Manitoba's looming health-care worker strike 'causing stress' for home-care clients

Gerrie Douglas says she will be taking her showers in her sink if health-care support workers go on strike next Tuesday.

Douglas, 83, says she depends on help from home-care workers to get in and out of her bathtub. She also receives home-care support twice daily to dispense her medication.

"I have macular degeneration, I'm legally blind," Douglas said. "I take a fairly large amount of pills so if they fall on the floor, I can't see…and that's it," Douglas said.

Douglas lives in Villa Cabrini, a 55+ apartment building in Winnipeg's Osborne Village. She says several of her neighbours are 90 and older, and many people in her building receive some type of medical or home assistance from health and home-care support workers.

"We worked all our life and this is a service that's extremely important to us," Douglas said. "We need to be looked after, too."

Home-care critical to dignity

Lindsey Cooke, chief executive officer of Manitoba Possible, a non-profit disability service provider that has been operating across the province for the past 74 years, says many people who use home-care services don't want to rely on their family for care,

Cooke says families describe home care as critical and foundational to the wellbeing, sense of dignity and independence of their loved ones.

Creating contingency plans for that care can cause a huge amount of stress for everyone involved.

"It's a huge source of stress to navigate, even when there isn't a looming threat of a labour disruption," Cooke said.

Cooke says people in the profession are often not paid enough for the service they provide.

"I don't think that it would be controversial to say that these are positions that historically have been undervalued and underpaid" Cooke said. "We need to make sure that we are compensating the people that do this work fairly for the incredibly important work that they do everyday." 

'A frustrating situation'

Health-care workers in Manitoba have some of the lowest wages in the nation — the starting wage for some is $17.07 an hour.

Last week 25,000 health-care support workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union served notice of job action on employer Shared Health, the organization that oversees health-care delivery in the province, set for Oct. 8.

If a strike is called, workers will include health-care aides, laundry workers, dietary aides, ward clerks, recreation co-ordinators and other health-care support staff in hospitals and personal care homes, as well as those in the home-care program.

MGEU's lead negotiator for support services said in an interview last week that a strike would result in a cut of roughly 30 per cent in home-care services, a 25- to 50-per-cent reduction in clerical work, and a five- to 10-per-cent cut in the work of health-care aides.

Kyle Ross, president of the MGEU, said in an interview on Wednesday that Shared Health asked for more time to put another offer together after their last proposal was refused in a union vote.

"Then they returned to the table yesterday with everything that our members already rejected. There was not a penny more," he said on Wednesday.

Shared Health said in a news release that all efforts would be made to minimize service disruptions to clients. However, cancellations and delays or changes to services were possible, and home-care clients are encouraged to contact the health region that provides their services if they have questions or concerns. 

Looming strike 'causing stress' for clients that access homecare

2 months ago

Duration 2:04

Homecare clients are being told to prepare to find help, as health care support workers prepare to go on strike. The deadline for a deal is looming, and if the two sides can't reach an agreement by next Tuesday, 25,000 workers will picket.