organization to offer front-line staff fair wages.

“Health care support staff at Ten Ten Sinclair have been working tirelessly to support our community, but are being treated like they don’t matter,” said Gina McKay, President of CUPE Manitoba. “These workers provide front-line health care to persons living with disabilities, with mental health challenges, and others in our community who need the support, and they deserve to be treated fairly”.

Staff at Ten Ten Sinclair were subject to the previous government’s wage freeze, and with the rising cost of living these workers are being left far behind other health care workers.

“All the staff at Ten Ten Sinclair want is to be recognized for the work they do every day, including throughout the pandemic,” said McKay. “No health care worker should be left behind”.

CUPE Locals 4376 and 2348 are preparing for strike action and are planning information pickets outside the main facility at 1010 Sinclair Ave in the coming weeks.

“We don’t want a strike to happen, but at the end of the day these CUPE members are standing up for what’s right: fairness for health care support workers,” said McKay. “It’s time to care for the workers who provide care, and we are calling on Ten Ten Sinclair and the government to support these critical front-line health workers”.

Ten Ten Sinclair Inc. is a non-profit organization that receives funding from the WRHA.

Workers Compensation Board staff issue strike deadline

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Staff at the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba (WCB) have provided the WCB with five working days’ notice that unless the WCB offers a fair deal, they will officially be on strike.

“Staff at the WCB have been without a new contract for over two years,” said Bob Sawchyn, President of CUPE Local 1063 representing approximately 450 staff at the WCB. “It is unacceptable that our employer continues to drag its feet and refuses to offer a fair deal that works for workers–we have reached an impasse at the table and are now in a strike position.”

Strike action will begin on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, unless the employer returns to the table with a deal that is acceptable to workers.

The Workers Compensation Board is an arms-length independent agency of the provincial government and has achieved year-end surpluses in recent years that have resulted in over $277 million in refunds back to employers. Yet the staff, who were subjected to the Pallister/Stefanson wage freeze in the last round of negotiations cannot accept another deal that leaves them behind.

“The hardworking staff at the WCB have helped achieve surpluses year after year, and continue to focus diligently to help Manitoba workers,” emphasized Sawchyn. “Never in our over fifty-year history with the WCB has CUPE ever had to commence strike action, but we are ready because all workers deserve better.”

CUPE 1063 provided a five-day strike notice on Monday, March 13. Strike action will include WCB staff in Winnipeg, Brandon, and Thompson.

In Manitoba, CUPE represents approximately 37,000 members working in health care facilities, personal care homes, home care, school divisions, municipal services, social services, child care centres, public utilities, libraries, and family emergency services.

CUPE Manitoba applauds Ontario education workers’ win against Ford government’s attack on rights

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CUPE Manitoba is sending the support of its 37,000 members to education workers in Ontario, who are returning to the bargaining table after the Conservative government stripped away their right to free collective bargaining, forcing them to walk off the job and hold political protests.

In a vote held last month, the 55,000 Ontario education workers voted 96.5% in favour of a strike mandate, and served strike notice. In response, the Conservative government of Doug Ford passed legislation to prevent a strike, making job action illegal and imposing a contract on workers. CUPE members in Ontario rejected this legislation, withdrew their services, and after two days of protests forced the government to withdraw its legislation.

“Through its use of the Notwithstanding Clause, the Conservative government of Ontario attempted to destroy the legal right of workers to strike and collectively bargain,” said Gina McKay, President of CUPE Manitoba.

“This was a historic attack on the democratic rights of Canadian citizens and must be opposed by Premiers from coast to coast to coast so it is never used again”.

The Ford government’s legislation invoked the Notwithstanding Clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a seldom-used provision designed for situations of competing rights or national emergencies, to pre-emptively deny workers their fundamental rights.

“This was a radical attempt at union-busting that strikes at the core of our democracy, and CUPE members said enough is enough, and won” said McKay.

“CUPE Manitoba condemns the actions of the Ford Conservatives and we call on Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson to commit that she will never interfere with collective bargaining”.

CUPE Manitoba will continue to provide support to CUPE Ontario members as they return to the negotiating table.

 

CUPE Manitoba: Solidarity with Ontario Education Workers

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Today, the Ford Conservative government of Ontario took an unprecedented step in forcing back to work legislation on education workers, violating workers’ constitutional rights to bargain fairly, and keeping many workers in poverty, instead of continuing with negotiations.

As workers and allies in Ontario go out on political protest tomorrow, CUPE Manitoba invites you to participate in online solidarity and action:

Hashtags: #IStandWithCUPE #MbPoli #OnPoli #DontBeABully

Health Care Update re: Retro Pay (former employees)

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Former employees are entitled to receive any applicable retroactive pay provided they request the retroactive pay from their former Employer in writing no later than ninety (90) days after the ratification date, September 23, 2022.

As part of the written request submitted the employee MUST include the following:

  • Email Subject line must state “Retro Request for (employee name) terminated employee(CUPE)”
  • Date of retirement/resignation
  • Name of the Employer that the employee is requesting retro payment from
  • Employee’s current mailing address
  • Direct deposit information, if it has changed since you were last employed

Employer Organization Contact

Northern
All sites – email Payroll – payroll@nrha.ca

Southern Health
All sites – email Payroll at Payrollsupport@southernhealth.ca

Shared Health
All sites on SAP – email RetroRequest@wrha.mb.ca

CancerCare Manitoba – email ccmbpayroll@cancercare.mb.ca

Rehabilitation Centre for Children – email kizzyp@rccinc.ca

Eden Mental Health Centre – email jfehr3@edenhealth.mb.ca

Winnipeg/Churchill     
All sites on SAP – email RetroRequest@wrha.mb.ca

CUPE Health Care Support Staff Ratify Seven-Year Deal

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Update for CUPE health care support members

CUPE Health Care Support Staff from CUPE 204/Shared Health and Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA), CUPE 500/WRHA – Riverview Health Centre and WRHA Corporate, CUPE 4270/ Southern Health-Santé Sud (SH-SS) and CUPE 8600/Northern Regional Health Authority (NRHA) have voted to accept the new collective agreement.

The ratification date is September 23, 2022.  The collective agreement will expire on March 31, 2024.

The new agreement includes wage increases in each year of the agreement including retroactive pay, a signing bonus for all members, an increase in shift premiums, improvements for the Community Programs/Home Care groups, a more flexible “single-day” vacation system for all members, double overtime and market adjustments.

“This was an incredibly difficult round of negotiations due to government interference, attempted wage freeze, disruptive restructuring, forced union amalgamations, and the pandemic” said Shannon McAteer, CUPE Health Care Coordinator.  “Despite these challenges, this new agreement sets a solid foundation for the next round of negotiations.”

The employer has 120 days within which to issue retroactive pay and the signing bonus. It will be issued on a separate pay deposit.  Former employees (retired or quit) have 90 days to write to the employer requesting retroactive pay they are owed following the rules posted on the Local’s website.

“We thank all CUPE members who took the time to vote either electronically or in person and are committed to continue to improve your contract,” said McAteer. “We will continue to hold the provincial government accountable and push back against any attacks on our public health care system and the workers who support it”.

Throughout negotiations, health care support staff have felt extremely disrespected by the current government–and continue to feel undervalued. Many members told us they voted not because they liked the deal, but because they couldn’t wait any longer.

In solidarity,
Your Bargaining Council

 

CUPE reaches tentative agreement for Manitoba health care support workers

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Late last night (Monday, August 29, 2022) the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) health care bargaining team and the Provincial Health Labour Relations Services (PHLRS) reached a tentative agreement after twenty-one months of bargaining, for 18,000 health care support workers in Manitoba.

The CUPE bargaining team includes representatives from CUPE 204 (Shared Health, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority), CUPE 4270 (Southern Health-Santé Sud), CUPE 8600 (Northern Regional Health Authority), and CUPE 500 (Riverview Health Centre/WRHA).

A tentative agreement is when both parties agree that the proposed contract can be presented to workers for a vote on whether to accept or reject the new agreement.

The CUPE bargaining team will be recommending acceptance of the new agreement.

Please take time to review the highlight document.  A full ratification document will be available prior to the ratification.

Ratification (voting) will occur in the coming weeks.  Details on when these votes will take place will be shared in the next few days.  There will be many information sessions for CUPE members to ask questions about the tentative agreement, held in-person as well as virtually.

Members are encouraged to ensure their personal contact information is up to date.  We want to make sure all CUPE members have the opportunity to ask questions at the info sessions before the voting takes place.

We thank the CUPE health care bargaining team for their steadfast dedication to members through an incredibly difficult round of negotiations, including throughout the pandemic.

We also thank all CUPE members for their patience, support, and encouragement over the past five years, and for giving CUPE the strike mandate needed to keep the pressure on government.

Your support has helped push the government towards a deal that is acceptable, and which lays a stronger foundation for the next round of bargaining.

Tentative agreement highlights document (pdf)

Health Care Bargaining Update, August 5, 2022

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CUPE continues to negotiate your collective agreement with the goal of leaving no health care worker behind.

Your negotiating team continues to meet with the mediator, Arne Peltz, including on July 28th and 29th as well as August 3rd and 4th in the evenings.  Mediation will continue August 10th, 29th and 30th.  We will most likely get additional dates between August 10th and the 29th.

On August 3rd, CUPE tabled all our remaining proposals.  The Employer is working on a comprehensive response for next week.  We are seeing some movement at the bargaining table on our issues, so we are working hard to continue fighting for improvements to the collective agreement.

We have made great progress on more monetary proposals such as shift premiums, shoe allowance, and uniforms, as well as numerous letters of understanding.

Outstanding issues are vacation, training and education, how STAT days will be taken, sick time for pick-up shifts, and letters of understanding around hours of work.  There are a few monetary items still outstanding as well, such as northern isolation/retention allowance, benefits/pensions for community groups, responsibility pay, and wages.  The remaining language proposals are important and will affect your day-to-day job, so we are fighting for these improvements.

CUPE has also requested market adjustments for several classifications.  A market adjustment is adjusting the salary scale to match other similar jobs in the province.  Most often the need for an adjustment comes from not being able to hire and retain employees.  CUPE and the MGEU are discussing forming a multi-union table to discuss the market adjustments with the Employer.

MGEU has reached a tentative agreement in Prairie Mountain and the Interlake regions.  The reason they reached an agreement before our table is because they simply did not have as many collective agreements to merge.  With so many groups in CUPE we want to make sure none of them are left behind. That is why our table is taking longer.  The Bargaining Council is fighting very hard to get a good collective agreement that addresses all members concerns including the general wage increase.

Please make sure we have your most recent contact information, including cell phone number and personal email.  We do not use work contact information to reach you for union business.