As of 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 23, unionized staff of the Niverville Heritage Life Personal Care Home (HLPCH) will go on strike.
This news, relayed in the late afternoon hours of April 22, was received by family members and support people to the many residents living at the senior care facility.
The workers taking to the picket lines will include healthcare aides, housekeepers, laundry, and recreational staff.
According to Ron Parent, executive director of the Niverville Heritage Centre, the facility’s management team has been successful in their negotiations with the workers union to date with the exception of one critical snag: the request for a retroactive wage settlement.
Union workers of the HLPCH have been working without a contract since March 31, 2022.
According to Parent, the first notifications to family members were sent out between April 17 and 19.
While he admitted in these messages that the provisions of the bargaining agreement are fair and comparable to other similar workers around the province, the hands of the Heritage Centre administration are tied on this one.
“As a non-profit, community-based personal care home which is part of the Heritage Centre, a social enterprise, we rely heavily on funding from Southern Health-Santé Sud (SHSS) for financial support required to meet the needs of those living within our Home and the community.”
This funding, he adds, comes from Manitoba Health but is governed through a service purchase agreement with SHSS. The current SHSS agreement did not account for retroactive wages or benefits for the workers.
“As a not-for-profit, we do not have the resources to fund retroactive wages and benefits,” Parent continued. “SHSS remains a strong partner in supporting all our needs, which includes completing our negotiations.”
In his earlier communications, Parent indicated optimism that senior leadership at the SHSS might change their minds. If not, he noted that contingency plans were being discussed among the managers and non-union staff members.
The latest update to family members and other stakeholders confirms that despite extensive talks between the Heritage Centre, SHSS, and Manitoba Health, the hoped-for additional funds were not approved.
“Our essential services agreement mandates staffing levels for all three shifts for healthcare aides, housekeepers, laundry workers, and recreation staff,” Parent said. “Other team members who are assigned different roles will be working alongside those team members and other union staff members.”
Parent is welcoming family members who would like to volunteer their time to help fill the gap. In the meantime, he adds that the Heritage Centre will continue to bargain for the unionized workers’ rights.
“We want to provide them with the wages and benefits they deserve but can only do so with the assistance of the province,” Parent said.