Allied health professionals support strike mandate

Increasing workloads and critical staffing shortages have helped prompt a strike mandate from Allied health professionals represented by the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP).

The union issued a Wednesday morning press release, stating members voted 96 percent in favour of a strike mandate last week.

Nearly 7,000 MAHCP members are publicly employed, working in more than 50 specialized professions in labs, clinics, hospitals, community and long-term care settings. More than 400 members work in the Southern Health Region but are employed by Shared Health. They include EMS and disgnostics professionals (CT, ultrasound, lab). Another 20 members work at Eden Mental Health Centre and for Mental Health & Addictions, formerly the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba.

The strike vote came after more than nine months at the bargaining table. The previous contract expired March 31, 2024.

“The union’s membership has expressed growing concern in recent years due to lack of competitive wages and severe understaffing in many areas, including in rural emergency medical services, diagnostics, mental health and addictions,” the press release stated.

MAHCP president Jason Linklater said their members are running out of patience.

“Manitoba must compete if we want to retain specialized allied health staff, and that has to start with a new contract without further ado,” he said in the press release. “Unfortunately, sometimes the only action that has a real impact is the threat of job action, and we’re prepared to take that step.”

The MAHCP did not say when that step could be taken.

However if members walk out, they will still work under an essential services agreement that requires “life and limb” services to be made available during job action.

This isn’t the first time members have appealed to the public.

An informational picket saw more than 50 members take to the sidewalks outside Bethesda Regional Health Centre on May 11, 2023, who were at that time drawing attention to the staff crisis and the fact their wages had been frozen since 2017. In April of 2024, a strike vote was held with 99 percent of members voting to walk off the job.

At that time complaints included the fact that Winnipeg paramedics earned 22 to 26 percent more than those in rural areas, while provinces like Saskatchewan were recruiting lab techs by promising a $40,000 incentive to move to their province.