The Yukon Employees’ Union (YEU) is arguing the Yukon Hospital Corporation (YHC) should pay public Yukon hospital workers the same as it pays for staff from private agencies.
YHC has spent more than $24 million on nearly 3,000 invoices for agencies since 2021 as of Feb. 20, according to a document obtained by the union under access-to-information law.
The union’s recently issued summer newsletter features the call for better pay, citing the document. The union provided multiple packages of documents it obtained using access-to-information requests to the News. Another cache of files is contained in another separately released package obtained by the News by contacting the access office.
“Agency staffing often costs double the salary of a comparable full-time unionized worker at the YHC,” reads the YEU newsletter.
A table in the documents breaks down the pay range for unionized staff and agency staff. For example, it shows unionized X-ray technicians get paid between $37 and $47 per hour whereas agency X-ray technicians cost upwards of $120 per hour.
According to data previously obtained by the News, the Yukon has generally become more dependent on nurses from private firms over the years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The hospital corporation confirmed that continues to be the case — although it's not the goal.
READ MORE: COVID-19 pandemic upped Yukon’s dependency on private agency nurses
The union is critical of staffing agencies as “for-profit ventures.”
The YEU leadership claims not having enough unionized full-time staff is leading to burnout and a high turnover rate, which could see workers leaving the public sector for agency work in the private sector to find a better work-life balance.
“Relying on for-profit staffing agencies is not the solution. Rather, it is a symptom of a healthcare system that is not adequately being funded and resourced, leading to workers leaving public healthcare,” reads the YEU newsletter.
“The healthcare system in the Yukon has been running over capacity at workers’ expense. Non-competitive wages, poor working conditions, and over-work are leading workers to seek opportunities in other industries.”
The union believes it has the answer: “hire many more permanent staff for the same wages hospital management is willing to offer staffing agencies.”
YEU says the hospital corporation can pay YHC staff rates comparable to agencies.
“There are qualified healthcare workers available across the country. Many Yukoners often moved here from other parts of Canada because of employment opportunities. It is a matter of offering workers a more competitive wage and work-life balance relative to other healthcare jurisdictions, and/or staffing agencies in Canada,” reads an email response from YEU communications to the News' questions.
Can't afford it
The Yukon hospital corporation agrees that agency workers aren’t the answer to staffing crunches given the “significant” costs.
“It is not a solution we want to rely heavily on unless we absolutely need to in order to keep essential services available in the Yukon,” hospital spokesperson Jessica Apolloni said by email.
“Our priority is continuity of services for Yukoners, which at times requires us to utilize agency staff.”
A data sheet prepared last fall and previously released under access-to-information law is about 2023-24 fiscal pressures and cost containment plans.
The YHC document outlines key issues regarding the hospital corporation’s deficit of $2.9 million for the six months that ended Sept. 30, 2023. That deficit could rise to $6 million if costs aren’t contained, as noted in the document, which adds that cost containment measures are underway to try to slow that year-end deficit to $4.6 million.
“Pressure on nursing employee costs resulting from high usage of agency nurses at a significant premium as well as the associated costs to house and support an itinerant workforce” is listed as the first of five “themes” of pressures the hospital corporation is facing.
Other pressures listed are volumes and pressures in surgical services, increased volume and complexity of testing in outpatient services, higher costs due to inflationary pressures and “new” — increased volumes as well as costs for chemotherapy treatments.
Reducing the hospitals’ reliance on agency staff and bringing in the most cost-effective and qualified agency nurses is one cost containment strategy the nursing division has taken on, per the document.
Actions taken on this front summarized in the document include redeveloping the float pool to better fill vacancies, supporting new grads to work at Yukon hospitals and finding ways to get internationally educated nurses.
A Nov. 7, 2023, email from the YHC executive director of nursing, released through access-to-information law, indicates “we can no longer afford” to fill vacant operating room positions with agency nurses.
A YHC data sheet, dated Nov. 14, 2023, states that 57 per cent of the hospital corporation’s $115-million operating budget is spent on employee expenses. The document indicates spending must come down to hire resources to run at current service levels. This document prepared by the executive director of nursing reiterates what is in their previous email about not being able to afford to use agency nurses to fill operating room nursing positions.
The nursing director wasn't available for interview.
By email, Apolloni noted the hospital corporation is working to rely less on agency nurses, which are used in the emergency, surgical and mental health and maternity services departments, and at the hospitals in Watson Lake and Dawson City.
However, “directly matching agency rates is complex,” she said.
“YHC must carefully manage its resources to sustain operations, and while agency rates are higher, they also include costs to the agency that are not solely wages that the staff receives (e.g., administrative fees). In contrast, YHC employees get a total compensation package that includes benefits, pension, education funds, and more, which are not available to agency staff.”
According to Apolloni, YHC has been making efforts to recruit internationally educated nurses, get new grads and improve Indigenous workforce initiatives and programs to support and retain existing staff.
It’s seeing some success, she said, referring to a four-per-cent increase in filling permanent vacancies and teams with full-time positions filled.
Apolloni noted it’s part of the broader territorial health human resources strategy to address staffing issues. Before the territory’s plan came out, she previously told the News that bringing in agency nurses is part of a national plan for navigating a shortage of health-care workers.
YHC didn’t have updated data to provide on agency staffing costs for 2024 by press deadline.
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
