Health care workers at Ten Ten Sinclair in Winnipeg, have voted 97% to accept a new deal after four years without a new contract.
“Front-line health care support workers at Ten Ten Sinclair stood up and demanded fair wage increases and won,” said Gina McKay, president of CUPE Manitoba. “After over two weeks on strike, these workers have achieved significant gains, and are heading back to work to care for the people they love”.
The new contract includes general wage increases, wage adjustments, an additional pay step, a long-service premium, double overtime rates, and significantly increased shift premiums. Workers will be receiving significant retro-pay and a signing bonus.
During the term of the contract, the top rate for a trained health care aide will increase from $18.06/hour to $22.54/hour, an improvement of $4.48. All health care workers will receive a minimum cumulative wage increase of over 20% by 2025.
When you include the value of the long-service step and shift premiums, long-serving health care aides will see their compensation increase by over 30% during the six-year agreement.
The new agreement also includes a Memorandum of Understanding to continue discussions between CUPE, Ten Ten Sinclair, and the WRHA on the facilities status in the WRHA. CUPE will continue to advocate that Ten Ten Sinclair be recognized as a health care site that is covered under both health care essential services and WRHA “central table” health care bargaining.
“The strike at Ten Ten Sinclair really highlighted the value of front-line health care support workers, and the diverse needs of Manitobans in the health care system,” says McKay.
“We are inspired by the courage of these workers in stepping up and fighting for the benefit of all health care workers and the Manitobans they care for, and we are grateful for the tenants of Ten Ten Sinclair and the public for their support”.
CUPE will work with Ten Ten Sinclair on facilitating workers schedules to return to work. The strike is officially over.