Health support staff demand contract

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This article was published 02/06/2022 (840 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Demoralized and frustrated after five years without a contract, health support staff took to the streets to send a message to their employer: it’s time to respect us.

About 50 of them set up an information picket outside the St. Boniface Hospital Friday to demand the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority hammer out a new contract.

“It’s frustrating, especially with the cost of living increasing,” said one worker as drivers on Tache Avenue who passed by honked in support.

The members of CUPE 204 often do the work that keep hospitals and equipment running.

President Debbie Boissonneault said the provincial government, which funds health care, undervalues their work.

“People can’t have ultrasounds if the equipment isn’t running,” she told the Free Press. “These are people who are very valuable in the buildings, and they need to be valued by the employer.”

CUPE 204 has been at the bargaining table for a year and a half. It’s been five years since support workers have had a raise.

“It’s actually kind of scary, it’s scary that minimum wage is getting close to what we make. We went to school for this,” said the worker.

The workers have voted 99 per cent in favour of strike action.

A common sentiment amongst protesters was the feeling of being cast aside as nurses achieved a collective agreement late last year. Support workers have been without a contract for longer than nurses were, she said, and haven’t received the same support despite working through the pandemic.

“We’re tired of being the forgotten health-care heroes. We’re just as important as nurses. Throughout this whole pandemic, it’s been thank-you to the nurses and doctors, but there’s no recognition for us,” she said.

A clerical worker said she’s been a health care support worker for 30 years.

“We want a fair deal now. No more waiting, we’re tired of waiting,” she said.

CUPE leadership asked the Free Press to refrain from printing the workers’ names, saying staff could “actually be in trouble for talking to media.”

Boissonneault said bargaining is held one day a week, and it’s not nearly enough. They’re looking for parity with what nurses received in their collective agreement – 9.6 per cent in annual wage increases.

“These are the support workers who work side by side with nurses and doctors and (technicians),” she said. “They deserve the same value at the table. They can’t do their jobs without them.”

However, a spokesperson for Shared Health said Friday both sides met multiple times the previous week, with further meeting dates already scheduled by the mediator.

“For both CUPE and MGEU members, we have every expectation that, like nurses under the MNU agreement, all support staff will secure fair compensation with significant retroactive pay,” the spokesperson said in an email.

NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara has raised the concerns of CUPE 204 members in question period, while Tory ministers have responded by saying government won’t interfere with collective bargaining.

However, Asagwara, who attended Friday’s protest, said the government was quick to freeze wages and get involved in bargaining through the now defunct Public Services Sustainability Act.

“This government needs to openly, publicly express to these workers that they will do whatever is necessary within their power to ensure that they get COVID top-up, that they get a fair contract.”

CUPE represents 19,000 health care support workers in Manitoba. The union said more informational pickets are planned.

— With files from Danielle Da Silva

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca