PRHC, union wage-freeze dispute plays out in public

The nitty-gritty of how much an employer pays its workers isn’t usually front-page news, but hospital workers are an exception.

People feel connected to their hospital – in this case Peterborough Regional Health Centre. They want to know that if they need medical care the complex organism that big hospitals have become will have contented staff and run smoothly.

There is also a level of fascination with public sector wages, especially among those working private-sector jobs that don’t seem to pay as well.

And there is the fact that public-sector unions – in this case OPSEU – have done a very good job over the years of getting good contracts for their members, often by taking their case public.

Which is where the current OPSEU/PRHC battle is playing out.

The hospital has re-evaluated the jobs of 247 clerical workers and “downgraded” 244 of them. That translates to wage freezes of up to eight years for 233 workers. Almost all are women and 60 per cent work parttime.

The union calls the freeze unfair and sexist.

PRHC says the workers are among the highest paid hospital clerical staff in the province and their wages will still be “highly competitive” when the freezes come off.

What they agree on is that wage rates range from just over $23 an hour up to $31.66 an hour.

Those 150 part-timers work an average of 22.5 hours a week and make $29,156 annually, according to OPSEU.

At the high end, a clerk working full-time would earn about $60,000 a year.

Most websites that track wages and salaries in Canada put the average clerical rate at $15- to $20-an-hour.

Interestingly, PRHC says its review of those jobs wasn’t intended to save money – the wage freeze outcome is just a happy coincidence.

That seems unlikely.

One OPSEU weapon in its campaign to shame PRHC into unfreezing the pay rates is a series of radio ads. One labeled hospital CEO Dr. Peter McLaughlin a Grinch.

It referred to his $400,000 salary and a net 21-per-cent raise in three years.

PRHC countered that hospital administration salaries have been frozen by the province for 10 years and McLaughlin only got raises because he moved from medical chief of staff to CEO.

On that one the truth appears to lie with the hospital’s view.

Ontario’s Sunshine List website shows McLaughlin got no raise in 2014. Two subsequent mid-year title changes led to pay increases spread over three years. That took him to a 2017 salary of $380,000, with a

$20,000 “retirement allowance” and $12,000 in taxable benefits.

Assuming McLaughlin didn’t get a raise this year, that salary ranks him 43rd out of 135 hospital CEOs. Thirty per cent of his fellow members of that exclusive club make more than he does.

It would be interesting to know how PRHC’s clerical workers compare in that regard. Does “among the highest paid” translate to top five per cent, or 10 or 20 per cent. Or 30 per cent, perhaps?

PRHC says their wages will still be highly competitive when the thaw comes. If the hospital’s pay scale is fair they should end up in the top 30 per cent range, alongside their boss.

While this sort of wage battle would normally remain between the employer, the workers and their union, in the case of PRHC local taxpayers are both interested and invested.