Licenced practical nurses among the lowest paid GN workers

It is that time of year again when the Government of Nunavut gives the annual bonus to all its GN employees, with the exception of teachers and nurses.

It is summarized below:

Continuous service bonuses will be paid to Government of Nunavut employees (except Nunavut Teachers’ Association members and nurses) on Dec. 5, 2014. To be eligible to receive the continuous service bonus, you must have a minimum of three years of continuous service with the GN, as of December 1, 2014.

The amount employees receive is based on years of service, as follows:

• three, four or 5 years of continuous service: $1,000;

• six, seven, eight, nine or 10 years of continuous service: $2,000;

• eleven, 12, 13, 14 or 15 years of continuous service: $3,000;

• sixteen 17, 18, 19 or 20 years of continuous service: $4,000; and,

• twenty-one or more years of continuous service: $5,000.

The continuous service bonus is only for service with the GN and does not include any continuous service with other government affiliates, hamlets, City of Iqaluit, and so on.

Relief employees who are eligible for a continuous service bonus will be paid their bonus on Dec. 12, 2014. Nurses do not get this as they have a monthly front line bonus.

However, there is one small group of people that gets neither this nor the frontline bonus: the Licenced Practical Nurses, or LPNs.

The LPNs, previously called CNAs, are the workhorses of the health system, particularly in the hospital. They work at the clinic area, they organize everything, they guide doctors through the system when needed.

They know the patients by their first names. Some of them have even trained fledgling nurses. Some of them have been here for over 10 years.

Years ago, when the registered nurse job description was reviewed and the pay scale moved up, the LPNs were left behind. They now get paid less than IT specialists.

The union representing nurses has tried in vain to get these people their just pay. It was being handled by the now retired Doug Workman.

The reply was always that it was up to job evaluation staff at Human Resources.

Then someone high up said they don’t qualify for bonuses because they aren’t nurses. But then no one told payroll that they should be getting the yearly bonuses as well.

These ladies and gents are among the lowest paid in the Department of Health.

They do not get any of these bonuses because they are such a small group. I guess no one thinks they will put up much of a fight. They have been trying, but it is an exhausting process.

Now that we have a new minister and a new deputy minister, who has a health care background, can someone please show these people the respect that they deserve?

Year after year they do not get any acknowledgement of their hard work. The hospital would fall apart without them. The continuing care facility would as well.

These people deserve bonuses more than those who get thousands and thousands every year. And yet no one stands up for them.

Their union has tried, but the GN doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge that they even exist.

Can someone please give credit where credit is due? No, I am not an LPN. But I am a GN veteran who knows how hard these ladies and gents work. They deserve better.

Please do not publish my email address or name. I may be a GN veteran — but you know how the GN is.

(Name withheld by request)
Nunavut

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