Archive of Featured Stories
Health care workers in need of psychological support
A recent study by the Mental Health Commission of Canada in collaboration with the Centre for Studies in Primary Care at Queen’s University and HEC Montreal’s Healthcare Management Hub surveyed 982 healthcare workers from several disciplines and workplaces across Canada regarding psychological self-care and moral distress. The report reveals that 40% of health care workers are burned out, 50% intend to leave the profession, and only 60% are satisfied with the quality of care they provide. The findings suggest that higher moral distress relates to higher levels of burnout, while increased self-care relates to lower levels of burnout. Survey participants also provided suggestions to improve support for psychological self-care and protection from moral distress, including prioritizing psychological health and safety in the workplace, making every effort to protect sufficient time off, and updating health human resource strategies.
mentalhealthcommission [news release] | mentalhealthcommission [full report]| theconversation
Alberta Doctors Ratify Agreement with Province
The Alberta Medical Association (AMA), representing 11,000 doctors, has reached an agreement with the province after several years of negotiations. The agreement, ratified in a members’ vote on September 28, covers four years from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2026. It will result in a $750 million investment in new funding over the four years to stabilize the health-care system, which includes more than $250 million in targeted funding to address pressures, including recruitment and retention programs. Alberta physicians will see 1% rate increases in each of the first three years (2022-23 to 2024-25), and a 1% recognition lump sum payment in 2022-23. The province has also agreed to repeal Bill 21 — legislation which allows it to unilaterally cancel its contract with doctors — and in return, the AMA will drop a lawsuit against the Alberta government.
Government of Alberta | Highlights of Agreement | globalnews | cbc | ctvnews | thestar
Manitoba Health Care Workers Ratify Agreement
On September 23, 2022, members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Manitoba ratified a renewal collective agreement. The deal, covering 18,000 health care support staff working across Shared Health, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Northern Health and Southern Health, was reached on August 29 as a result of mediation after 21 months of bargaining.
The renewal collective agreement is effective from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2024. Wage increases total 9.6% over the seven-year contract, including 1.25% in 2017 and 2018, 1.4% in 2019, 0.5% in 2020, 1.2% in 2021, and 2% in both 2022 and 2023. The salary increases are identical to those received by the Manitoba Nurses’ Union last year.
The agreement also includes a signing bonus of $500 for all staff, an increase in shift premiums, improvements for the Community Programs/Home Care groups, a more flexible “single-day” vacation system for members, double overtime, and market adjustments.
A copy of the full Memorandum of Settlement is posted to CUPE’s website at: Memorandum of Settlement CUPE and Provincial Health Labour Relations Services
torontostar | CUPEManitoba | CUPE Highlights Document
Constitutional challenge to Ontario’s Bill 124
Bill 124 is a law that was passed in Ontario in November 2019. It limits wage increases to one per cent per year for Ontario Public Service employees and broader public sector workers. The limit is in effect for a three-year moderation period.
On September 12, a number of unions and associations, including ONA, OPSEU, CUPE, SEIU Healthcare, UNIFOR and the OFL , commenced their challenge of the constitutionality of the legislation before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The groups argue the bill violates a section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that protects meaningful collective bargaining.
According to ONA, “Bill 124 imposes restrictions on all forms of compensation and has undermined nurses’ bargaining power during a crisis shortage of their skilled labour, exacerbated by a global pandemic, that would otherwise have amplified that power.” ONA also argues the bill is discriminatory against women and violates sex and gender equality in two other sections of the Charter.
The province argues that Bill 124 does not violate the Charter and that it is not discriminatory. It contends that the Charter protects only the process of bargaining and not the outcome. “That’s what the law does, it constrains an outcome,” said government lawyer Zachary Green. “Within that substantive constraint on what your salary can look like at end of bargaining, the applicants remain free to engage in a process of meaningful bargaining.”
The hearings continue until September 23. Daily Court updates are posted to UNIFOR’s website at https://www.unifor.org/news/all-news/bill-124-charter-challenge-heard-ontario-superior-court.
ONA |Global News |Toronto Star
Saskatchewan Launches Health Human Resources Action Plan
On September 7, the Government of Saskatchewan announced its plans for a four-point action plan to recruit, train, incentivize and retain healthcare workers in the province. The plan will cost $60 million over the next several years.
“We do know that we need 1,000 health care workers to be able to stabilize our system over the next couple of years and this is what we need to be able to do to meet those challenges that are out there,” said Health Minister Paul Merriman during a news conference. “With the action plan that we’ve laid out today, we can confidently say that help is on the way.”
The plan consists of recruiting hundreds of new healthcare workers over two years from abroad and newcomers interested in working within the healthcare sector. A provincial call is being put out to unlicensed internationally educated healthcare professionals and others with healthcare experience currently living in the province, and Canada, who may be eligible for training or employment.
The province is introducing an accelerated training, assessment and licensure pathway for internationally educated nurses that includes supports for overseas recruits to settle and start work in the province. Further program possibilities will be identified with post-secondary partners, including additional training seats and the potential for new professions like Physician Assistants. 150 nursing seats have been added in Saskatchewan’s registered nursing, registered psychiatric nursing, and nurse practitioner education programs.
The province will also launch a new incentive program which will provide up to $50,000 over three years for a return-of-service agreement for hard-to-recruit positions mainly in rural and remote areas.
Respecting retention, 100 new permanent full-time positions will be added and 150 part-time positions will be converted to full-time permanent positions for high-demand professions in rural and remote areas. As well, new mentorship programming will be created and the Saskatchewan Health Authority will work with partners to create a First Nations and Métis recruitment and retention strategy.
To oversee the process, the province has launched a new independent Saskatchewan Healthcare Recruitment Agency (SHRA).
The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses President Tracy Zambory said the union was not consulted in the creation of the plan. She states that “this is a plan that unfortunately is going to do nothing to retain registered nurses in the immediate future.” The NDP’s Health Critic responded that the plan to add 1000 more healthcare workers over two years only meets two-thirds of the of the current job postings on the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s website.
Government of Saskatchewan | HRD | cbc | ctv | leaderpost
General Support Services workers accept new agreement with Alberta Health Services
Members of AUPE working for Alberta Health Services (AHS) General Support Services have voted to ratify a new four-year collective agreement expiring on March 31, 2024. The 32,000 support services workers that the union represents have positions that range from housekeepers to maintenance staff to clerical and administrative duties as well as jobs in food services.
The wage settlement provides 0% on April 1, 2020; 0% on April 1, 2021; 1.25% on September 1, 2022; and 2% on April 1, 2023. The AHS has also offered the following lump sum payments in recognition of members’ outstanding work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: 1% Lump Sum (for 2021); $1400 Lump Sum (within 90 days of signing).
The parties agreed that AHS will stop contracting out jobs until March 31, 2024. AHS also dropped proposals on red-circling, rollbacks to shift and weekend differential, and an attempt to hire temporary staff for longer periods of time.
HHRnews.ca 