Re: Article “Homecare CEO’s salary jumped 64% since 2008,” which appeared on NorthernLife.ca Feb. 20.
I note with some consternation the board of the North East Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) defends the outrageous salary level of its chief executive, Richard Joly, as an “industry standard” reflecting “new duties.”
Despite denials by the CCAC board, Joly’s staggering reported 64 per cent increase over five years, between 2008 and 2013 (an average of 13 per cent per year), most certainly should be compared to the meagre four per cent raise received by the average CCAC RN over a similar period.
These CCAC health professionals are the people who co-ordinate the care and services for 565,000 residents in the North East CCAC catchment area.
The CCAC employers tried to force our 3,000 members at nine CCACs across Ontario to accept another round of wage freezes after frozen wages in two of the last three years, forcing them out on strike for two weeks in bitter subzero temperatures.
I find it interesting that Joly’s salary is been justified as keeping pace with his industry peers, yet our proposal for a meagre wage increase of 1.4 per cent in each of two years, plus a two per cent northern allowance, would still not bring these essential health professionals close to the salaries of their colleagues in the hospital and homes for the aged sectors. This small wage proposal was categorically rejected by Richard Joly and the other CCAC CEOs.
Now, as we wait for an arbitrator to determine what our members will be receiving, perhaps Joly and the North East CCAC board would consider “RN peer parity” as equally justified.
Linda Haslam-Stroud,
RN, president, Ontario Nurses’ Association