CUPE, Manitoba’s largest labour union says while the 2026 Manitoba budget hit the target, it’s still far from a bullseye.
A glaring omission from the budget is the continued refusal to legislate staffing levels for health care
support workers in personal care homes.
“One nurse to fifty patients is unacceptable, but nurses aren’t working alone; health care aides and dietary aides are doing hands-on patient care every single day and are consistently working short-staffed,” said Margaret Schroeder, President of CUPE 204.
“Health care is a team effort, and if you want to truly strengthen the bench you need to include the support staff in the lineup too.”
CUPE is pleased to see new mental health support for HSC, but we are concerned there is no plan to reduce private agencies or end mandatory overtime for support workers.
CUPE was also hoping to see real improvements for frontline education support workers, like Education Assistants.
“For far too many people working in our K-12 school system, retirement security remains a pipe dream,” said Gina McKay, President of CUPE Manitoba. “If we want to recruit more staff for our schools and make
these jobs a career, then being the only support staff in Canada without a real pension makes it a lot harder.”
This challenge is even greater for school staff in rural Manitoba, and this budget does little to bring equity between workers in Winnipeg and those outside the perimeter. “For too long, rural school divisions have paid staff up to 30 percent less than in urban divisions,” said McKay. “With teacher salaries now standardized, it’s time for the inequity to end for support staff as well.”
The budget does include some excellent movement for child care, including a promised 2,000 new spots and increase to child care wages.