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.