The banging of pots and pans for health-care workers at 7 p.m. pretty much stopped months ago.
Health-care workers can likely accept that, but what stings is the disrespect some feel they have been shown by the B.C. government over long delays in receiving promised pandemic pay.
As many as 120,000 health care workers are still waiting for temporary pandemic pay top-ups of $4 an hour, promised by the B.C. government in the spring.
Workers like “Sue the nurse” who wrote me because she is one of the workers still waiting.
“Everyone else is getting real money,” said Sue, who works in Burnaby. “And paid days off to stay home. And what do us health-care workers get? Nothing. Except hearts on windows and banging pots and pans at 7 p.m. Excuse me for being a bit mad. … And don’t get me wrong. We appreciate all the support and the love. I don’t want to sound unappreciative. But after weeks and weeks of stress with no end in sight, (and facing) a second wave here now, we are burnt out and the government and our employers are not taking care of us.”
The government said it expects most of the payouts to be made by January 2021.
The Hospital Employees’ Union said health care workers on the front lines of the pandemic in long-term care homes and hospitals, and in health and community social services are waiting for temporary pandemic pay for straight time and overtime worked between March and July.
“We recognize that the timing of the pay distribution has, for many eligible employees, prevented them from receiving much-needed funds in time for the holiday season during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the province said in a statement.
HEU spokesman Mike Old said some of the lowest-paid workers in the health care system are going to be the last to get the pandemic pay. While for some it may be in the pipeline it’s not likely before Christmas “which is a shame,” Old said.
Old acknowledges the administrative financial framework is complex but said “at the end of the day the government should have realized this would be complicated and put the necessary resources at it.”
“I can assure them they will get the pay they are promised,” Health Minister Adrian Dix said during a COVID-19 media briefing.
He described the pandemic pay process as quite complicated. “It would have been nice for it to come sooner but it will come.”
“I totally agree with their frustration,” said Dix. “We feel that as well. But they will all get their pandemic pay.”
The delays are largely due to “administrative complexities” associated with distributing a new program to an estimated 250,000 employees working for hundreds of different employers, the province said in a statement.
To date, $211 million in temporary pandemic pay has been provided to approximately 134,000 of about 250,000 eligible employees, the province said.
- With files from Cindy Harnett, Victoria Times Colonist
