Clinical nurses paid less than promised

While Quebec is trying to attract health professionals to the network, a recent call to order might well have the opposite effect on clinical nurses who have just learned that they will be paid less than the salary which had been promised to them.

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These new clinical nurses, hired following November 1, will earn less than their colleagues who started before that date. The Ministry says it has called the CISSSs and CIUSSSs to order to pay new clinical nurses without previous experience at step one of their salary scale.

One had been promised a seventh-level salary, but a week later the organization backed down.

“The ministry summoned the CISSSs, the CIUSSSs and the CEOs to say that these are non-compliant practices. Now, as of November, you must put an end to these non-compliant practices and hire new hires at the salary level, “explained the interim president of the Union of Care Professionals of Mauricie and Centre-du -Quebec (MCQ), Patricia Maillot.

According to the collective agreement, nurse clinicians without experience should be hired at level one.

A clinical nurse employed for several years experienced the opposite situation. When she started, she was paid at step one, and a few months later, her establishment offered a higher salary to new employees.

“I might have just waited until April 2019 to submit my BAC paper and I would have been hired at step eight. We’re talking regarding a six-month affair that has consequences. I will lose several thousand dollars a year.”

Ms. Maillot explained that CISSSs and CIUSSSs began to make promises to future workers a few years ago, such as a higher salary.

She adds that the CIUSSS MCQ has followed suit in this practice for a few years because of the difficulty in retaining the workforce.

For the aspirants still on the school benches, the measure does not please.

“I find it a shame,” replied a student from the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières.

The Ministry of Health has confirmed that the rules must be observed. The collective agreement of the Fédération interprofessionnelle du Québec has been in effect since October 10, 2021.