Read on Twitter
A little stroll down Manitoba's healthcare not-so-distant memory lane, in pictures!
Health care support staff in Flin Flon, speaking out against health cuts and working short, May 2017.
Pallister mandated the Northern Regional Health Authority to "find $6m in savings".
Health care support staff in Flin Flon, speaking out against health cuts and working short, May 2017.
Pallister mandated the Northern Regional Health Authority to "find $6m in savings".
HSC support staff protesting cuts across the WRHA July & September 2017 in addition to the government's restructuring that resulted in countless hours lost.
Grace hospital staff protest cuts to the Transitional Care Unit, privatization of outpatient physio, and disruptive "bumping" that resulted in chaos and demoralization, July 2017.
Middlechurch Care Home support staff protesting ongoing working short in long term care, and cuts to in house food services, July 2017
Maples PCH protested short staffing in 2013, worried that low pay and little support could hurt recruitment and lead to a decline in resident care.
Lions Manor and Charleswood care home workers joined the call to address working short staff in seniors care...
Vista Park Lodge (UFCW) had a strike, and Tuxedo Villa held pickets against staffing shortages
Not to mention support staff and nurses were raising concerns over ICU and ER closures, on the streets and in the board rooms right into 2019.
Nurses packed the steps of the legislature in 2018, as did MGEU support staff in 2017...
At the same time, support staff were out at community festivals, like St Pierre Jolys Frog Follies and Stonewall Quarry Days handing out hand sanitizer and talking about "universal precautions" in the community, calling for the need to support strong infection control...
Support staff at St Boniface hospital protested the $86 million in cuts to the WRHA in 2017.
All while health care workers across the province were under Pallister's unconstitutional wage freeze.
All while health care workers across the province were under Pallister's unconstitutional wage freeze.
Support staff (these are HCAs from Grace and Kildonan Place PCH) attended Wait Time Reduction Task Force meetings to raise red flags over government cuts...
There were protests at the Vic, Misericordia, Northern Lights Manor (Flin Flon), The Pas, Deer Lodge, and the steps of the legislature.
All raising alarm bells that Pallister's cuts to health care won't heal.
All raising alarm bells that Pallister's cuts to health care won't heal.
It shouldn't take a crisis for government to act. Government should listen to the voices on the ground.
Those voices have been screaming for years, but government just wouldn't listen.
Those voices have been screaming for years, but government just wouldn't listen.
I'm not saying we could have predicted COVID.
But health care workers could predict the deep impact cuts could have on an already lean system.
Will government listen now, or will they continue their ideological agenda of austerity? Balls in their court.
But health care workers could predict the deep impact cuts could have on an already lean system.
Will government listen now, or will they continue their ideological agenda of austerity? Balls in their court.
Ps. Sorry it's mostly CUPE pics, it's what I have on my phone. Workers in other unions like MGEU, UFCW, PSAC, OEM, MNU, MAHCP, MFL, and dozens of community groups like Communities Not Cuts, MHC, etc have been raising voices for years.
If you take a look at these pictures it's also clear:
Austerity in health care, and particularly among support staff, disproportionately affects women workers of colour, and it's those same women who are on the front line speaking out and fighting back.
Austerity in health care, and particularly among support staff, disproportionately affects women workers of colour, and it's those same women who are on the front line speaking out and fighting back.
Throughout the COVID pandemic people have come to recognize the value & struggles of housekeepers, health care aides, cleaners, & other support staff who have traditionally been seen as the 'bottom' of the health care hierarchy.
We see these workers now. But will we hear them?
We see these workers now. But will we hear them?
