Community Social Services: Revised Wage Grids for Paraprofessional Classifications

The following bulletin contains important information for HSA members covered by the Community Social Services collective agreement paraprofessional wage schedule. Many members in supervisory roles and in classifications comparable to the Health Science Professional collective agreement’s Disciplines Allied to Social Work (i.e. counselling professions) are likely affected by these changes.

The 2023 and 2024 wage schedules for paraprofessional occupations have been finalized, and the rates for counselling professions and supervisory roles have increased. You can check the wage grids to see if your wage has gone up. If it has, you will also receive retro pay from your employer back to the date of the increase (either April 1, 2023 or April 1, 2024).

This recent review was always scheduled to come after the wage rates for Health Science Professionals (HSPBA) were finalized, which took place earlier this fall, as part of the long-term and ongoing work of aligning CSSBA paraprofessional rates to HSPBA rates.

If you have questions, please reach out to @email for assistance.

Revised wage grids for paraprofessional classifications only are now available. Please see the joint Community Social Services Bargaining Association (CSSBA) / Community Social Services Employers’ Association (CSSEA) summary of the changes and the revised 2023 and 2024 wage grids for complete details.
 
CSSBA and CSSEA agreed in the last round on wage adjustments towards parity for CSS paraprofessionals with health science professionals working under the Health Science Processionals Bargaining Association (HSPBA) collective agreement. We reported in March of this year that the parties had been unable to reach agreement on HSPBA comparability and that discussions were continuing. The parties subsequently reached agreement that will bring significant increases to CSS paraprofessional classifications, in some cases retroactive to 2023, representing a big step towards parity with the HSPBA.
 
Highlights include:
 
Retroactive to April 2023:

• 3.50% wage increases for paraprofessional classifications in Grid 13-P, 14-P, 15-P, and 16-P.
• 3.79% wage increase for the Step 4 rate for the Speech Language Pathologist Supervisor (Grid 18-P-SLP) classification.
• Layered-over paraprofessional supervisors without an existing benchmark will be paid at a rate of one additional grid or a minimum of 8% above the highest job supervised.

Retroactive to April 2024:

• 4.41% wage increase for the Step 4 rate for the Occupational Therapist Supervisor (Grid 17-P-OT) and Physiotherapist Supervisor (Grid 17-P-PT) classifications.
• 4.12% wage increase for the Step 4 rate for the Speech Language Pathologist Supervisor (Grid 18-P-SLP) classification.
• New supervisor benchmarks created for Infant Development Consultant Supervisor (Grid 15-P-IDC) and Supportive Child Development Consultant Supervisor (Grid 15-P-SCDC) classifications, with Step 4 rates matching the top rate of the April 2024 HSPBA wage schedule.

 
While available funding was insufficient to align all CSSEA/CSSBA paraprofessional classifications up to the HSPBA target rates, the classifications that remain below their target rates are 13-P, 14-P and 15-P. We remain proud of the health sector comparability adjustments achieved in the last round of bargaining and remain committed to fully closing the remaining health sector wage comparability gaps. We look forward to continuing the fight for equitable wages with and for you.