Quebec health-care workers protest delays in receiving backpay

Unionized Quebec health-care workers affiliated with the CSN protested Wednesday in front of the Urgences-santé headquarters.

They are demanding retroactive pay that was intended to be sent out last month, following an agreement with the government reached a full 12 months earlier.

“It’s unacceptable,” said Dominique Daigneault, president of the Conseil Central du Montréal Métropolitain-CSN. “When you sign for a collective agreement, we have the right to be respected.”

The deal between Quebec’s Treasury Board and three major unions was struck in January 2024 and includes an equity payment as part of an effort to ensure that healthcare workers are paid the same as other public sector employees. 

The payment was originally set to go through in October 2024 but was delayed to January of this year to allow the government to complete calculations for employees in category three, which includes office staff, technicians and administration professionals.

“The workers are so angry because when they negotiated with their employer, with their boss and with the government, they were supposed to have (…) the same (pay) then in the public sector,” Daigneault said. “They asked for more compromises from the workers. But there was never any question of that before.”

Santé Québec told CityNews in November that resolving the backpay issue was a top priority, and assured that no employee would experience a loss of income due to delays in payment.

However, health-care workers are still waiting, and say the Treasury Board is refusing to send out the payments.

“Its important because we negotiated for that, and it’s like, when we are in a negotiation it’s important to respect what we signed,” Daigneault said.

CityNews contacted Urgences-santé who said that they are aware of the situation but refused to comment due to the protest being what they call a “subject of contention.”