‘You start creating wage discrepancies, and then it’s not a happy work environment’: HSC nurse

Continued mandatory overtime and a growing gap between full- and part-time staff contributed to almost half of Manitoba’s public sector nurses rejecting their latest contract.

Shared Health stands out among the six health regions to reject the contract. However, across Manitoba, 48.77 per cent of nurses voted ‘no’ to the latest four-year agreement.

A 51.23 per cent majority of Manitoba Nurses Union members voted to ratify the contract, the union announced Friday.

“There’s a clear message there to government and employers that healthcare is not good anywhere in this province,” union president Darlene Jackson said Saturday.

She expects to return to the bargaining table next week. If an agreement isn’t reached, Shared Health’s nurses — largely staffing the Health Sciences Centre — will strike.

A strike wouldn’t affect patient care much, Jackson noted. Nurses work under The Essential Services Act, meaning health services continue during a strike, albeit sometimes with fewer staff.

“Because we have such a nursing shortage, we’re probably working close to essential services or even below… right now,” Jackson remarked.

One Shared Health nurse said she declined the proposed contract because she didn’t feel it was inclusive. Nurses spoke to the Free Press on the condition of anonymity.

Beginning next April, there will be an hourly full-time incentive of $5.95 for certain nurse classifications.

“You start creating wage discrepancies, and then it’s not a happy work environment,” the full-time Health Sciences Centre nurse said.

“We’re all working hard, we’re all working under these negative conditions that we read about,” she continued. “Especially here at HSC.”

Another nurse said she couldn’t work full-time with her children.

Some nurses with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority expressed dissatisfaction at a drop in weekend pay premiums.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Progressive Conservative government added a premium for nurses working weekend shifts, to incentivize the unpopular hours, Jackson noted.

The new contract continues the weekend premium, but at a rate of $5.75 per hour, which is lower than the original. It’s still the highest in the country, according to Jackson.

The province also created $6 per hour pandemic-era premiums for emergency room nurses; those rates will be cut in half, ranging from $2 to $4 per hour for emergency room and intensive-care unit nurses.

One nurse commenting online highlighted the premiums were meant to be a pandemic-era incentive; and so, they weren’t upset with the decrease.

The new deal for five of Manitoba’s health regions touts annual general wage increases of 2.5 per cent retroactive to April 1, 2.75 per cent in 2025, and three per cent in years three and four.

Still, with the decrease in premiums, some nurses assume they’ll be making less money than they currently are.

Nurses also bemoaned a lack of change in patient-staff ratios.

“We are not seeing the promised culture change, we’re still seeing a ton of mandated overtime, and I think that we just have… so many issues in healthcare right now that nurses are feeling really disillusioned,” Jackson said.

Shared Health nurses likely voted against the contract believing it wouldn’t bring agency nurses back to the public system, Jackson continued.

Also, the Health Sciences Centre is known for safety concerns, including violence towards staff and problems in the emergency department, Jackson underlined.

“I think they’re sending a very clear message that things need to change,” she said.

“I think they’re sending a very clear message that things need to change”–Darlene Jackson

An arbitrator declared staff at Health Sciences Centre faced an “unacceptable level of risk” in the hospital campus’ outdoor areas last April.

Almost 57 per cent of the nursing union’s members working at Shared Health rejected the proposed contract; 43 per cent accepted.

A Shared Health nurse who didn’t think the potential agreement was inclusive also didn’t feel “that we could do better.”

“Tomorrow’s another day,” Jackson stated. “We’ll go back to the employers and see if we can get back to the bargaining table.”

The new contract — ratified for five of Manitoba’s six health regions — includes pay hikes for working in remote areas and rewards nurses for longer service.

Health spending accounts increase by $500 and $650 for full-time and part-time nurses, respectively. Sick-time accrual increases to 1.5 days per month from 1.25 days per month.

One WRHA nurse said she liked the premiums designated for emergency and intensive care unit nurses — it recognizes the training, acuity and staffing challenges the departments encounter.

Neither Shared Health nor Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara responded to questions by print deadline.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com