Healthcare workers at Ten Ten Sinclair on the picket line as of Wednesday morning

Healthcare workers at an independent living facility in Winnipeg hit the picket line calling for an increase in wages. 160 healthcare workers are on the picket line, calling for fair wages and more support for the workers at Ten Ten Sinclair.

“The negotiations have been ongoing. We came to a point yesterday where, a strike vote was taken a number of weeks ago, in hopes that we could get to a fair deal with the employer, the WRHA, and we weren’t able to reach it. We served notice just last night, 12:01 a.m.,” explained Gina McKay, president of CUPE Manitoba.

“We’re calling on the WRHA to bring a fair deal to these workers. They’ve been underpaid for eight years during some of the toughest times in Manitoba,” said McKay.

McKay, says healthcare aids, workers, and supervisors striking as of Wednesday morning. McKay says the rising cost of living has increased, so wages need to increase, too.

“These workers have gone over eight years with just only, just under 2 per cent [of wage increases]. The wages need to come up.”

McKay says the employees, who all work at Ten Ten Sinclair — a non-profit organization which also serves people with disabilities — are being paid less than other healthcare workers across the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

“Everything wrong in health care in Manitoba is manifesting itself at Ten Ten Sinclair: rather than paying
experienced workers a fair wage that helps with recruitment and retention, we are seeing health care
workers forced out on strike and replaced by private agency workers,” said McKay.

“It’s been too long. They’ve been left. The previous government, with cuts in services to health care, led us here. We have workers that need a fair deal.”

“We know that the past two terms of the previous PC government had a massive impact on healthcare in Manitoba. They cut healthcare for over 7 and a half years. They disrespected healthcare workers and they created chaos in the healthcare system that our government is working each and every day to repair and to work with healthcare workers to make things better in healthcare across the province,” said Uzoma Asagwara, Manitoba Minister for Health.

Asagwara says their main priority is making sure residents at Ten Ten Sinclair continue to get the care they need.

“This is a dispute between the employer, which is Ten Ten Sinclair, and the Union. So I’m very hopeful that they will come to a resolution on this issue very quickly to the benefit of the residents,” said Asagwara.

“It is so important that the employer and the union sort this out as quickly as possible for the benefit of the residents who depend on consistent, quality care. I have been advised that the WRHA is making sure that if there are steps they need to take to ensure that residents receive quality and ongoing care, they’re going to make sure that’s the case. The residents being taken care of is a top priority.”

Meanwhile, the WRHA says it hopes an agreement will be reached soon between CUPE Manitoba and Ten Ten Sinclair, however it has no role in bargaining with the union.

“Once an agreement is reached, the Winnipeg Health Region will work with Ten Ten Sinclair leadership to understand their financial commitment, what is required to provide the services they are contracted for, and what their management plan is to operate sustainably.

“What is most important to us right now is that the clients of Ten Ten Sinclair are being cared for. Winnipeg Health Region community leadership has been onsite at Ten Ten Sinclair today and is working closely with their leadership to ensure they continue to provide the level of safe care needed for their clients during this time. This includes actively identifying Winnipeg Health Region staff who have the appropriate training to fill shifts for Ten Ten Sinclair wherever possible,” it said.