Payment will cover wages for workers dating back to 2009
Niagara Health has agreed to pay thousands of hospital workers a total of $20 million after decades of negotiations, according to a report.
The agreement – finalized on Dec. 23 – applies to about 2,000 current employees across 26 job classifications, including registered practical nurses (RPNs), personal support workers and clerical staff represented by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare. Former employees are also eligible for payments, but the exact number is still being determined, reported CBC, citing the union.
The $20-million settlement will cover wage adjustments dating back 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 Matt Cathmoir, SEIU's director of research, in the report.
"We appreciate the patience and collaboration of our staff and SEIU throughout this process, and we remain committed to maintaining pay equity in the years ahead," Niagara Health said.
The settlement stems from the requirements of Ontario’s Pay Equity Act, which was implemented in 1988 to ensure equal pay for work of equal value. The law applies to public-sector employers and private-sector companies with more than 10 employees, mandating that wages for female-dominated jobs, such as practical nursing, be comparable to those for male-dominated roles with similar qualifications and responsibilities.
According to the province’s interpretation of the act, the legislation aims to "eliminate the wage gap that exists due to the undervaluation of what is typically thought of as 'women’s work.'”
SEIU’s Cathmoir explained that the settlement’s retroactivity to 2009 is due to the availability of job data used to calculate pay equity adjustments.
"It was the best deal we felt we could get through this process," he told CBC.
Previously, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) promised employees who might be entitled to an increase in compensation under final pay equity plans will receive that increase, as well as interest on that sum, backdated to the original deadline of Sept. 4, 2024.
Canada’s federal Pay Equity Act received Royal Assent on Dec. 13, 2018. The act and the supporting Pay Equity Regulations (regulations) came into force on Aug. 31, 2021.
However, the retroactive period for the settlement has been criticised by some. Critics include retired RPN Sandra Commerford, who first sought a raise in 1998 while working at a hospital in St. Catharines.
"The hospital and union have ignored their obligations, and just supported and blatantly participated in gender wage discrimination," Commerford told CBC.
She added that the settlement does not fully address wage adjustments for the period before 2009, despite the significant evolution of RPN roles over the years.
"This agreement is an insult to the RPNs. Our job has changed exponentially every year for the last 25 years and we’ve never been [fully] compensated for that change," she said.
Cathmoir acknowledged that the arbitration process produced disappointing results for some job classifications, including RPNs.
"We would've liked to have seen a better outcome from the arbitration that would've seen a better adjustment for certain classifications," he said. "But we intend to fight hard ... to find further improvements."
Cathmoir noted that the decades-long delay in resolving the pay equity issue highlights systemic flaws. He explained that attempts to resolve disagreements through arbitration or tribunals often took years to produce decisions.
Niagara Health and SEIU said they are working to contact eligible current and former employees about the pay adjustment process. Workers will have six months to claim the payments they are owed.
Previously, Ottawa launched a new pay transparency website in an effort to highlight the barriers to equity experienced by women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities in federally regulated private sector industries.
