Posted by Open letter to the Minister of Health and the Premier Legault
Hello
I am writing to you today to make you aware of the problem that our health care workers are facing with the exorbitant price of parking for employees.
It is not for pleasure that our employees travel by car. Rents are increasingly expensive in Montreal and many of our members have to move away in order to find decent housing for their families. This distance often condemns them to have to take their car.
At the MUHC, a housekeeper earns, at most, $19.67 per hour gross. The parking cost of $115 per month represents 5.8 hours of work and, for a beneficiary attendant, it represents 5.1 hours of work.
At the CHUM, the monthly rate is even higher, $134 per month, which means that a housekeeper must work 6.8 hours and the PAB must work 6 hours.
.All this is totally abusive and disproportionate with the low income of our “guardian angels“. Our employees’ salaries have not kept up with inflation since 2004. Your “guardian angels” are getting poorer every year.
The price difference between the CHUM and the MUHC is probably due to the fact that these parking lots are owned by PPP firms who exercise their rights as owners to impose such abusive rates.
For the past year, parking has been free because our employers had a huge need for as many health care workers as possible, of all job titles in order to fight this pandemic.
Now, not only is parking no longer free, even though the pandemic is not over, but we are facing a rate increase. And even if the pandemic was over, our members are still essential are still low paid and the least you could do is to provide free parking at all times for health care workers.
The government must not allow the PPP firms to act with impunity and abuse health care workers.
We ask that you act and, if this means taking back the ownership of our parking lots, then do it, because the PPP is only looking for profit while we are serving the population.
Thank you for your consideration of this letter
Thank you
Robert Lagueux
President MUHCEU – CSN
www.secusm.org