Province unveils details of $120-M risk fund

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This article was published 03/06/2020 (2030 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Many of Manitoba’s front-line workers are about to get additional compensation for the work they’ve put in during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The province rolled out the details of a $120-million “risk recognition” fund it has created with the federal government to provide one-time payments to workers in certain fields, Premier Brian Pallister announced during a media call Tuesday morning.

This fund had initially been announced in mid-May, but the province and 15 contributing groups spent time hashing out the details of who qualifies for the money.

“Thousands of Manitoba workers have been working to serve others and to keep us safe, and they’ve been doing so in times that were stressful for all of us,” Pallister said. “But they were taking additional risks in doing so, too. And so we appreciate that.”

Categories of workers qualifying for the payment include store shelf stockers, retail salespersons, cashiers, cooks, security guards, light-duty cleaners in retail facilities, early childhood educators, licensed home-based child-care providers, family violence shelter workers, social workers, nurses and nurse practitioners, paramedics, health-care aides, community services workers, direct service workers for adults and children with disabilities, law enforcement, correctional officers, long-distance truck drivers and bus drivers.

The list of eligible workers was created in consultation with trade unions, business leaders and service providers such as the MGEU, CUPE, UNIFOR and the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

A full list of qualifying professions can be found at manitoba.ca/covid19/infomanitobans/mrrp_eligible.html.

Additionally, full-time and part-time workers in qualifying professions must have worked at least 200 cumulative hours between March 20 (the beginning of Manitoba’s state of emergency) and May 29. People who would have met that number of total hours worked but missed out due to self-isolating will also qualify.

However, anyone who made more than $6,250 during that time, or approximately $2,500 pre-tax per month, is not eligible. People receiving the Canada Emergency Response Benefit also do not qualify. Pallister said this money will be taxable.

The Manitoba Nurses Union criticized the fund and the process through which eligible workers were identified in an email sent out to media on behalf of union president Darlene Jackson.

“Despite what the Pallister government announced, the fact is the vast majority of Manitoba’s nurses are not included in the Risk Recognition Program,” Jackson wrote. “Nurses are listed as eligible, however the income thresholds set by government exclude nurses. Only a small number of (licensed practical nurses) will be eligible under their criteria, and only if they work significantly less than full time. All (registered nurses), (registered practical nurses), (nurse practitioners) and all full-time nurses will be completely shut out.”

Jackson also said the government refused to define the purpose of the fund during negotiations and pitted stakeholders against each other to determine who should be included.

“We also noted our objection to the term ‘risk recognition,’ which implies nurses can be bought out for taking on added risk and asked for a simple name change,” she said.

Bob Moroz, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, concurred with that in an email sent out to association members.

“Our members’ safety is never for sale, nor does this program recognize everyone who has put themselves at risk to serve Manitobans through this pandemic,” Moroz wrote.

He also criticized the engagement process and said the majority of his association’s members would not be eligible for the funding.

“MAHCP will not lend our name or support to any government process that pits worker against worker. We are not part of any so-called ‘consensus.’ At the end of the day, this is a provincial government program, and the final decision on program eligibility was theirs. They have created an overly complicated and inconsistent program that is likely to include some front-line allied health professionals who put their own safety and that of their families on the line during the height of the pandemic, but that will exclude others who did so.”

The premier mentioned during Tuesday’s call that more than 4,700 small businesses are receiving the one-time gap funding the province is offering to businesses that have not received more than $6,000 in federal support money. He said $28 million has already been paid out with applications from businesses still coming in.

Pallister also said more than 9,000 businesses have applied for the wage subsidy for student jobs being offered through the provincial government.

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