Healthcare employees deserve comprehensive benefits coverage that supports their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. MAHCP has pushed for improvements to the plan, as the protection offered by Manitoba’s Healthcare Employee Benefits Plan (HEB) was nowhere near strong enough.
Following an environmental scan of other healthcare plans across Canada, HEB acknowledged significant plan weaknesses and deficiencies.
- MAHCP, alongside our allies in other participating HEBP unions, advocated for investment and plan improvements, without an additional cost to our members.
- Due to the pressure we applied, long overdue improvements to the plan were rolled out in May 2026. Unfortunately, these came with increased premiums for our members. Employers have the ability to contain or offset employee costs, but since 2023, they have repeatedly rejected union proposals for the employer to take on more of the cost through a revised cost-sharing ratio, which would bring Manitoba in line with other provinces. MAHCP will continue advocating for an alternative cost-share.
- We are also calling for increased access to Critical Incident Stress Management services for members who face traumatic incidents at work.
It’s important to note that benefits are NOT bargained at the table as part of collective agreements. Unions are only able to negotiate participation in a plan, who the provider is for that plan, and the employer/employee cost-share agreement, currently a 50/50 split.