(Montreal) The Ministry of Health and Social Services confirmed, Thursday, problems of delays in the retroactive payment of amounts owed to health workers, under their new collective agreements.
Thousands of nurses and beneficiaries, in particular, who expect retroactive payments under the new collective agreements, will not receive the due dates.
Even worse, they don’t know exactly when they will receive them, FIQ’s vice president of labor relations, Patrick Guay, deplored in an interview.
“It’s not something that just came out. These are the dates that were known in advance. Since June we know that after 30 days, then after 60 days…there are preset dates in [nouvelle] Collective agreement “under which such an amount must be paid, explains Mr. Guay.
And there, four days, a week [de l’échéance]We were told it wouldn’t be ready. In addition to insulting the injury: We don’t know when it will be paid,” said Mr. Guai.
For example, in FIQ, before November 6, the first lump sum payment had to be paid based on the hours paid.
Because of the “high workload”
Thursday, the Department of Health and Social Services confirmed to the Canadian press that the problem is pervasive: “Currently, all CISSS and CIUSSS are affected by these changes.”
The ministry attributes these late payments to a “significant workload, both for health institutions and for payroll processing companies.”
“The scale of the amendments to be processed, their retrospective scope and deadlines, all converging in the short term, present a major logistical challenge for all actors involved in the process,” the ministry justified.
The ministry stresses that “the amounts to be paid vary greatly from one employee to another, according to job titles and eligibility conditions.”
However, it is reassuring: “Note however that there is no fear for the employees. They will get all the amounts owed to them.”
Anger
But SQEES, which represents the thousands of patrons present, doesn’t budge. “These delays are unacceptable to our members who see their stipend bonus deferred indefinitely, while since April 2019 salaries have not been adjusted,” said Secretary General, Lucy Terreault.
The news sparked outrage from the nurses on FIQ’s Facebook page. An invitation to the FIQ to send an official notification to the government; another charge of 10% interest on the amounts owed; Another request for grievance for non-compliance with the collective agreement.
“We must respect [les règles] To the message if we want our rewards, but they do what they want, without consequences,” another laments.
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