Niagara front-line staff pandemic pay long time coming

Granted, the provincial government has had a lot of issues to deal with in the past few months, and nearly all of them start with the word COVID-19.

But can it finally get around to handing over that special “pandemic pay” it promised to front-line workers way back on April 25?

Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff promises it will, saying it should just be a few weeks more and the cheques will start arriving.

The money has to wend its way through government bureaucracy and then be shared among numerous private and public funders, he said, describing the reason for the delay.

That’s good to know, but this weekend it will be eight weeks since Premier Doug Ford committed the money, saying “these people put themselves in harm’s way to care for our sick and vulnerable citizens.

“I am truly grateful, as are the people of Ontario, for their service, and it’s time we give something back to those who sacrifice so much day in and day out.”

It is time.

It’s actually a long time. In those eight weeks since Ford’s promise, Canada’s COVID-19 caseload has more than doubled to about 100,000, from the 42,000 recorded back then.

The number of dead, meanwhile, has grown nearly four-fold to 8,300 as of early Friday, from approximately 2,200 on April 25.

It’s time.

When workers complained in late May that the payments hadn’t arrived, they were told it would be mid-june.

The pay — an extra $4 per hour, plus a lump sum $250 per month for workers who put in more than 100 hours that month — runs from April 25 to Aug. 13.

It’s for workers in places like retirement and longterm care homes, emergency shelters, jails and youth justice facilities and for some hospital staff.

It wasn’t perfect. Groups like paramedics and some hospital staff say they should have been included, and they’ve got a pretty good argument for it.

Regardless, the province has found ways to send out a lot of money to a lot of groups since COVID hit in mid-march. It’s time to pay these front-line workers the money that was promised.

All this comes as that other group of people so often hailed as “heroes” in the early days of COVID — grocery and retail workers — is learning there’s a limit to gratitude when money is involved.

The Toronto Star reported Thursday the province is making plans that could reduce the number of mandatory statutory holidays for retail workers to as few as three, from the current nine.

These heroes would be left with only Christmas, Good Friday and Canada Day as sure days off. For some, it means more days to earn money; for others who like to enjoy the same holidays the rest of us get, it could feel like a kick in the teeth.

On Friday, Premier Doug Ford rejected the idea. Good.

That plan came on the heels of several retail chains last weekend ending the $2-per-hour bonus pandemic pay they instituted at the start of COVID for their own front-line workers.

Walmart, Sobeys, the Loblaw chain that also includes places like No Frills and Shoppers Drug Mart, all declared that, in effect, the risk the workers face is basically over and the extra pay isn’t warranted now.

The risk, of course, is far from over. The curve is looking better and most stores have added safety measures to protect staff, but the virus is still spreading.

So thanks for your service. And the cheque is in the mail.