In response to the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP) filing strike notice today (Thursday, June 1, 2023), Manitoba Health Coalition (MHC) provincial director Thomas Linner said the following:

“It has been clear for some time that the provincial government has lost the confidence of frontline health care workers in Manitoba. Forcing allied health care professionals into a strike position, and from there into filing strike notice, is simply the latest indication of a broken relationship badly in need of a reset.

It is unacceptable that 6,500 allied health care professionals have been without a collective agreement for over five years. In that time, through a global pandemic, a health care staffing crisis and desperate calls for funding, the provincial government has instead chosen to cut over $1 billion in taxes, mostly for the benefit of the most wealthy individuals and corporations doing business in Manitoba.

MHC has called for the creation of a Front Line Advisory Council comprised of workers in the public health care system to address recruitment and retention, improve working conditions and taking steps to ensure the highest possible patient care within a well-funded public health care system. Instead, the provincial government has insulted health care workers, and especially MAHCP members, by proceeding with a fully discredited Health Human Resource Action Plan with no baselines, no timelines, no targets and no buy-in from the front lines.

MHC stands in solidarity with MAHCP members and their fight for a fair, and overdue, contract.”

-30-