Strike postponed by Manitoba health-care workers after tentative agreement reached

A potential strike by 7,000 allied health-care workers in Manitoba has been averted, for now.

The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals posted on its website Friday morning that a tentative deal with the province has been reached, but no other information was provided.

The website included just one other line: "More details to come."

In an email to CBC News, an MAHCP spokesperson said the strike deadline passed at midnight with no deal, "however, we continued to bargain and reached a tentative agreement at about 3:30 a.m."

The bargaining committee will present details of the agreement to union members and hold a ratification vote in the coming weeks, the email said. The strike is postponed pending the results of that vote.

The workers involved are employed by the Winnipeg and Northern regional health authorities as well as Shared Health, the province's central health-care planning body.

Last month, the MAHCP issued a strike deadline of 12:01 a.m. March 7, following a January vote by members in which 96 per cent favoured a strike mandate.

Members have now been without a contract for 11 months. Negotiations started in April 2024.

The union represents a wide range of health-care professionals, including rural paramedics and emergency dispatchers, respiratory therapists, lab and diagnostic technologists, social workers, pharmacists, physiotherapists and dietitians.

Wages have been the main sticking point in negotiations, with the union saying its members want to be on par with counterparts in other provinces. 

Lower wages have resulted in several vacancies as workers go to other jurisdictions for employment, and the MAHCP has more than 1,000 positions vacant, the union has previously said.