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.
Political Grudge Match Ignores Fairness for Health Care
Saskatoon – This week, Premier Scott Moe confirmed the end of March as the target timeline for the vaccination of all who are living and working in long-term care and personal care homes in Saskatchewan.
“Our members are asking whether this is a pipe dream,” says Barbara Cape, President of SEIU-West. “It seems this is just another opportunity to criticize the Prime Minister’s office and the federal government for the pace of shipment of vaccines to Saskatchewan. We hope that political games are not being played on the backs of exhausted, broken and traumatized essential workers.”
This sense of skepticism comes as a result of failed leadership on the vaccine roll out plan and COVID-19 related issues since the beginning of the pandemic.
“We have been witness to a number of broken promises from Premier Moe – whether it be an increase in the number of Continuing Care Assistants to the sector or recruitment strategy within provincial lab services,” adds Cape. “Our skepticism has been reinforced when a sizable portion of essential workers continue to be denied access to the federal funds intended to be provided as a wage top-up. Does Scott Moe really believe there are workers in any health care setting who are not essential at this point of the Saskatchewan COVID experience?”
SEIU-West members working for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) have been raising concerns with the Saskatchewan Temporary Wage Supplement program which was introduced unilaterally by Scott Moe last spring. At that time, it specifically excluded both hospital and home care workers from automatic eligibility. The more recent phase, announced again by Moe late last year, specifically excludes all hospital workers unless they work in an integrated health care facility (eg. a hospital and long-term care home under the same roof) and was only offered for a two month window during a devastating second surge of COVID infections and hospitalizations.
“We have advised our members that neither SHA nor the Ministry of Health have offered us the opportunity to discuss the program or influence it in a meaningful way,” continues Cape. “We know from the Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives (CCPA) report released on January 26, that the province is sitting on $49.4 million of federal monies that were intended for essential workers.
“On behalf of our membership, I’m asking the public and Scott Moe’s Sask Party government to appreciate the incredible strength of our front line heroes working in health care and community-based sectors. They are working hard to protect our health, safety and lives, yet they feel largely abandoned by our provincial leaders,” states Cape.
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 under one colour – purple – and one union – SEIU-West. Visit PurpleWorks.ca to find out more about SEIU-West members.
Download this media release as a PDF.
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For more information contact:
Christine Miller, Communications
Phone: 306-477-8733
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.
Every February, SEIU-West members across this province demonstrate their commitment to practicing kindness by tackling workplace bullying on Pink Shirt Day.
Pink Shirt Day was inspired by the act of kindness of a group of teens in small-town Nova Scotia, after their fellow student was bullied for wearing pink to school. The following day, hundreds of students came to school wearing pink as an act of solidarity with their peer and to take a stand against bullying. Now countries across the globe organize anti-bullying Pink Shirt Day fundraisers of their own - in fact in 2020, more than 180 countries shared their support of Pink Shirt Day through social media posts and donations.
We are amazed every year by how many SEIU-West members get behind this important movement, and we're so excited to support your efforts again in 2021.
So this year on Wednesday February 24, or Pink Shirt Day 2021, we would love to see you all once again wearing a SEIU-West pink shirt or a pink shirt of your own. By sending us a photo of you and your coworkers wearing pink, you’ll be entered to win a prize for you and your coworkers!
How to enter: On February 24th, take a picture of you and your coworkers wearing pink shirts and email it to [email protected]. That's it!
To request 2021 SEIU-West pink shirts, please email [email protected] by February 15th. Please note that priority will be given to members and units which have not received shirts in previous years.
As they are every year, 2021 shirts are both a hot commodity and in limited supply... be sure to get your request in early!
Thank you EVERYONE who participated in SEIU-West's Family Literacy Day 'Best Book Ever' Contest! It was a lot of fun to see what books have inspired and entertained SEIU-West members' and their families. Here's our Best Book Ever Reading List 2021!
Children's:
| Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger | Moo Baa Lala | The Monster at the End of this Book | Miss Suzy |
| Where is the Green Sheep? | Go the F**k to Sleep | Very Hungry Caterpillar | The Bad Guys - series |
| I Am A Big Brother! |
Adult Fiction:
| The Tattoist of Auschwitz | All The Light We Cannot See | The Rescue (Nicholas Sparks) | The Quintland Sisters |
| The Stationery Shop | A Fine Balance | Cilka's Journey | The Guest List |
| Suzanna's Diary for Nicholas | Anne of Green Gables | Still Alice | To Kill A Mockingbird |
Adult Non-Fiction:
| The Secret: Daily Teachings | Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead | Good Vibes, Good Life | The 5 Love Languages |
| Turn on the Switch | One Thousand Gifts | Living the 90%: 9 Ways to be Happier | Think Like a Monk |
And a big congratulations to our winners of a Chapters/Indigo gift card!
| Calvin Y | Tammy C | Denise C | Stephanie G |
| Zaida P | Jeaninne R | Rita D | Misty S |
Winners were drawn at random and have all been notified. Thank you and we can't wait to do it again next year - happy reading!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 18, 2021
SEIU-West/SAHO Members' Vote Results
Saskatoon – Between January 11, 2021 and January 15, 2021, SEIU-West members who work for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) or an Affiliate voted on the question of whether to accept or reject the tentative agreement (TA) reached between SEIU-West and SAHO in November of 2020.
The tentative agreement has been accepted by a majority of the members who participated in the vote.
“Our members have signaled to us that the TA is acceptable. While we are never certain of how the membership will respond when we hold ratification votes, in this case we have been bargaining with SAHO for almost four years and health care workers have been under tremendous strain,” says Barbara Cape, President of SEIU-West. “Doing a vote of this nature during COVID was certainly a new challenge, however, I am satisfied with our democratic process and we will now begin our work to fulfill the direction provided by our members.”
SEIU-West members working for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) have been working without a contract since March 31, 2017.
“We have notified our members of the results and subsequently the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO), the Minister of Labour and the SHA and affiliates,” adds Cape. “Now we have to complete the final pieces of the ratification process.
“On behalf of our bargaining committee, I want to thank all of our members for their engagement and activism,” continues Cape. “Before you know it we’ll be back at the table and you can bet we’ll be expecting better from our provincial government.”
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 Coordinator
Phone: 306-477-8733
Click here to download a copy of this news release.
Click here to download a printable PDF file of SAHO/SEIU-West Bargaining Bulletin (2nd edition) No. 20.
Date: January 18, 2021
Greetings Sisters and Brothers,
Between January 11, 2021 and January 15, 2021, SEIU-West members who work for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) or an Affiliate voted on the question of whether to accept or reject the tentative agreement reached between SEIU-West and SAHO.
For Immediate Release, January 15, 2021
Saskatoon – Today SEIU-West members will complete their vote on the proposed Tentative Agreement (TA) reached with the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) in late November 2020 and will share the results on Monday January 18.
Find out more about the SAHO Tentative Agreement Vote; Vaccinations; Extendicare; and Family Literacy Day contest.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 14, 2021
Health Care Unions Wary of Government eHealth Priorities
Regina & Saskatoon – The unions representing information technologists within the Saskatchewan Health Authority are concerned about the recent investigation report released by the Saskatchewan Information & Privacy Commissioner, and the ongoing plan for the SHA to transfer all Information Technology assets (except for digital health) including employees to eHealth.
“To date there have been far too many unanswered questions; now we have discovered through Mr. Kruzeniski’s report that the board and leadership of eHealth is in disarray. We know that this is not the first time that the eHealth Board has been removed by the Sask Party government. A similar removal occurred in 2018. Top leadership of the organization also has been changed by the Ministry of Health. For the protection of our members and for the security of private health information for all in Saskatchewan, we believe that the pattern of chaos needs to be curbed and an identifiable period of stability established prior to any contemplation of the need for the move of valuable IT services out of the control of our provincial health authority. Trust badly needs to be restored.” says Barbara Cape, President of SEIU-West.
SEIU-West and CUPE 5430 leaders are not confident that the IT systems, supports and communication needs of the SHA can be met by eHealth. Nor do the union leaders believe that continuing to push this agenda of the Health Authority shedding responsibility will improve controls and monitorship of IT network access or increase testing of disaster recovery plans. The recent investigation and recommendations made reinforce ongoing concerns of SHA employees who are slated to transfer to eHealth.
At present, both the SHA and the Ministry of Health retain custody and responsibility for their IT services with an explicit duty to protect that information. Mr. Kruzeniski’s report confirms this continuing obligation. The unions believe that this oversight duty should prevail as a best practice.
Sandra Seitz, President of CUPE 5430, states, “Now, more than ever before, it is time to pause and fully contemplate the big picture. When the Privacy Commissioner expresses a lack of accountability and transparency on the part of all parties in reporting and managing this privacy breach and ransomware attack, it is so obvious that the decision to transfer all assets to eHealth needs to be reconsidered following the independent governance, management and program review of eHealth directed to be completed by the Minister of Health.”
IT employees of SHA and their union representatives have been engaged in endless restructuring talks since 2018.
Seitz adds, “Now is an opportune time to look at the real problems that exist - instead of stubbornly insisting upon jamming all assets into one organization that has not demonstrated responsible cyber security processes and policies, effective monitoring and controls, economies of scale or adequate incident response. We also recognize that government investment in IT systems infrastructure has been lacking for many years – cobbling together multiple aging IT systems is a recipe for these kinds of disasters.”
Cape agrees and states, “Despite dire warnings, privacy breaches and the recent ransomware attacks our government does not rate the security of personal and private health information as a priority. At the same time, we must extend our appreciation for those employees within eHealth and SHA who are doing their best to keep our IT systems together in the midst of an environment of dated systems and a lack of oversight.”
SEIU-West and CUPE represent health care providers including those who are employed in IT services who work in nine of the former health authorities.
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For more information, contact:
Christine Miller, SEIU-West Communications: 306-477-8733
Tria Donaldson, CUPE Communications: 306-531-6247
Click here to download the PDF of this media release: Health Care Unions Wary of Government eHealth Priorities
Saskatoon, January 12, 2021
Click here to download a printable PDF file of Canadian Blood Services: Bargaining Update No. 3
For Immediate Release, January 12, 2021
Saskatoon – SEIU-West calls for the Saskatchewan government, Ministry of Health and Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) to stop the blame game and begin to communicate with health providers on the best strategy for a real plan for access to vaccinations.
Date: January 12, 2021
Greetings Sisters and Brothers at Extendicare,
As you are aware, SEIU-West has reached a tentative agreement with the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) for our members who work for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) and its affiliates and who are covered under the SAHO/SEIU-West Collective Bargaining Agreement.