Bonuses for Quebec healthcare workers need to be based on risk and not education.

Opinion: Thursday, Quebec announced $287 million in bonuses for the province’s 269,000 public healthcare workers.

Though the amount of $287 million appears generous, the reality is, the majority of public healthcare workers will receive a bonus of around thirty dollars per week.

Details of the package were revealed Thursday in Quebec by the Treasury Board President, Christian Dubé, and Health Minister Danielle McCann.

According to the Treasury Board President the temporary bonuses are for the extra workloads due to COVID-19 and the additional risk to the workers health.

Bonuses are Divided into Two Groups

The 69,000 public employees who work in intensive care, emergency, long-term care and screening clinics who are likely to come in contact with COVID-19 infected patients will receive 8 per cent.

• emergencies (except psychiatric emergencies);
• intensive care units, when at least one case of diagnosis with COVID-19 has been confirmed (except psychiatric intensive care);
• dedicated clinics (screening and evaluation) for COVID-19;
• the units identified by an establishment in order to group together the clientele presenting a positive diagnosis to COVID-19;
• accommodation units in residential and long-term care centers;
• other accommodation units, when at least one case of diagnosis with COVID-19 has been confirmed;
• Pneumology units;

The remaining approximately 200,000 Employees who do not work in either of these environments and ambulance technicians receive a bonus of 4% applicable on the salary provided for at the scale of their job title for the hours worked.

• Quebec’s New Decree Outlines Who Receives Which Bonus, Paid Meals and Daycare Expenses

Bonuses Need to Be Based on Risk Not Education

Because the bonuses are percentage bases, a heavy-duty housekeeper who earns $19.69 an hour will gain an extra .79 cents per hour about $30.50 a week. A patient attendant can earn up to $1.50, while a nurse can earn double that amount and more.

Quebec needs to end this ‘discrimination’ and base COVID-19 bonuses on risk to the worker’s health and not their education. Therefore, bonuses should be based on a dollar amount and not a percentage.

Grocery stores are paying their staff an extra two dollars an hour, last week the government announced an extra $100 per week for low-wage essential workers.

“Show Me the Money“

Daily, healthcare workers leave behind their family, loved ones and grasping the risks, head into a war zone to complete their duties. And let there be no confusion, this is a war which may sustain casualties among healthcare providers.

Polls show most Quebecers are satisfied with the way Premier François Legault and Health Minister Danielle McCann are managing the crisis, I agree with them.

However, Premier Legault, for all the provinces healthcare workers, you heartwarmingly baptized, ‘Our Guardian Angels’, to believe in your sincerity, like Actor, Cuba Gooding, Jr. said, you need to, “Show me the money.”

• $287 Million in Bonuses for Quebec Healthcare Workers retro to March 13