Paid sick leave left out of Manitoba’s healthcare promises

As Premier Heather Stefanson delivered her first throne speech Tuesday, the new premier made many promises to improve the healthcare system, but one important issue was non-existent.

There was no mention of paid sick leave.

It’s an issue that has been brought up time and time again, yet no concrete action has been made. Still, workers in industries like the hospitality sector, still don’t have paid sick days.

“I think it’s an inevitable change and it will happen across the country,” said Kevin Rebeck, president of Manitoba Federation of Labour.

“Far too many people, if they take the time unpaid, can’t make ends meet. They live paycheque to paycheque and they must choose to pay rent or get groceries for my family or what does it do. That’s not right and it’s not fair.”

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Under former Premier Brian Pallister, the PCs implemented The Manitoba Pandemic Sick Leave program in May, which offered employers five full days of COVID-19 related sick leave.

But as of October 23, that program is no longer exists and Gavin McGarrigle, Western regional director for UNIFOR says Heather Stefanson is no different than Pallister.

“If this government really wants to connect with working people, they should step up, reach out to the federal government. They did mention something, like that in the throne speech, so they should sit down and talk about how they can get 10 paid sick days to Manitoba workers as soon as possible to get us out of the pandemic and to make us safer going forward,” explained McGarrigle.

On Wednesday, the B.C. government announced a permanent five-day paid sick leave for workers in that province. Manitoba NDP Labour Critic Tom Lindsey hopes this announcement is a wake-up call for this current provincial government.

“It’s something that we have been pushing for, something that labour has been pushing for. It needs to be more than five days, but I guess that’s a good start. We need to have paid sick leave during a pandemic and even after the pandemic, we still need paid sick leave,” stressed Lindsey.

CityNews reached out to Finance Minister Scott Fielding about paid sick leave.

“We supported Manitobans by introducing the Manitoba Pandemic Sick Leave program when it was needed most. The program was to fill gaps that exist between the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit and provincial employment standards for paid sick leave,” responded a provincial spokesperson.

However, Rebeck says he just wants to see change.

“I hope this government can recognize that, be a leader and step up and do something meaningful that will really make lives for Manitobans better.”