Niagara Health to disburse $20M in pay equity deal for thousands of current, former hospital workers

Niagara Health will pay out thousands of hospital workers a total of $20 million after striking a decades-in-the-making agreement with the union.

The pay equity agreement was reached on Dec. 23 and will apply to about 2,000 current employees in 26 job classes, from registered practical nurses to personal support workers to clerical staff, says the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare. 

Former staff will also be eligible, but Niagara Health is still tallying up that number, said SEIU's director of research, Matt Cathmoir. 

"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.

The $20 million will cover wage adjustments dating back to 2009, Niagara Health, a regional health-care provider in Ontario, told CBC Hamilton in an emailed statement this week. 

"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.

Retired registered practical nurse (RPN) 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. 

Back then, the SEIU and her employer delayed a decision until after a number of hospitals in the area amalgamated to form Niagara Health in 2000 and then were set to develop a new pay equity agreement. 

CBC Hamilton covered her story in early December when — 24 years later — no agreement had been reached.

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.

If the female-dominated sector earns less, the employer is required to increase those workers' compensation. 

"The Pay Equity Act is intended to eliminate the wage gap that exists due to the undervaluation of what is typically thought of as 'women's work,'" says the province's interpretation of the act.

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.