CUPE Health Care Bargaining Update #22

HEALTH CARE BARGAINING UPDATE #22

No health care worker left behind

February 15, 2024

 

The Market Adjustment and Wage Standardization Committee (MAWS) continues to work on the market adjustments.  The MAWS have reached an agreement on three classifications. This includes standardizing the Health Care Aide classifications, both certified and uncertified, as well as the Home Support Worker classification.  The Committee continues to work on the remaining classifications on the MAWS agreed to list. The next batch that will be paid should include Prosthetic/Orthotic, Clinical Engineering, Trades and HIMP groups.

Included in this “batch” of standardization payments is:

  1. Home Care Attendant 1
  2. Home Care Attendant 2
  3. HCA at Donwood
  4. Home Support Workers

The payments will be retroactive to April 1, 2023, and will be paid within ninety (90) days.

In order to receive the increase and retro pay, you must be employed on date of signing of this agreement, which is January 26, 2024.  If you have changed jobs the process to apply for your retro pay will soon be shared by the Employer.  If you maintain your HCA1, HCA2, HCA at Donwood or HSW positions, you are not required to apply, the money will be paid automatically.

These are the wage scales these classifications will be placed on.

  1. Home Care Attendant 1:

        HCA Uncertified

Start 20 Year
$19.505$19.896

 

  1. & 3. Home Care Attendant 2 and HCA at Donwood:

        HCA Certified

Start Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 20 Year
$20.090$20.694$21.314$21.952$22.612$23.291$23.990$24.470

 

  1. Home Support Workers:
Start Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 20 Year
$17.068$17.579$18.106$18.651$19.210$19.786$20.180

 

SMc/wkp/cope 491

15-Feb-2024

CUPE Manitoba Online Store

October 6, 2023
TO: ALL AFFILIATED PRESIDENTS & RECORDING SECRETARIES
RE: CUPE MANITOBA ONLINE STORE

Sisters, Brothers, Friends,

Following the 2023 CUPE Manitoba Convention, and to mark CUPE-SCFP and CUPE Manitoba’s 60th Anniversary, we have worked with our local Union made-Union print shop (Hitek) to create an online store for members wishing to purchase CUPE Manitoba swag.
We are pleased to share the online store catalogue with you today and offer CUPE logo branded items in both French and English, as well as 60th anniversary logo branded items to mark our 60th year.

To view and order items, please click here: https://www.hitekpm.com/sr/2392998
The pricing for the online web store will be available until November 1st, 2023. Any questions regarding products and quantities can be directed to Hitek, as listed on the online store platform.

In Solidarity,
GINA McKAY
President
CUPE Manitoba
Cc: Lee McLeod, Regional Director; CUPE Manitoba Executive

Government Incentives

The incentives included are the following: 

 A one-time increase to the Health Spending Account (HSA) to everyone, including those who are still waiting patiently to be on the same benefits plan as the rest of the former facility members. 

$8.00/hour weekend premium that we have been waiting for since the nurses got it back in November 2022.  

And a licensure Reimbursement for those who have paid for their licensure for 2023-24 and the upcoming 2024-25 year.  You can only request one per year. Some of these licensures are 100s of dollars.    

These incentives are between the government and the employer, therefore if you have any questions please reach out to your manager.  

HEALTH SPENDING ACCOUNT (HSA) 

  •  A one-time, temporary increase to the employee’s HSA in the amount of $500 for full-time employees and $250 for part-time employees.  
  • This increase to your HSA is between the employer and Manitoba Blue Cross directly.  
  • The benefit is intended to provide additional coverage/reimbursement for healthcare-related expenses to each applicable employee.  
  • For eligible employees who remained actively employed as of August 1, 2023, the additional one-time, temporary increase of $500 for full-time employees and $250 for part-time employees, credits will be applied to their HSA account.   

Question you may have if: 

…You already have BlueCross coverage: and 

  • you have already logged into your blue cross account and  
  • have submitted your HSA requests for payment before?  

Great! You are good to go, this incentive will be automatically increased in your HSA to access when you have used your coverage.  Please just wait patiently for the number to be updated. If you have any issues or concerns talk with your manager 

…if you have the coverage but have never been explained how the HSA works? That’s ok, let’s go through it: 

  • Click on the mybluecross box at the top of the page.  
  • Sign up or Log in. 
  • Follow instructions on how to sign up if you are comfortable too. If not then please call blue cross for support. 1-888-596-1032 – the call centre is open Monday to Friday from 8:00am – 5:30pm 
  • Once logged in check out their site that is personalized just for you and/or your family if you have the extended benefits.  
  • On the left hand side of the page you will see HSA Request.  Click on it. 
  • Scroll down and select the claims for payment by clicking on the boxes. 
  • Once boxes are selected and if you agree to the terms of the request then you have one last box to click, REQUEST HSA PAYMENTS. 

 …if you do not have BlueCross: (Waiting for confirmation if the following process will be done the same way in the Southern Health Region. Holly has reached out to HR.  Just waiting for a reply.) 

  • Employees that do not have a current active HSA with Manitoba Blue Cross will need to complete an application form to have the account created.  
  • Application forms will be emailed to those employees that have been identified. If you have not received one and you know someone else has then please see your manager.  We do not have confirmation of a date that this will be done at this time.  
  • You will be able to submit claims effective back to Jan 1, 2023 calendar year once the funds are available in your HSA account.  

…If you are waiting patiently to get switched over to BlueCross and HEBP: 

We are not giving up and are pushing through to get it worked out… The process just takes time. We are still in discussions at the multi-union table.  

LICENSURE REIMBURSEMENT for those who have paid for their professional licensure OR the Professional association membership fees for 2023-24 and the upcoming 2024-25 year. 

These include the following fees:  

List of licensures and association membership fees  

(Waiting for confirmation if this is a list that can be made. Holly has reached out to HR.  Just waiting for a reply.) 

$8.00/HOUR WEEKEND PREMIUM 

  • All Healthcare workers will receive $8.00 is per hour, for hours worked on weekends. 
  • This premium is for everyone including the programs.  
  • This premium is above the current bargained weekend premium. 
  • The weekend incentive starts on Friday evening shift and will include all shifts until the end of the Sunday evening.  
  • The night shift that you may go into on Sunday at 11pm is considered the first shift of the next day and does not qualify for the premium.  
  • We were able to get retro** on this incentive, back to when the nurses got it, on November 18 2022. 
  • If you were on any unpaid LOA (Leave of Absences), Paid LOA, utilizing income protection, during down time, on vacation, or using banked hours, you do not qualify for the 8.00/hour during that time, or days as this is not considered time worked according to this incentive’s rules.   

**Menno home retro will be as follows – Nov 18th HCAs going forward. 

Feb 16, 2023 (point of certification date) for all other departments going forward.  

Any questions about these incentives need to be brought to your manager first.  

Any specifics of Manitoba BlueCross: 

 …If you have read this…  

The Local Representatives and Executives would like to thank you, for all that you do each and every shift.   

Support workers are the foundation of Health Care 

Contract Update

HEALTH CARE SUPPORT WORKERS
May 5, 2023
The new collective agreement ratified on September 23, 2022, which included three post ratification multi-union (CUPE and MGEU) committees. These committees have been meeting regularly since December of 2022. This is an update on a number of outstanding issues as follows:
1. Wage Standardization and Market Adjustment – This committee was dealing with classifications that are not standardized (same pay for the same classifications) and any classifications that are paid less than their “industry”. This is not for every classification: there is a small list of classifications that are being reviewed for market adjustments. This committee has been progressing. It has taken some time to gather all relevant information and we are very close to finalizing the standardization. Before we can discuss the market adjustments the classifications need to be standardized.

2. Pension and Benefits – For Home Care/Community group, CCMB and Thompson (former UFCW) long-term disability; and Riverview Health Centre for benefits only transitioning to HEB Manitoba.
The transition of the benefits and pension for the Home Care/Community group are actively being discussed. We are attempting to gather all relevant information from the MGEU Benefit and Pension Trust Fund. The benefit transition is easier than the pension plan. The current Home Care/Community Pension Plan is a defined contribution and the HEB plan is a defined benefit plan. The current contribution for the pension plan is approximately 4%, whereas HEB is approximately 9-10%. The Committee is working very hard to make sure members are not negatively affected by this pension transition. CUPE is being as thorough as possible to ensure the best outcome for members.

3. Recognition and Retention Bonus – This bonus is meant for the sites that were excluded from MOA#2 Redeployment Pay (COVID Pay). It is not COVID pay, but recognition for employees that stayed working in this challenging area. There is a small group of members that this money will apply to. The amount will not be a large amount per member, as the total fund is only 3 million dollars for CUPE. The committee is very close to finalizing the criteria and we hope to determine which members will receive the money and how much they will receive.
CUPE is committed to finalizing all of these post-ratification items and is working diligently to accomplish that. We also have a policy grievance filed against the employer for the delays and their inability to implement numerous items in the new collective agreement. Rest assured, CUPE is fighting for you every day to get this deal done so we can start negotiating more improvements for the next round of bargaining.

If you have any questions or comments, please send an email to healthcare@cupe.ca.

DEFEND PUBLIC HEALTH CARE CAMPAIGN

Sisters, Brothers, and Friends,

I am writing to provide you with an update on our We Work For Manitoba Defend Public Health Care campaign. The campaign, that was launched on December 13, 2022, has been featured in radio ads in 5 Manitoba regions and on 13 billboards across multiple communities in the province, in addition to an extensive presence through social media ads.

A direct link to the campaign can be found here: https://weworkformanitoba.ca/defendhealthcare

Since launching in December, the Defend Public Health Care campaign has had an unprecedented impact online:
• 7,069 letters/emails sent to MLAs, the Minister of Health, and Premier Stefanson, to date – 829 or ~11% submitted from CUPE members
• 3,651 emailable people (opted in to contact list) – 532 or ~14% are CUPE members
• 284,265 unique people have seen the Defend Public Health Care ads on social media
• The ads have been seen a total of 2,431,790 times

If your Local has not yet promoted the Defend Public Health Care email petition and campaign to your members, we are encouraging Health Care Local Presidents’ to do so by sending a message to members such as the following: More than 7,000 Manitobans have already signed the We Work for Manitoba email petition to Defend Public Health Care. Please join us, by adding your name and sharing a link to the campaign on your own social media and/or on your Local’s social media: https://weworkformanitoba.ca/defendhealthcare Thank you for helping amplify CUPE’s efforts to Defend Public Health Care in Manitoba!