Stonebridge Crossing: Bargaining Bulletin No. 4
Date: April 12, 2024
Greetings Sisters, Brothers, and Colleagues,
A sizable portion of essential workers continue to be denied access to the federal funds intended to be provided as a wage top-up... for essential workers. Saskatchewan is the only province in Canada where frontline and essential health care workers are receiving the federally-funded wage supplement based on the facility you work in, not the job you perform.
Why are workers in Saskatchewan hospitals, mental health and a myriad of other healthcare-providing facilities being left out?
How did Scott Moe decide that the housekeeper scrubbing floors in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was somehow less essential than the housekeeper working in long-term care? How, a year into this pandemic, does he not understand that they are both essential, as is every single worker in the health care system? It's not even Moe's money, yet he decided to withhold it, apparently just because he can. And what’s he doing with the unspent $49 million that was targeted for essential workers?
It makes zero sense and it is very unfair.
Picking and choosing some workers to reward and other workers to deny is just one more way the Sask Party government degrades the incredibly hard work you all do, every day. It's one more method they're using to grind you down.
We recognize how frustrating this is; working together let’s try to use one voice to effectively force the Premier to do the right thing and extend the temporary wage supplement to ALL essential workers, retroactively and in the future; the supplement needs to be extended to those working in hospitals, public health and community-based organizations (CBOs) as well.
Check out this new advocacy campaign we're calling "Hey Moe, Where’s Our Dough?".
We need as many members as possible to take a picture, preferably in work clothes, holding a handwritten sign (8.5x11" is fine) with a message for the Premier. So if you work at Canadian Blood Services, we want to hear from you. If you work at St. Paul’s Hospital, we want to hear from you. If you work in a group home or at Sask Impaired Driver’s Treatment Center, we want to hear from you! Each one of you going to work every day is an essential worker, and we want to hear from you!
You may decide to write your own message. Or you could choose one of these:
- I received the temporary wage supplement and so should everyone else
- I’m essential but I did NOT receive the wage supplement
- Where's the money for essential workers wage top-ups going, if not to essential workers?
- Scott Moe thinks I’m not essential
- I deserve the Saskatchewan temporary wage supplement
Once you've taken your photo, please send it to [email protected], where we will share them across our multimedia platforms, to make all aware of what we think about this ridiculous decision, including the Premier.
Here are a couple of examples of what we are looking for:
On behalf of all members, we thank you so much in advance for taking the time out to help us fight for you and your brothers and sisters.
Together, united, we will never stop fighting for fairness for everybody.
Latest posts
Reports from Trans Prairie Wellness Summit
The SEIU-West Gender & Sexual Diversity Committee sponsored two delegates to attend the inaugural Trans Prairie Wellness Summit, which took place in Saskatoon in March. Below are the reports of the attendees.
Op-Ed: Harm Reduction Services in Saskatchewan
SEIU-West represents workers who work in Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), like addiction treatment centers, and frontline healthcare providers across the province of Saskatchewan. As such, SEIU-West is gravely concerned about recent cuts to harm reduction services.