(Quebec) The Legault government is committed to paying the thousands of dollars owed to health care workers in retroactive salary and bonuses during the next two pay periods, February 23 and March 10. The remaining amounts can be paid in advance, promised Minister Christian Dubé. A commitment that does not reassure the unions.
Posted at 6:51 p.m.
The Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, pledged on Tuesday that the amounts due to health personnel will be reimbursed by March 10. “We are committed to paying 6.1 billion in bonuses and adjustments to collective agreements. So far, we have paid $4.8 billion. That’s almost 80%, “said the minister at a press conference on the pandemic.
“What remains, the 20%, we have agreed to pay in the next two pay periods. That is, February 23 and March 10. And I said if there were any amounts left […] we are going to make advances, ”he added. These payments exclude amounts due under the Pay Equity Act concerning retroactivities dating back to 2015 and 2010, which would reach 1.15 billion dollars according to the unions.
Again on Monday, eight unions in the health sector joined forces to denounce the delays that are accumulating in the payment of various bonuses and the salary retroactivity provided for in the new collective agreements. The unions accuse the Legault government of continually delaying the payment of the amounts due and of having presented an “incomplete and imprecise” schedule.
Minister Dubé did not want to specify on Tuesday if his government planned to pay interest on the unpaid amounts when the expected sums can easily reach several thousand dollars.
Minister Dubé said on Tuesday that he had made “exceptions” by signing collective agreements more quickly in the context of the pandemic. “It sometimes takes three, four, five months [pour l’application des nouvelles règles]. This time, with the agreement of Treasury Board, we decided to cut that time because we wanted [les travailleurs] have them faster,” he explained.
It played a little trick on us because we ended up with our same computer systems, with a host of rules. Did we do well? I think so. But there, today, we are reproached that it is longer. But we still gave the application much faster.
Christian Dubé, Minister of Health and Social Services
This is an argument that does not hold water according to the unions, while the deadline for the application of the collective agreement is 90 days, as was the case during the previous employment contract.
“The Minister of Health is looking for culprits when he has only himself to blame for the late payments. The deadlines for aligning the payroll system and the deadlines for paying retroactivity are carried over from one collective agreement to another, contrary to what the Minister asserts. That’s the reality,” replied FIQ President Julie Bouchard on Tuesday.
“The other reality is that he implemented non-convention bonuses with complex eligibility conditions, which overloaded the payroll system. He neglected to make the necessary efforts to ensure that the personnel of the health network are not penalized, while all the union organizations have been asking him to do so for months,” added Ms.me Bouchard.