The response from the membership was overwhelming: A significant majority of approximately 800 eligible voting members turned out. When all the ballots were tallied late last night, 98% supported strike action.
With such a substantial strike mandate from the membership, the Local 220 Bargaining Committee is hopeful that negotiations resume on January 30 (the next scheduled bargaining session) and the WRHA’s representatives are prepared to remove their concessionary proposals.
MGEU Local 220 encompasses a wide range of job classifications–ranging from Case Coordinators, Resource Coordinators and Scheduling Clerks to Dieticians, Audiologists, Nurses, Clinicians and administrative staff. Working in the Home Care program, Community Mental Health, Access Centres and QuickCare Clinics, these workers are vital to Manitoba’s health care system–preventing hallway medicine by ensuring patients receive timely, appropriate care in the community.
Workload remains a significant issue for these professionals, particularly since the WRHA has added programs, responsibilities and patients without a proportional increase in staffing. The union has become increasingly worried about the stress placed on members, as workers are expected to continue to maintain services with fewer resources available.
Other workplace issues, such as the WRHA’s increasing practice of vacation blackout periods and ongoing payroll problems, have added to the frustration. So, when the employer’s representatives began negotiations in December by presenting a long list of contract claw backs and insisted on moving all employees over to a seven-day work schedule, the Local 220 Bargaining Committee knew members would not support their proposals. Yesterday’s strike vote result reaffirms that fact.
The Bargaining Committee’s next step is to sit down with the employer to negotiate an essential services agreement to be enacted in the event of a strike.
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