The Quebec government is offering an annual bonus of $22,000 to medical imaging technologists at hospitals in Hull and Gatineau in order to slow their exodus to Ontario and maintain services in Outaouais at risk of disruption. Another bonus of 10% will be granted to these professionals for the summer period, from June 15 to September 15.
Quebec has entered into an agreement with the Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services (APTS). “Our people were leaving to go to Ontario and we had at least two to three technologists who were thinking of leaving again,” says APTS president Robert Comeau. In Ottawa, medical imaging technologists “earn on average $30,000 more per year for the same work,” he specifies.
To get the $22,000 annual bonus, medical imaging technologists will need to add 2.5 hours to their 35-hour work week — their counterparts in Ontario work 37.5 hours. An employee at the bottom of the scale will therefore earn $67,000 rather than $45,000, specifies the APTS. The one at the top will see their remuneration increase from 65,000 to 87,000. This is without counting the 10% summer bonus. “All of this means that there is relative parity compared to Ontario,” says Robert Comeau.
The union is “betting” that the technologists “are going to get on board because they want, first and foremost, to offer services to Quebec.” However, the agreement will last a maximum of two years. “We resolved a temporary hemorrhage and we have nothing in the long term,” says Robert Comeau. It is certain that the objective is to expand this and resolve this permanently. »
In recent weeks, Quebec has created installation scholarships and scholarships for graduates in order to attract and retain technologists in Outaouais.
Many doctors in Outaouais have recently sounded the alarm regarding the shortage of technologists which has an impact on care, particularly in emergency rooms. Nearly a week ago, emergency physician Peter Bonneville, interim president of the Council of Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists of the CISSS de l’Outaouais, launched a petition demanding that the Minister of Health Christian Dubé “intervene as quickly as possible possible” in this file by “applying differentiated remuneration” for CISSS workers. More than 15,000 people have signed the petition.