diff --git a/.github/workflows/linux-mac-nceplibs-mpi.yml b/.github/workflows/linux-mac-nceplibs-mpi.yml
index a3ca22b30..c95ad85e5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/linux-mac-nceplibs-mpi.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/linux-mac-nceplibs-mpi.yml
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ jobs:
             sudo ln -sf /usr/local/bin/gfortran-10 /usr/local/bin/gfortran
           fi
         fi
+        python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
         python3 -m pip install wheel
         python3 -m pip install gcovr