Opinion

Despite the 15 percent salary increase for patient attendants, salary increase amounts in the Quebec’s latest contract offer fall considerably short of the labour organization’s original salary demands.

Quebec public-sector union’s original demand is a $3 per hour pay rate increase for the first year of the contract, plus 3 percent (or $1 per hour for the lower-wage earners) for each of the two following years.  

With the Union’s original demands, a patient attendant (PAB) would receive a $5 an hour salary increase over the three-year contract, raising their salary from $22.35 at the top echelon to $28.35 or $26.89 if the three percent was applied in the contract final two years.

“Healthcare workers are the unsung heroes of the pandemic; they’ll receive no trophies, no lucrative contract endorsements, what they have is the undying gratitude of the people of Quebec.”

In the new FTQ agreement, a PAB salary will rise to $25.63 an hour, or $1.26 to $2.72 less than the original union demands. The span between the actual healthcare worker’s salary mandate toward the other job titles is even more striking. *The $25.63 includes gains attained through a Pay Equity agreement, which is completely independent of the agreement in principle.

According to the information provided, a light-duty housekeeper’s salary will increase in the new three-year contract by 9.8 percent, from $19.37 an hour to $21.27, increasing $1.90 per hour. Less than a three percent increase per year, well short of the $3 an hour increase for the first year of the original mandate, given the labour organizations. (FYI: Currently, at the MUHC, there exist only three light-duty housekeeping positions. Light-duty Housekeeping positions are slowly being phased out across the province.)

Data collected by Quebec’s biggest employers group, Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ), in 2020, businesses in the province hoped to raise salaries by an average of 2.8 percent.

According to Post Media News, salary increases in technology-related jobs will climb by three percent across Canada next year, compared with a 2.6 percent average gain for all sectors.

Healthcare workers are the unsung heroes of the pandemic; they’ll receive no trophies, no lucrative contract endorsements, what they have is the undying gratitude of the people of Quebec. 

I’m not sure what the FTQ members thought when they accepted this inadequate offer. Still, if the FSSS-CSN or other public labour unions consider accepting a proposal that will continue to impoverish the people they represent without a single strike day… In that case, the people need to take a long hard look at alternatives.