Niagara Health reaches a pay equity agreement with the union, covering 2,000 current and former employees. The agreement will see a total of $20 million paid out, addressing wage adjustments dating back to 2009. Despite the agreement, some employees, such as retired registered practical nurses, express disappointment with the retroactive adjustments and relatively small raises.
The pay equity agreement between Ontario regional health-care provider Niagara Health and workers was reached on Dec. 23. It will apply to about 2,000 current employees in 26 job classes, from registered practical nurses to personal support workers to clerical staff, as well as former workers.Niagara Health's registered practical nurses are among hospital workers who'll receive a wage increase in 2025, retroactive to 2009.
"We're thinking about ways to spread the word to those former employees, encouraging retirees to tell anyone they used to work with so they can claim what they're owed," said Cathmoir in an interview. Retired registered practical nurse Sandra Commerford has been waiting for a decision on her request for a raise since 1998, when she worked at the hospital in St. Catharines.
Public-sector employers like hospitals must follow the province's Pay Equity Act, which came into force in 1988, to avoid gender discrimination when setting wages for employees. Private-sector employers with more than 10 workers are also required to follow the act.A pay equity agreement requires employers to review the wages of workers in jobs dominated by women — like practical nursing — to the wages of workers in jobs dominated by men with similar qualifications and responsibilities.
This week's news that the two sides had finally concluded the process but will be providing pay retroactively only to 2009 — not a decade earlier when Commerford first raised the issue — has left her disappointed."The hospital and union have ignored their obligations, and just supported and blatantly participated in gender wage discrimination," Commerford said.
When asked if the new agreement was fair to all job classes, like RPNs, for example, Cathmoir said "not at all."
PAY EQUITY HEALTH CARE LABOR RELATIONS WAGE DISCRIMINATION ONTARIO
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