Quebec is announcing the upcoming end of various premiums paid to health-care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government met with the unions to announce this Friday morning.
Among other things, the 4 per cent and 8 per cent bonuses that were introduced to compensate for the extra workload will be abolished on April 16.
These premiums affected both orders and nurses, for example.
The same is true for the “staircase bonus,” an amount intended to encourage attendance at work, which could reach $1,000 per four-week period.
Other bonuses will be maintained, however, including the one that provides lump sums of $12,000 to $18,000 to attract and retain nurses in the public network on a full-time basis.
“This announcement is not a surprise in itself. It was agreed from the outset that these bonuses would be valid for the duration of the health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the ministry said in a release. “Let us emphasize that, for salaried employees in the health and social services network, all the measures maintained are in addition to the many benefits provided by the collective agreements recently signed and now in effect.”
The unions are criticizing the absence of transitional measures and the lack of contact to ascertain the reality on the ground for the staff.
“For example, around 170,000 workers had access to the staircase bonus, which could reach $1,000 per four-week period,” said Maxime Ste-Marie, president of CUPE’s provincial social affairs council, in an interview.
I added that initially, “only” 70,000 workers had access to this premium before it was improved following discussions with the unions.
Ste-Marie is upset about the abrupt end of certain premiums. He said that the unions could have had discussions with the government to adopt transitional measures and avoid a shock to the health network.
The health-care unions also believe that the announced end of certain measures hardly takes into account the reality on the ground. More than 1,000 people are still hospitalized with COVID-19.
— This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on March 11, 2022.