As you may already have heard, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has targeted hospital executive compensation as part of its pre-budget advocacy campaign, leading to an article in the Toronto Star. To read the article, click here.
Ontario’s hospitals are the most efficient in Canada and that is in part due to the fact that they have strong leadership. Competitive compensation is necessary to attract and retain highly-educated, highly-skilled hospital leaders.
In my view, hospitals have been very responsible with respect to management and executive salaries. Many hospitals have voluntarily frozen executive pay and many others are following the Government of Ontario’s advice respecting Broader Public Sector executive salaries.
I am very disappointed with the SEIU for criticizing the salaries and benefits paid to others while trying to negotiate wages that are dramatically higher than those recently agreed to by unions who represent comparable employees (CAW, CUPE).
The SEIU’s recent allegations are simply a ploy to distract its members’ attention from the fact that it is the only hospital union in Ontario which has failed to finalize a collective agreement with the Ontario Hospital Association.
I am proud of the work that all hospital staff do and now is the time to stay focused on the important issues – making our health system strong and sustainable.
Tom