Morale is low at Winnipeg hospitals as support workers face uncertainty, and reduced hours in the near future.
Hundreds of letters of deletion were handed out to support staff at the Grace and St. Boniface hospitals last week. The workers who received them have weeks to decide whether to apply for a different job, bump someone with less seniority, or get laid off.
But day shift-only schedules are no longer available, replaced by mixtures of days, evening and night shifts, and full-time positions are rare.
At St. Boniface Hospital, just over 300 health care aides and 100 unit clerks are in the process of receiving their deletion notices and at the Victoria General Hospital, 150 positions were deleted, and 115 new ones posted. According to the Manitoba Government and Employees' Union, that means up to 40 jobs are lost.