Manitoba Nurses Union reaches tentative agreement

Patient care and workload issues addressed

The Manitoba Nurses Union (MNU) reached a tentative agreement with the provincial government.

The agreement — covering about 10,000 of the union’s 12,000 members — addresses patient care and workload issues.

Working with the government, the union hopes to reduce the health care system’s reliance on nurses working overtime.

“By working cooperatively to reduce excessive overtime and the use of agency nurses, our goal is to improve patient care and ensure healthier workplaces for nurses,” the union said in a statement.

The agreement contains a retroactive wage increase of two per cent for 2013 and two per cent wage increases for the years 2014 to 2016. The agreement also lays out a 1.1 per cent market adjustment in 2014 and a one per cent market adjustment in 2016 in an effort to help nurses “remain competitive.”

Premiums would also be improved during the life of the agreement.

A ratification date is set for April 30, 2014, and the MNU Bargaining Committee has recommended members accept the tentative agreement.

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