We regularly receive questions regarding the April 2019 salary adjustments and the demotion in the years of service.

Regrettably, the participation of Health and Social Services employees in Quebec’s historical labour movement of 2015, germinated only slight gains.

The unions settled for a pay raise of 5.25 per cent over the five-year contract (2016 – 2020), with some job titles receiving a salary adjustment in April 2019. Although the adjustment increases salary, it unfairly drops the employee lower in echelon.

• In the Administrative Agent Class 3 (#5317) chart below, employees who in 2018 were at echelons one to four all dropped in 2019 to the lowest echelon. Vaporizing their years of service.
• If a new AA Class 3 employee the top echelon earning $21.55 after five years of service, why are the senior employees required to work 6, 7 and eight years to attain the same pay scale?

“If the number of echelons on the pay scale permits it, each time an employee completes one year of service in their job title they advance to the echelon immediately higher than their current one.” Advancement on The Pay Scale, Article 8.25 National Collective Agreement.

Echelons ‘reward’ employees based on years of service, normally one echelon per year of full-time work. Therefore, the longer the service to the employer, to the user, the higher the pay scale.

Years of experience can also be used to determine the pay scale, for more information view Article 17 from the National Collective Agreement.

How it works. (Or dosen’t!)

Start in your 2018 echelon and pay scale, then move over to the 2019 echelon with the same or the next higher pay scale.

In 2018 an Administrative Agent Class 3 (#5317), in echelon seven earned $21.02 an hour. In April 2019 they will drop down to echelon four and receive $21.21 an hour. A salary adjustment of .19 cents, but now the employee will need to invest eight years in reaching the 5th echelon.

An orderly (PAB, #3480) on echelon five in 2018 earned an hourly rate of $21.80. With the new pay scale, they drop one echelon to number four and receive a seven cent salary adjustment, $21.87.

Read More:

• To view your new April 02, 2019 salary add your job title or code to this easy to use government site
• On April 2019 all MHUC Employees receive a ZERO pay raise – Despite Quebec’s 2015 Historic Labour Movement
• Why you should vote to reject the Tentative Agreement
• The National Collective Agreement 2016 – 2020