ER staff wait 2 years for back pay

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This article was published 22/01/2024 (880 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The president of the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union (MGEU) says he understands the frustration of health-care aides and unit clerks at Brandon Regional Health Centre (BRHC) who’ve been waiting two years to receive back pay.

During the COVID 19 pandemic, the provincial government provided COVID premium pay of around $6 an hour for health-care support workers employed in hospital emergency departments and personal care homes in outbreak situations.

But there were more than a dozen employees who work in the emergency department at BRHC who never received the pay, so they filed a grievance with the union, said MGEU president Kyle Ross.

“It’s really unfair to offer these premiums to some workers that work in the same exact location and not the rest,” Ross said.

“These funds are handed out as danger pay, as hazard pay, and the staff are facing the same hazards as the nurses, but they’re not receiving the same compensation. And I think our members are well within their right to file the grievance to try and right this.”

Ross became aware of the pay inequity in late December 2021 and sent the first of two letters to then minister of health and seniors care with the former government, Audrey Gordon.

The second letter was sent in January 2022, but neither letter received a response, Ross said.

“We wrote letters first to try to encourage the government, because we like to give the employer and the government the opportunity to do right by our members and then we will take on the grievance procedure if we have to,” said Ross.

In February 2022, a grievance was filed calling for a pay adjustment for about 15 health-care aides and unit clerks who work in Brandon’s emergency department.

Two months later, in April 2022, dates were set for the grievance to be heard at arbitration. But as time passed, the arbitration dates for fall of 2023 were changed when the arbitrator became ill, and another person was assigned.

The new dates for the arbitration hearing are April 30 to May 4, 2024.

Adding to the frustration of waiting two years for the arbitration hearing, said a Brandon ER health-care aide, is that new hires working alongside him and his co-workers are being paid the premium, which is about six dollars extra an hour, and they are not.

The Brandon Sun agreed to withhold his name to protect the safety of his employment.

“The emergency room is the busiest department in all of health care right now, hands down, and our work is constantly over capacity. We’re running a mini-ICU in the emergency department,” the health-care aide told the Sun.

“On any given day, we’ve got something like 25 patients in the ward and 25 patients in the waiting room. It’s just a horrible, horrific, stressful work environment and the premium that they could be paying us would make some difference to us and it would help to retain us,” he said.

The health-care aide added that he and his co-workers believe they’ve been neglected by their employer and the government.

“It’s like we’re waiting to hear if we’re deemed worthy of it. And we were told that it was going to end and they wouldn’t be paying that to anybody anymore, but that didn’t happen. They’re still paying the premium and they’re creating new positions and giving it to them while we’re left waiting,” said the health-care aide.

The MGEU’s Ross said he doesn’t believe the government is stalling, but added it could show leadership and treat the health-care aides and unit clerks fairly by paying them the premium, which would mean the grievance and arbitration would be resolved.

“There’s been an injustice done to these workers,” Ross said. “So, a really simple fix is to have the provincial government step up and right this wrong.”

Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara told the Sun they were unaware that the health-care support workers in Brandon’s ER were not being paid the premium wage, or that an arbitration hearing was coming up.

“Anytime I hear concerns coming from front-line health-care workers, I take them very seriously. And so, this is definitely something that I can look into,” Asagwara said.

“It does sound like there’s a process already underway, and so I’m encouraged to hear that these health-care workers have brought their concerns forward, and it sounds like it is being addressed. But more than happy as well to take a look at this and ensure that I have a better understanding and appreciation for what health-care aides, who we appreciate deeply in our health-care system, are navigating.”

Ross said he encourages the Brandon staff to remain patient, and let the process run its course.

“I hear the frustration, and we’re continuing to prep for the grievance and the arbitration. And if we have to wait until March to present to the arbitrator, we will be ready and we’ll do our best to make sure that they are afforded what they should have been afforded a long time ago.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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