The Quebec government owes more than two billion dollars in bonuses and salary increases to professionals in the health network, denounced Monday a coalition of eight unions.
The labor organizations also criticize Quebec for having waived interest payments on the sums due, even though it has signed agreements providing for them.
The unions calculate that their members expect sums of $1.28 billion associated with the signing of collective agreements and $1.15 billion due to the settlement of pay equity complaints. In total, the outstanding amounts would therefore be 2.43 billion.
The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, did not dispute these sums. In response to the exit from the unions, he published a letter on Monday sent on February 10 to the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ). In his missive, he says “fully understand the concerns of the staff” and assures that “the appropriate actions are taken so that this situation can be regularized quickly”.
I want nurses to know that we are working tirelessly to expedite premium payments.
I ask the centrals to reassure their members: everyone will be paid. pic.twitter.com/sjmpijF9pi— Christian Dubé (@cdube_sante) February 14, 2022
As wrote The duty as of last week, some professionals, such as audiologists and speech-language pathologists, are expecting payouts of $40,000 — or even $52,000 — on their own, according to estimates from various unions. These amounts result from the signing of pay equity complaint settlements.
“These complaints date from 2010 and 2015. It is simply unacceptable and revolting, not only for the women to whom these sums are owed, but for all women in Quebec,” wrote the FSSS-CSN, the FSQ-CSQ on Monday. , the FIQ, the SQEES-FTQ, the SCFP, the APTS, the FP-CSN and the SPGQ.
Deadline not respected
The unions also criticize the Minister of Health for having postponed the schedule for payments resulting from the signing of collective agreements and the introduction of bonuses by ministerial decrees. “Last Friday, representatives of the [ministère de la Santé] presented a new payment schedule, incomplete and imprecise, extending until March 23. »
Christian Dubé himself admitted last week that his department was unable to meet the deadlines that the government had agreed to follow. “I promised to settle this quickly. I can well understand that our computer systems are obsolete, and I was given the right reasons at the department. Of course, there have been a lot of changes: different bonuses, the new collective agreement. But that’s not excusable. I’m telling you, I’m meeting them again tomorrow, and I’m embarrassed,” he said on the eve of a meeting with the unions.
Mr. Dubé repeats in his letter addressed to the FIQ that “the very rapid entry into force of the collective agreements after their signature” as well as the “known issues of the information systems” in the network and the shortage of administrative personnel “are factors that unfortunately contribute to [retards] in the payment of sums due” to health personnel.
At the ministry, we explain the delays in payment by “the fact that the payroll systems are not configured to allow the payment of these new measures”, spokesperson Marjorie Larouche said last week. “In addition, certain measures provided for in the new collective agreements involve retroactivity over several years, which complicates the exercise. »
The logistical troubles of the ministry, on which The duty had lifted the veil in November, resulted in “intensive work”, assured the spokesperson.