{"id":827150,"date":"2026-07-26T12:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T12:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/827150\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T12:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T12:41:10","slug":"bonuses-for-some-but-not-all-tradespeople-forcing-some-to-consider-leaving-sector-welders-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/827150\/","title":{"rendered":"Bonuses for some \u2014 but not all \u2014 tradespeople forcing some to consider leaving sector, welders say"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Trades workers in a Newfoundland and Labrador government depot say policy is paying some of their colleagues tens of thousands more dollars while leaving others with nothing for the same amount of work \u2014 and it’s driving new and veteran hires alike to look elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Matthew Critch, a public-sector welder in the Clarenville area, told CBC News a market adjustment bonus paid to heavy equipment mechanics grants his colleagues around an extra $1,000 of pensionable earnings per paycheck \u2014 a bonus only given to a very select group of workers.<\/p>\n

“All of the rest of us who have been on the same pay scale for the past 13 years that I’ve been there, aren’t getting any of it,” Critch said.<\/p>\n

The provincial government pays out market adjustment bonuses to workers in positions of particularly high demand. The money is a recruitment tool, according to the provincial government, to attract people to positions with an acute shortage.<\/p>\n

Heavy equipment mechanics received a $12,000 bonus last year, which was bumped up to $24,000 this year. Snow plow operators also receive a bonus of around $14,600.<\/p>\n

Other positions in the same depot, like welders, carpenters, electricians and other engineers, don’t get that bonus.<\/p>\n

Critch said that dynamic has divided his workplace \u2014 and he is open to leaving the government for other opportunities.<\/p>\n

“Lots of days, it’s nothing to hear a couple jabs or jibes about, you know, what you’re worth or how they’re getting more or this and that,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’m trying to be hopeful and fight for some equality between all of us \u2026 But I can’t take that possibility [of leaving] off the table.”<\/p>\n

The provincial government says heavy equipment mechanics are in high demand for things like 24-hour snow clearing, which means bonuses are a required recruitment and retention tool. (Cecil Haire\/CBC)<\/p>\n

In an emailed statement to CBC News, Department of Transportation and Infrastructure spokesperson Janelle Simms wrote the roles that receive bonuses are in high demand, specifically citing essential workers for winter road maintenance.<\/p>\n

The statement also said targeted wage adjustments aren’t applied to positions where recruitment and retention pressures are “more stable\u201d but that could change if challenges emerge.<\/p>\n

But Jody Mackey, another welder in the same shop as Critch, believes those challenges already exist.<\/p>\n

LISTEN | The CBC’s Leigh Anne Power looks into the issue of market adjustments:<\/p>\n

CBC Newfoundland Morning7:29Some NL government workers get big bonuses. Others? Nothing<\/p>\n

The provincial government employs many skilled tradespeople, who repair the heavy equipment that clears snow and keeps the roads safe. Other workers keep hospitals and schools in good repair. But some are angry because they see their colleagues in the same shop receiving large salary bonuses, while others get nothing. The CBC’s Leigh Anne Power has been looking into the issue.<\/p>\n

He told CBC News he’s recently watched apprentices walk out the door because their pay isn’t good enough, and said the province \u2014 which has lofty infrastructure goals in the coming years \u2014 could ultimately pay the price.<\/p>\n

“[The apprentices were] really good people,” Mackey said. “They’re going to, well, pay for it in the long run, for sure. Because the work is not going to get done as much as it did before.”<\/p>\n

Bonuses will be serious bargaining issue: NAPE<\/p>\n

Jerry Earle, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees, said the union has argued market adjustments have been a long outdated, ineffective and divisive tool.<\/p>\n

“What it does is actually creates further inequity between trades and certain bargaining units. And then it actually creates inequity between bargaining units themselves,” said Earle.<\/p>\n

\"ANAPE president Jerry Earle says the market adjustment payments will be a contentious issue during collective bargaining with the Newfoundland and Labrador government. (Darryl Murphy\/CBC)<\/p>\n

His comments come as NAPE prepares to go into collective bargaining with the province. He said the adjustments will be a significant issue, and that the government is unaware of the problem it has created.<\/p>\n

“Municipalities are paying more. Some of the companies, such as the mining companies in Newfoundland and Labrador, are paying significantly more. And what we’re going to find is now the private system is actually going to pull these much needed trades workers out of our public system,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We cannot lose those trades.”<\/p>\n

Download our\u00a0free CBC News app<\/a>\u00a0to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our\u00a0daily headlines newsletter here<\/a>. Click\u00a0here to visit our landing page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-827150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}