NDP leader Wab Kinew said cuts to health care are causing hospitals to use forced overtime as a regular staffing strategy, and if his party was elected to form government, it would put an end to the practice. In a news release Wednesday, Kinew promised to legislate an end mandatory overtime for Manitoba nurses, blaming the Pallister government for what he called “rushed and reckless health cuts.” Kinew said an NDP government would fill the gaps by hiring and training more nurses. The NDP said nurses at St. Boniface Hospital began tracking incidence of mandatory overtime in 2017 and that their figures saw a jump in such incidents, from a monthly average of 27.3 in 2017 to 157.2 in 2018. The party said the government does not make such numbers public. Kinew said nurses are telling him the situation has never been worse. “Patient care is suffering. Nurses are at the front lines of care and we should listen to them and treat them with the respect they deserve,” Kinew said. Union for nurses praises promise In a statement, Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, called the NDP’s promise to ban mandatory overtime “the strongest commitment we have seen during this election that shows a real understanding of the staffing challenges facing our health care system.” Jackson said such legislation would improve patient care and be positive for nurses as well. She said mandatory overtime is being used to deal with “staffing shortages, that, in many instances, were created by government and employers.” Jackson also said mandating overtime may be necessary in emergencies and any ban would need to be phased in, suggesting a four-year time frame and adding that, “forcing nurses to work overtime because of health care cuts is unsafe and unfair.
