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The Top Parasite List
March 24, 2012 - 2:27pm
Greetings folks!
The Sunshine List is out, and you can review it for yourselves.
My thread idea is: Who is your Top Parasite in Ontario and why, what have they done to earn your wrath?
Alternatively, who is the Top Worker in Ontario and why, what makes them a good/decent human being?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/who-cracks-six-figures---or...
I did a check just at the top of the health care list, and the bottom, and basically, the people at the bottom of the list are the 'workers' these are the people who actually 'do' something in health care - clinical nurses, doctors, psychiatrists, radiation oncologists - these people I call Top Workers.
The Top Parasites in my view, scroll up to the highest pay categories and have a look - I've copied the top $500,000+ people and - you'll see CEO, Financial Officers.
St. Joseph's Health Care, London
Clifford
Nordal
President & Chief Executive Officer
$1,454,257.75
$3,034.36
University Health Network
Robert S.
Bell
President and Chief Executive Officer
$753,992.40
$76,050.13
Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care
William
Reichman
President & Chief Executive Officer
$740,669.86
$13,946.31
The Hospital for Sick Children
Mary
Haddad
President/Chief Executive Officer
$712,000.00
$28,043.93
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Barry
Mclellan
President/Chief Executive Officer
$703,311.18
$5,184.84
Mount Sinai Hospital
Joseph
Mapa
President & Chief Executive Officer
$687,612.58
$36,056.29
Centre for Addiction & Mental Health / Centre de toxicomanie et de santé mentale
Catherine
Zahn
President & Chief Executive Officer / Présidente-directrice générale
$674,999.35
$77,499.82
The Ottawa Hospital / L'Hopital d'Ottawa
John
Kitts
President / Président
$630,485.00
$70,862.95
Niagara Health System / Système de santé de Niagara
Debbie
Sevenpifer
President & Chief Executive Officer / Présidente-directrice générale
$618,300.00
$3,886.87
Hamilton Health Sciences
Murray
Martin
President, Chief Executive Officer
$614,569.94
$78,316.86
University of Ottawa Heart Institute / Institut de cardiologie de l'Université d'Ottawa
Robert
Roberts
President & Chief Executive Officer / Président-directeur général
$596,317.58
$291.60
St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton
Kevin P.
Smith
President/Chief Executive Officer, St. Joseph's Health System
$580,246.28
$73,073.56
Mount Sinai Hospital
The Credit Valley Hospital & Trillium Health Centre
Janet M.
Davidson
President & Chief Executive Officer/Président et directeur général
$562,250.31
$18,416.76
St. Michael's Hospital
Robert
Howard
President & Chief Executive Officer
$549,002.80
$33,679.77
London Health Sciences Centre
Bonnie
Adamson
President and Chief Executive Officer
$534,599.78
$20,172.79
Hôpital Montfort
Gerald R.
Savoie
Président-directeur général
$527,596.20
$3,520.26
The reason I've called them parasites is because what they take take from us is more salary than they deserve, considering that they aren't 'doing' medicine of any sort - these are superfluous baggage that takes 'too much' money from the system without returning a medical product of any sort. I removed a $500K radiologist - I have no idea why $500K for that particular radiologist when others make $100K, but I presume some special medical expertise because his was a medical posting if I understand the categories correctly. I also removed a clinical guy.
These are Top Workers - basically people who return a medical product, but take very little salary relative to the Top Parasites - they're presented for contrast - 'workers' are people who actually 'do' something. Look at the worker categories - it's so obvious these people actually 'contribute'.
Kingston General Hospital
Pharmacist II / Gestionnaire de programme, Programme de services centraux de traitement
$100,012.49
$475.08
St. Michael's Hospital
Nurse Practitioner, Adult
$100,011.60
$324.99
The Ottawa Hospital / L'Hopital d'Ottawa
Pharmacist / Pharmacien
$100,010.38
$398.77
Peterborough Regional Health Centre
Registered Nurse
$100,006.71
$445.95
Brockville General Hospital
Registered Nurse
$100,006.05
$461.67
Southlake Regional Health Centre / Centre régional de santé Southlake
Registered Nurse, Intensive Care Unit
$100,001.92
$425.39
University Health Network
Scientist Neuro Physiologist
$100,001.20
$204.78
West Park Healthcare Centre
These people don't need shaming so I removed their names.
Another thing to keep in mind about some of the workers on this list is that one-time lump sum payments are also included in these totals. A few years ago during the transit strike in Ottawa union-bashers made a lot of hay about the fact that there were a few bus drivers on the sunshine list. But the reality was that they were only on the list as a result of receiving some sort of financial settlement from their employer, and were hardly representative of a typical bus operator.
Freedom 55 yes this is the problem with the Sunshine List - it gets used by NeoCons to flesh out anyone in a union who makes decent money.
Also I bet some of those are folks who make a fair bit of overtime. I worked for a month in Northern Manitoba a few years ago, and there were some guys who were pulling in over six figures. But you don't need to be earning an exorbiant hourly wage to do that when you're putting in 80 or 90 hour weeks.
This was the weasel who got his sleazy ass handed to him by CBC's Marketplace this week for presiding over filthy and germ-laden hospitals. Anybody else catch that show?
We watched it. Tommy P. and I were completely disgusted.
Now this is the kind of expose that the CBC excels at.
St. Joe's is a place you go to die.
One of my neighbours was on the list a couple of years ago. She's an elementary teacher who teaches kids with developmental disabilities. She was on some kind of plan where you can self-pay a sabbatical -- they hold back 20% of your salary annually and on year 5 you get the year off (because you have paid for it). However, she opted out of the plan in the third or fourth year, and it showed her salary - -which was actually something like 80K, she had 25 years + of experience -- as around 140k, because they paid her back the money she had banked in the plan, on top of her regular salary. So I saw on some of the Con sites people saying, wow, look, elementary teachers are making 140K which of course was and is ridiculous.
There is a name in that list, some teacher with a northern school board, who has a listed salary of around 400K, which of course cannot possibly be salary. Could it be some kind of court settlement -- winning a lawsuit perhaps?
That's pretty scary. I have some surgery coming up in the next few months (not scheduled yet) and all this talk about hospital-borne infections is terrifying me when I let myself think about it.
Yes, my understanding is that settlements are included in these figures.
Yes. Over a hundred correctional officers (jail guards) are on the list. Their base salary is in the area of $ 25/hour, so to make over $100,000, they basically have no personal lives.
Couldn't agree more; except there aren't enough pharmacists on the list :)
Don't be terrified, Michelle. As a young and relatively healthy person, you are at low risk. It's not like there's no risk, but the media has a lot to answer for, in terms of fear-mongering. The vast majority of people who die from these "superbugs" are elderly and/or have major chronic health problems (cancer, long-term poorly-controlled diabetes, emphysema, autoimmune disorders, cystic fibrosis, people on ventilators, etc).
For example, many of us are carriers of MRSA, a much-vaunted superbug that has gotten lots of press as a cause of flesh-eating disease, etc. In my workplace, the vast majority of MRSA infections are cysts or glorified pimples that don't even require an antibiotic to treat (we know these are MRSA because our doctor is a bit obsessive about culturing every infection he sees). Whereas we've had two cases of very nasty flesh-eating disease caused by GAS (group A strep), that is nicely susceptible to penicillin, but also so virulent that one fellow ended up losing about a quarter of the flesh on his lower leg.
Just watched it now - thanks for the link! And yeah, it was great watching that guy squirm. He should!
I'm really glad they made it clear that the staff are not to blame. Imagine having to clean three hospital floors in one shift and trying to get all the high-touch areas disinfected. I can't even imagine what kind of job that would be.
Thanks, Sineed, that does make me feel a bit better. I've never been afraid of hospitals before, but you can bet that I'll be bringing a ton of disinfectant wipes with me to rub down surfaces when I have to check in!
Not just that. It tends to undermine its own purpose by giving managers hard information to negotiate with. It's easy to point out that so-and-so over in this other agency has a similar job but gets paid $20,000 a year more, so where's the raise?
So, do these comments add up to an AMEN to Horwath's proposal to cap public sector salaries at $418,000--twice the salary paid to the Premier and about 21 times the Ontario minimum wage?
I have the feeling that some of us aren't altogether pleased with the NDP's proposal.
The concern seems to be about her pushing that instead of a social assistance increase. It's not that it's a bad idea but it's not correcting the worst part of the budget.
Perhaps you are correct, but I think the reticence may have another basis.
As I see it, the income inequality jar has two handles, both of which need to be taken in hand:
This second objective can be pursued both by capping incomes and by taxing incomes. Today's (Monday, April 2) Toronto Star contains an opinion piece "Raise taxes to roll back inequality" by Doctors for Fair Taxation.
The organization asks the NDP to vote against the Ontario budget unless the government agrees to increase taxes on high-income-earning Ontarians. This item was not yet in the online edition when I searched for it at 10 AM this morning, so here are the highlights of what DFT asks:
Doctors for Fair Taxation also wants the NDP to demand that McGuinty mandate the finance committee to review other potential revenue instruments and make recommendations in time for next year's budget.
As I mentioned, I have no link to this item in the online edition, but here's a link to a column about DFT by Thomas Walkom from the March 21st edition:
"These high-income docs want the rich to pay" http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1149981--walkom-these-high-income-docs-want-the-rich-to-pay
DFT bases the demands it makes on the impact that inequality has on health, in particular, and on social well-being generally. A parallel group Lawyers for Fair Taxation has been created. A group of religious leaders is organization Clergy for Fair Taxation.
Is there any chance of our seeing the creation of Pharmacists for Fair Taxation, Professional Engineers for Fair Taxation, College Teachers for Fair Taxation (I was one of these), University Professors for Fair Taxation, . . . other suggestions from people here who are now or who were in the top 10% of taxpayers? Or are Rabble Rousers not fair game for participation in the struggle to Close the Gap?
It's just one more Thousand Mile Journey, Brachina. Those who believe there is a royal road to social justice will look for another route. I wish them well and hope to hear how they get on with their own journey.
The NDP under Andrea's leadership need to ask for both tax high incomes and raise low incomes to create more equity and lesson the income gap.
The well off who are smart know that this is not sustainable and therefore not secure for them.
Some of them are smart.
Then there are the well off who also have a conscience.
Actually some of them do.
Yes. What could be simpler--simpler, that is, for us who need to demand that NDP/Andrea do so.
They/she may have another opinion and may do something else, perhaps because they are smarter than us, because they know more than us, or because,their goals are not the same as ours.
Not sure I know what you mean, Gaian, but I am curious about this: What did Andrea say in response to your message asking that she and the NDP demand McGuinty and the Liberals increase taxes for the top 10% if they want NDP support?
Psst... Pass it on to everyone you know! If we all write to Dalton & Andrea ... ....we can stop this budget that would destroy Ontario
email Dalton: dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org email Andrea: ahorwath-co@ndp.on.ca
Well, then, I guess in that case we should just give up and support Liberal attacks on social assistance recipients and the public sector. Go along to get along!
At this point, even Horwath is putting up more of a fight than you seem willing to. What's the point of there being an NDP if they don't try to change the minds of a "grumpy" "Mainstreat" that is "not up for altruism"?
You don't accept the Ontario Federation of Labour's polling data, but Andrea Horwath has her own little poll going, and she reports that "many, many people think it's worth having [an election] over this budget."