According to a CSN Info-letter, the confederation is recommending a 2.2 per cent wage rate increase for the first year of a new contract instead of the $3 mandate it received from the membership.

The provinces’ largest public-sector union, Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), in an info-letter posted on Facebook, is recommending as ‘Exploratory Orientations’ to its union members a 2.2% hourly wage rate increase for the first year of a new three year contract.

The recommendation falls well short of the $3/hour mandate the confederation received from its public healthcare and social services sector workers on October 2019.

If the proposal is accepted by the union membership, and the provincial government, the 2.2 per cent wage rate increase will be paid retroactively as of April 01, 2020, the start date of a new National Collective agreement. The previous contract expired on March 31, 2020.

The CSN is also demanding a one-time COVID-19 premium, “for workers on the front line an increase of $3 an hour or $4/hour for workers providing additional availability.”

A representative from one of the local unions belonging to the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS), affiliated with the CSN, and representing public healthcare and social services employees, confirmed the coronavirus premiums are temporary, and do not count towards vacation pay, pension contributions and future hourly rate increases.

The Membership Mandate

In October 2019, Quebec public sector workers voted gave the CSN a mandate to negotiate a $3/hour pay rate increase starting on April 01, 2020, plus 3 per cent or $1/hour, which ever amount is higher, on April 01, 2021, and again on April 01, 2022.

In the mandate, a patient attendant at the top echelon (#5) would see their wage rate increase from $22.35 in 2019 to $25.35 on April 01, 2020, to $26.35 on April 01, 2021, and $27.35 on April 01, 2022.

A heavy-duty housekeeping attendant would receive an increase from $19.96 in 2019 to $22.96 in 2020, $23.96 in 2021 and $24.96 in 2020.

Under the latest recommendations, a patient attendant at the top echelon on April 01,2020 will earn $22.84/hour, an hourly wage rate increase of .49 cents. A heavy-duty housekeeper with receive a rate increase of .44 cents.

The hourly rate increase for the majority of Quebec public healthcare workers will fall within the increases above, a quantum leap from the members voted mandate of $5/hour pay rate increase over three years.