There is currently a vacancy on the SEIU-West Executive Board for members that work for the Community Based Organizations Sector.
Pinned
Virtual town halls (VTHs) were scheduled for the evenings of May 27 and 28 to update SEIU-West members about SAHO bargaining and answer bargaining questions. Unfortunately, the VTH on May 27 ran into major technical glitches. We apologize if you were one of the hundreds of members whose experienced this failure. We were not satisfied that the supplier of the VTH platform would be able to properly fix these problems in time, so we decided to cancel the May 28 VTH.
You may have noticed there hasn't been an announcement about bbqs for the summer yet.
The SEIU-West First Nations, Métis and Inuit Committee (FNMIC) is hosting a contest to design an image for orange shirts that the committee provides yearly to members. Submit your design to enter to win a $100 Co-op gift card.
Disclaimer: the following information is based on what SEIU-West found on publicly available federal government websites. This information is subject to change as it comes from outside sources. We will update this post further as information becomes available.
SEIU-West member Carla works in an urban hospital as a Medical Lab Tech (MLT), specifically in hematology. She manages coagulation therapy and analyzes blood counts for patients with leukemia, gastrointestinal bleeds, heart attacks, and monitors patients during surgeries.
Carla's life and job were busy before COVID-19 hit and both have just gotten busier over the past year. Rural hospitals from across the province send in COVID samples to be processed and analyzed. The pressure of knowing someone is waiting on results as the samples stack up has been draining. Her team is doing their best in these circumstances, but the daily worry of whether they themselves catch COVID, or bring it home to their loved ones only adds anxiety to an already stressed work environment. Like so many health care workers, MLTs patiently await their vaccine and hope the virus numbers go down soon. She’s watched her coworkers exit the system over the past year, likely in part to the anxiety of COVID and the stress it’s added to the field.
One of Carla’s favorite memories this winter was when she left work after a night shift knowing that there were COVID samples that had yet to be processed and when she returned the next day they were caught up. It took a snow storm to assist in getting through the backlog.
Carla would love to send a message to thank everyone that has assisted us to limit transmission by using masks and sanitizer, and limiting themselves to essential travel and needs.
We are proud to send a message back to everyone on Carla’s team during National Medical Laboratory Week thanking all who work in our provincial lab services for their incredible dedication and work to help diagnose and protect everyone across the province.
It’s National Medical Laboratory Week, a time to reflect on the health care professionals who work behind the scenes to help diagnose everything from cancer to diabetes to COVID-19.
To celebrate, take the opportunity to learn a bit of the terminology our members working in medical labs use every day with this crossword puzzle contest! Send a picture of yourself holding your completed Medical Lab Week crossword puzzle to [email protected] by Friday, April 16, 2021 at 5PM, for your chance to win a gift card! Download a printable PDF copy of the puzzle here, and if you're stuck, find a link to the answer key here.
Date: April 8, 2021
Greetings Sisters and Brothers,
Your SEIU-West bargaining committee continues to work with SAHO and the Employer on the final details related to bargaining: checking to make sure that all of the new or changed language is included in the collective agreement, checking the wage schedules, and managing format and grammar issues.
On Thursday April 1, 2021 SEIU-West hosted a question and answer session about the direction and handling of the COVID pandemic in Saskatchewan with University of Saskatchewan microbiology and immunology professor Dr. Kyle Anderson.
You can watch the full-length video by clicking here, or watch and share these bite-sized vignettes from our YouTube channel playlist.
Check back with this page regularly for updated videos and information from Dr. Kyle.
Provincial Budget Ignores Realities of COVID
April 8, 2021 (Regina, SK) – Despite what we hear in the media about the provincial government’s spending plan for this fiscal year, it’s all too obvious that the priorities in this budget do not coincide with any of the social programs or ministries hardest hit by COVID-19.
“We have noted that the lowest budgetary increases were to K-12 education, followed by the health sector at 5-6%. On the flip side, there is an over 500% increase to the Ministry of Trade and Export. This is telling when we look at our provincial priorities over the last year,” says Barbara Cape, President of SEIU-West.
“Specifically, this budget provides no comfort to our members who work in Community-Based Organizations (CBO),” adds Cape. “For the last 13 years, our members who work in the CBO sector have campaigned vigorously for multi-year funding. This government has ignored the ongoing hardships that they face due to a lack of stability.”
SEIU-West CBO members provide valuable client-facing front line care and services in group homes, crisis response, addiction recovery facilities and day care centres and regularly face the challenge of provincial funding running out.
“On the failed promise of hiring 300 Continuing Care Assistants (CCAs), a mere 5% increase to the CCA positions in long-term care was insufficient at best; now in this budget reveals they will not keep their commitment – rather we see a ‘down payment’ of only 100, potentially, during this fiscal year,” continues Cape. “This is unconscionable as the need is so very pronounced; a fact made so abundantly clear during our prior year of long-term care tragedies during a global pandemic.
“The additional strain on our health care system due to the onslaught of sickness and death during COVID has not been addressed in this budget. We are not certain how our members in the health sector can place any trust in our government. We question how the $56 million allocated to the Temporary Wage Supplement in 2020-21 was spent as there is no transparency here. We know that it was not offered equitably to all front line essential workers in health care.”
The Saskatchewan Temporary Wage Supplement has not been offered to health care providers who work in hospitals and only included those who work in home care during the second round of payments.
“Finally, our members in education support continue to suffer from the previous funding cuts in this sector; an increase of 2.3% does not even measure inflation. COVID has presented a need for added student supports; this funding demonstrates that our provincial government are unwilling to fund these supports. It’s a reckless dismissal of education quality concerns voiced by students, parents and those who work in the sector and will haunt our province for years to come.”
Service Employees International Union West (SEIU-West) represents over 13,000 people across Saskatchewan. They include people who work in health care, education, municipalities, community-based organizations, retirement homes and other sectors. They are joined by one colour – purple – and one union – SEIU-West. Visit PurpleWorks.ca to find out more about SEIU-West members.
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For more information, contact:
Christine Miller
Communications
306-477-8733
To print a downloadable version of this release, please click here.
This week Saskatchewan's Minister of Health, Paul Merriman, contacted SEIU-West to ask how he could best increase the COVID19-vaccination rate for health care workers.
We couldn’t believe he was unaware of the many health care workers who have been waiting for the offer of the vaccine.
So we asked him: why were all health care workers and essential workers were not included in Phase 1?
He said there were "difficult decisions" that had to be made.
We don’t think our Minister of Health understands the vast number of health care workers who feel like they have been let down in his vaccine roll-out plan; we know that we have assisted members, and managers have also tried to appeal for health care workers to be prioritized….so we want you to call Paul.
If you’re waiting for a vaccine offer and/or if you had an exceptional number of hurdles to get your vaccine offer – please tell him – he needs to know that blaming health care workers for his uptake problem is a mistake….his mistake.
Paul’s number at the Saskatchewan Legislature in Regina is (306) 787-7345.
His Saskatoon office number is (306) 244-5623.
Better Call Paul!
CBOs to Sask Party: Is this year our Lucky 13?
Unions call for multi-year funding for CBOs in provincial budget
For Immediate Release
March 30, 2021, REGINA – In a letter sent today to Finance Minister Donna Harpauer, CUPE, SEIU-West, and SGEU are asking that next week’s provincial budget include commitments to multi-year funding for community-based organizations.
The letter, titled “CBOs to Sask Party: Is this year our Lucky 13?” points out that thirteen years ago, Harpauer – then the Minister of Social Services – held a consultation with CBOs to identify challenges in the sector and hear ideas on how the government might address them.
At that time, CBOs, unions and workers told the Sask Party that single-year funding was one of their biggest challenges to providing quality services in the community, and proposed a move to a multi-year funding model.
Thirteen years later, CBOs are still waiting for an answer – and in the meantime, workers and the vulnerable people they serve are left struggling needlessly. As the letter notes, “Getting one year of funding at a time makes it impossible to provide stable, reliable services to clients. Organizations never know from one year to the next if they’ll be able to keep their doors open to provide the meaningful services that make our communities stronger.”
With the provincial budget set to be released on April 6th, unions representing CBO workers are asking: will this be the year the Finance Minister steps up and gives CBOs the multi-year funding they deserve?
You can download and print a copy of the letter to Harpauer by clicking here.
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For media inquiries please contact:
Amy Huziak, SGEU
306-530-5683
Tammy Robert, SEIU-West
306-652-1011 x 2225
Nathan Markwart, CUPE Saskatchewan
306-537-9426
Saskatchewan is one of the few Canadian provinces that does not have pay equity legislation in place. We also have one of the highest gender wage gaps in Canada, which is simply unacceptable.
The Saskatchewan NDP Opposition have launched this petition to call on Scott Moe's government to implement pay equity legislation. It is essential for the government to take this much needed step in order to level the economic playing field for working women in Saskatchewan.
In order to formally table petitions in the Saskatchewan Legislature, physical signatures must be collected from signees.
If you are interested in collecting signatures for this petition, please click here to print the PDF, which also includes information on where completed petition pages are to be mailed.
Health Care Workers and COVID Vaccination: What Moe Doesn’t Know
March 24, 2021
Saskatoon, Sask – SEIU-West members are shocked and angered by Premier Scott Moe’s misleading claims about the ability and willingness of health care workers (HCWs) to receive a COVID vaccination.
During a March 23 news conference Moe claimed that 57% of HCWs who were eligible under Phase 1 had taken the vaccine, but that he wished more would do so.
“Let’s set the record straight,” says Barb Cape, President of SEIU-West. “The fact is that only 60% of our 47,000 Saskatchewan health care workers have been offered the vaccine in Phase 1. If all health care providers in all areas of the health care system had been offered a vaccine in Phase 1 there would be higher percentages.”
“There have been repeated requests from SEIU-West and Saskatchewan Health Authority managers to expand the priority list to include screening staff; lab staff; and home care staff. Premier Moe has ignored health care providers in home care and in hospitals since the beginning of this pandemic.”
While vaccines for Long-Term Care staff and residents have been at the forefront, hospital workers who work in patient registration, housekeeping, labs, security, screening, and even people working in vaccine clinics have been left out of the plan.
“We’ve been saying from the beginning of the rollout that all health care providers should be offered the vaccine in Phase 1,” continues Cape. “And this position is supported by the recommendations of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI).”
SEIU-West members have been engaged in a campaign to gain public support for all health care workers to be included in Phase 1 of the vaccine roll out.
“The fact that people who are interacting with the public in their homes or in health care facilities and providing care to both COVID and non-COVID patients on a regular basis have not been offered the vaccine is abhorrent and ignores guidelines and advice from the experts,” adds Cape. “The clear lack of respect for the health and well-being of front line health care workers is despicable and flies in the face of their ‘essential worker’ status.”
Service Employees International Union West (SEIU-West) represents over 13,000 people across Saskatchewan. They include people who work in health care, education, municipalities, community-based organizations, retirement homes and other sectors. They are united by one colour – purple – and one union – SEIU-West. Visit PurpleWorks.ca to find out more about SEIU-West members.
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For more information, contact:
Christine Miller
Communications
306-477-8733
Click here to download this media release as a PDF.