Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 16/99) - Nunavut nurses have been paid less than nurses in the Western Arctic since the April 1 creation of two territories.

Although nurses in the East and West are covered under basically identical collective agreements, an accounting calculation has been short-changing Nunavut nurses on every paycheque since division.

The chief executive officer for the Baffin Regional Health Board, Jarvis Hoult, said the shortage in pay most likely derives from an accounting error from the Government of the Northwest Territories.

"It has come to our attention that the pay grade calculation that we use to evaluate and subsequently pay nurses in the west appears to be different than that which we have been advised to use," Hoult said. "That advice, as I understand it, came from the GNWT in Yellowknife."

Hoult says there is a great deal of confusion as to how the shortage came about.

"There are conflicting reports right now and I have my people looking into it," he said. "On the surface it appears that two different formulas are being used. That has resulted in the different pay scales between the Northwest Territories and the Territory of Nunavut.

"The upshot being, that it would appear that the GNWT is using a higher paygrade calculation."

Hoult said the problem will be corrected as soon as it's determined exactly where the mistake has been made.

"We have raised our concerns with the Nunavut Health and Social Services and they're looking into it," he said.

Deputy Minister for Nunavut Health and Social Services, Ken McCreary, said the hike in pay results from a recent re-evaluation of salaries conducted by the GNWT.

"It has to do with the job classification method, using what's called the Hay classification system," McCreary said. "They used to only use it for senior managers, but now they've switched it to include all employees.

"Each position was translated into so many points and each point was translated into so many dollars," he explained.

The Nunavut government inherited the same classification system following division, McCreary said, so consequently, the pay scales were identical on March 31, 1999.

"Subsequent to that, the GNWT has increased their pay scales," he said. "Now what we are doing is, we have gone to our financial management board seeking approval to implement the new scale.

"We're just waiting to get the decision paper on this back from our financial management board," he said.

"They will approve or deny or modify our request," he said.

"So right now there is a discrepancy in salaries? Will there be next month, I don't know -- I hope not," he said. "We're trying to prevent that."

Esvante Dunkers of the Nunavut Employees Union said the nurses in Nunavut and the Western Arctic are working under basically the same collective agreement, but that will all change next year when the two bargaining units negotiate separate agreements.

"They're all working under the current collective agreement," Dunkers said. "Now what will happen is, because there are two unions in there and two labour relations groups in there, there may be some interpretations that are slightly different."

Dunkers is not surprised by the confusion in the pay scales.

"That's to be expected," he said. "As with any legal document, it's like two devils quoting scripture."

Barbara Wyness, researcher for the Union of Northern Workers, said the rift in pay may grow further between East and West nurses with the addition of a $3 million nursing supplement that was recently instituted by the GNWT to recruit and retain nurses in the Western Arctic.

"We haven't concluded the memorandum of understanding on that, but it is in the works on how this $3 million is going to be distributed among nurses here in the west," Wyness said. "Some of it will be used for recruitment and some will be used for staff retention."