September 24, 2024 | Winnipeg, MB – Staff at the Aboriginal Health & Wellness Centre (AHWC), represented by the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP), have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike mandate after more than two years without a new collective agreement. The last contract expired in April 2022.

More than 50 MAHCP members at AHWC work in 25 specialized health care and social service disciplines including as nurses, counsellors, community health workers, teacher’s assistants and many more. They serve Indigenous patients and clients in more than a dozen program areas, including through a recently launched mobile primary-care clinic. In July 2024, the Manitoba Government announced a partnership with AHWC to establish “Canada’s first Indigenous-led supervised consumption site.”

“The dedicated staff at Aboriginal Health & Wellness Centre have waited too long for a contract that acknowledges their value,” said MAHCP President Jason Linklater. “The next contract must address the huge and growing wage gap between AHWC staff and their public health-care system colleagues. It is already way overdue.”

MAHCP’s Bargaining Committee called for a strike vote last week after nearly a year of negotiations. The strike vote was held from Tuesday to Friday, September 17-20, with 94% voting in favour of a strike mandate. No strike deadline has been set.

The last contract between MAHCP and AHWC, effective 2018-2022, provided Pallister-era wage freezes and meagre annual increases of 0%, 0%, 0.75% and 1%.

“Most wages at AHWC have increased less than 2% since 2018 while inflation has spiked over 20%. Many staff currently earn half or less of what their peers at other hospitals, clinics and agencies are making,” said Linklater. “The overwhelming strike mandate shows they will no longer accept this glaring inequity.”

The majority of funding for AHWC comes from a combination of federal and provincial government sources.

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The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals is a union representing more 7,000 allied health professionals. Our specialized members work in more than 45 professions throughout Manitoba in labs, clinics, hospitals, long-term care and community.
For more information about MAHCP, visit www.mahcp.ca.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – JUNE 26, 2024

TREATY 1, WINNIPEG — Two in three (65%) allied health professionals working in Manitoba’s public health-care system have seriously considered leaving their job in the past year, according to a recent member survey by the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP). This finding is significantly higher than the 54% of health-care workers who said they had been thinking of leaving their job when surveyed by Deloitte during the pandemic. 

“These alarming survey results, fresh from the frontlines, show that systemic challenges persist within Manitoba’s health care system, and the situation is not improving fast enough to provide some relief,” said MAHCP President Jason Linklater. “Our members have been handling growing workloads with dwindling staffing and resources for years, and it is unfortunately not surprising that so many are considering leaving if they don’t get additional resources soon. Manitoba is at risk of losing more specialized health-care professionals.”

The survey of public-sector allied health professionals, conducted in early May 2024, revealed that 28 per cent of those who said they had been thinking about leaving their job are considering leaving health care altogether. The survey also revealed:

• 90% say workload has ‘greatly increased’ (55%) or ‘somewhat increased’ (35%) or compared to five years ago. The main reason: the volume of work has grown, but staffing has not (73%).
• Half (49%) say employee morale is ‘much worse’ and a further 29% say it is ‘somewhat worse’ than five years ago.
• 60% say quality of service is ‘somewhat worse’ (36%) or ‘much worse’ (24%) compared to five years ago.
• When asked for their perspectives on top issues affecting their workplace, respondents said: ‘increased workload’ (61%), ‘unfilled vacancies’ (48%), ‘not feeling valued’ (39%) and ‘low morale’ (38%).
• 79% say they are ‘somewhat valued ‘(41%) or ‘highly valued’ (28%) by their patients, but only 30% say they are ‘somewhat valued’ (23%) or ‘highly valued’ (7%) by their management/employer.
• Only 30% say their employer provides them with sufficient resources to do their job well.
• The two thirds of respondents who are considering leaving their job identified ‘work stress affecting well-being’ (56%), ‘workload’ (48%), ‘do not feel valued/respected’ (47%) and ‘inadequate staffing’ (45%) as the most common reasons.
• 17% are eligible to retire in the next four years.

“Once they’re gone, specialized health-care professionals are not easy to replace,” said Linklater. “The frontline is saying loud and clear that immediate action is needed to retain them.”  

View the report of results.

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The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals is a union representing more than 7,000 allied health professionals in Manitoba’s public health-care system, and the only union in the province dedicated solely to supporting allied health professionals. Our members work in 45 specialized disciplines within prevention, emergency response, assessment & diagnostics, rehabilitation & recovery, and they are critical members of multi-disciplinary teams in hospital and labs, clinics, long-term care and community settings. www.mahcp.ca

For all media requests/interviews:

Karen Viveiros, Communications
431-323-7499

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These initiatives are important, but more dedicated investment and attention is needed in the short-term to fill vacancies and staff up in key areas to bring down wait times and make sure care is accessible. As of today, Manitoba is still burning out allied health professionals due to chronic understaffing and excessive workload and overtime. We are hopeful that the funding increases we heard about today can start to change that.

MAHCP still wants to see a comprehensive human resource plan to address the ongoing staffing crisis in allied health, including:

• Targeted retention and recruitment incentives for specialized, high-demand areas including respiratory therapy, rural diagnostics and paramedics;
• Targeted training initiatives and incentives to ensure we fill current seats and expand where needed to meet growing demand for specialized allied health professionals
• Competitive wages and benefit

Read MAHCP’s complete pre-budget recommendations.

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WHO: Jason Linklater, President, MAHCP

PRE-BUDGET STATEMENT: “Understaffed allied health professionals are struggling to provide care to Manitobans, and that daily struggle is reflected in rising wait times and in heart-wrenching patient testimonials. We have heard the promises that help is coming. The frontline is holding on, but this budget needs to show them that those promises are real. Specialized allied health professionals need to see commitments to train and hire additional staff, and targeted retention incentives to keep the people we have. Investments in healthcare must be the primary focus of this budget, if we want to build a strong, sustainable public health care system that will be there for all Manitobans when they need it.“

Read MAHCP’s Pre-Budget Submission: Budget submission Feb 2024 (mahcp.ca)

Our three key recommendations:

1. Focus on critical retention & recruitment initiatives.
2. Deliver much-needed improvements to health-care employee benefits and supports to bolster staff resilience and boost Manitoba’s competitiveness.
3. Expand training for high-demand allied health professions, including more accessible opportunities and incentives for rural and Northern Manitobans.

For more information or to arrange an interview with Jason Linklater:

Karen Viveiros, Communications Officer
e: karenv@mahcp.ca or cell 431-323-7499

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Read the media release.

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Remaining staff desperately trying to maintain service but reaching breaking point

January 15, 2024 – Treaty 1, Winnipeg – The Thompson General Hospital (TGH) lab, essential to health care services in the Northern Health Region (NHA), is at risk of collapse following years of chronic understaffing and the December 2023 departure of a technologist. The lab continues to operate 24/7 despite being down to just two medical laboratory technologists, putting patients and staff at risk.

According to the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP), the union representing 7,000 specialized health professionals across 44 professions, lab technologists are in high demand. Shared Health has not taken sufficient steps to recruit and retain diagnostics professionals in the North, despite the deteriorating situation in Thompson.

“We are burning out our lab technologists with unsustainable overtime and overwork caused by not filling critical vacancies. Meanwhile, other jurisdictions are outcompeting us when it comes to recruitment and retention incentives,” said Jason Linklater, President, MAHCP. “Saskatchewan is offering lab technologists a $40,000 incentive, yet Manitoba is still not doing anything to address grave deficiencies in staffing and working conditions to ensure we retain these professionals.”

MAHCP confirmed that technologists were not available to perform urgent tests on two emergency room patients, after working several days in a row without adequate time to rest. Lab technologists perform vital diagnostic tests used in emergency patient care to assess life-threatening conditions such as cardiac failure, renal failure, pregnancy complications, internal injuries caused by accidents, and more.

“The reality is that Thompson General Hospital lab has only been able to continue operating because of the superhuman efforts of two remaining technologists. Imagine performing intensive work that requires accuracy and attention to detail with one hour of sleep over the course of 48 hours? The current staffing situation is unsustainable.”

In November 2020, the lab’s seven technologists flagged the seriousness of the crisis in a letter to WRHA leadership. Then, in April 2023, MAHCP launched a campaign with the goal to secure much-needed staffing resources for the team, which was down to just three technologists.

“MAHCP is once asking again for Shared Health and government to take action. We can’t afford to lose any more technologists.”

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The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals is a union representing more than 7,000 allied health professionals working in 40+ professions across Manitoba. For more information on MAHCP, visit www.mahcp.ca

For media/interview requests:
Karen Viveiros (she/her), Communications Officer
karen@mahcp.ca | 431-323-7499

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