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.
Blair is a member of the facilities team at his urban hospital. He works as a plumber where he maintains, installs and repairs equipment with a focus on plumbing, heating, cooling and all medical gas equipment. Blair is someone who works behind the scenes to ensure that the hospital is running efficiently and that patient safety is always at its highest level.
Melanie works as a Combined Lab X-ray Technician (CLXT) in rural Saskatchewan in an integrated facility. Being a CLXT involves collecting samples from patients and then running any applicable tests that the requisitions ask for, following up with clerical work and packing up the samples to be batch tested in bigger centres. She also performs X-rays. They still work with older equipment so she also adds chemicals to the machines to keep them operational.
Ryan is a Journeyman Electrician for Chinook School Division in Southwest Saskatchewan. Encouraged to become an electrician by his father, he has been working in the electrical trade for 17 years. Ryan’s job is to fix electrical issues in the schools including lights, plugs, and appliances to ensure they are safe for the students and staff to use. He loves that he is able to travel as part of his job because he’s able to interact with each school community.
In recognition of our Education team, we encourage you to participate in the Education Week Contest!
UPDATE TO SEIU-WEST MEMBERS RE: SASKATCHEWAN HEALTH AUTHORITY (SHA) EMPLOYEE PROOF OF VACCINATION POLICY DIRECTIVE
October 22, 2021
As we continue to look for ways to safely share our collective grief and frustration with the Saskatchewan government over its gross mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic, SEIU-West's Political Action Committee is asking everyone to join in a digital protest of the offices of the Premier and Minister of Health.
Please download and share these graphics with your social media networks and strongly encourage your friends, family and networks to step up and show up, for our members, for all health care workers, and for all clients and patients of the care system, present and future.
Call, share, call, share, call again - register your displeasure with the political decision-makers who have destroyed Saskatchewan's once world-class health care system.
For Facebook
Moe: click here for a JPG and here for a PNG file, or right-click on the image to download to your device.
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For Twitter
Moe: click here for a JPG and here for a PNG file, or right-click on the image to download to your device.
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For Instagram
Moe: click here for a JPG and here for a PNG file, or right-click on the image to download to your device.
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(For a link to the Q&A from the Town Hall event held October 13, 2021, please click here.)
On October 13 and 14, 2021 President Barbara Cape and Director of Contract Bargaining and Enforcement, Bob Laurie, answered members' questions about the SHA Proof of Vaccination Policy Directive. The Zoom meeting was recorded to ensure accuracy in responding to these questions. All participants were encouraged to put their question in the chat – and questions from members were gathered prior to the meeting…many with the same themes.
Saskatchewan – SEIU-West members and leaders were stunned to find out that there will be no more patient transfers happening from Saskatchewan’s collapsed health care system. We are appalled at the complete failure of the provincial government’s management of the COVID19 crisis and demanding the politically-motivated decision-making end immediately.
“Patients in serious need of lifesaving care are waiting in peril because of the never-ending, politically motivated too little/too late actions of Premier Scott Moe and his government,” says SEIU-West President Barb Cape. “This government has abdicated its responsibilities by relying on non-medical experts to run the response to this fourth wave – it’s hard to believe I have to say this, but it’s time Moe and the politicians get out of the way and let medical and public health professionals try to salvage this disaster.”
“Our Premier, even with the benefit of being able to watch management responses in other healthy and safe provinces, has blown every opportunity he’s had to get ahead of each COVID wave by putting his politics ahead of human life,” Cape adds. “We all saw this coming. We’re not the only ones who have been raising alarm bells and this government is simply not listening or taking advice, or help, from anyone, including their blatant contradictions of Saskatchewan’s CMHO, who wept yesterday over the lack of humanity.”
Sask Party mismanagement of the pandemic has been political, deliberate and unapologetic since day one, with Scott Moe and his Health Ministers squandering every opportunity they’ve had to make this better. The constant deflection of responsibility, pointing fingers elsewhere, blaming the feds has to stop.
“The shocking audacity to pursue options in America, as opposed to taking the offered help from the federal government, resulting in delayed relief in Saskatchewan, was bad enough,” continues Cape. “Today, Saskatchewan’s health and long-term care environment is dangerously unsafe for patients and ALL health care workers, including their non-medical teammates.”
SEIU-West members are tired, frustrated and mad. That’s why they will be calling the Premier and the Minister of Health today to tell them to get out of the way and let the experts in the health care system take the lead.
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. SEIU-West members, like all health care and essential workers across Saskatchewan, have been providing hands-on care and in-person services since the very start of the pandemic, enduring extraordinary personal mental, physical and financial hurdles including the absence of and/or insufficient personal protective equipment, inconsistent application of protocols, isolation and lack of mental health supports, short-staffing levels and unfair, arbitrary distribution of Donna Harpauer’s temporary wage supplement. Visit PurpleWorks.ca to find out more about SEIU-West members
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For more information, contact:
Tammy Nicklas
Project Coordinator
306-652-1011 ext. 2225
From October 17 - 23, 2021 SEIU-West is thrilled to celebrate Education Week!
The work of Education Assistants, Library Technicians, Custodians, Tradespeople, Food Service Workers, Administrative Assistants, and School Bus Drivers (to name a few) prepares Saskatchewan kids for their tomorrow and the province for its future.
SEIU-West's education-based members ensure school children experience quality education by:
- Working alongside teachers;
- Ensuring school offices and administrative functions run smoothly;
- Serving healthy meals;
- Driving buses so our children make it to and from school safely; and
- Maintaining safe schools and school grounds for students to enjoy.
We also know you’re working so hard, yet faced with inadequate support from our government – as with all front line workers during COVID-19. We continue to work hard fighting for you on this front.
Click here to view 2021's official Education Week declaration!
Watch for contest details coming this week.
In addition to Education Week from October 17 - 23, in 2021 SEIU-West is also proud to recognize Facilities and Engineering Week!
SEIU-West members in Facilities and Engineering are critical to the success of every facility in the health care system. For example, heating, water and lighting systems must be well-organized and operational to support medically-sound environments for patients, residents, visitors and staff.
Members who work in Facilities and Engineering work in a variety of fields including Building and Energy Maintenance, Construction, Waste Management, Groundskeeping and Landscaping, and Clinical and Plant Engineering. In their honour, we are asking you to nominate a member of the Facilities and Engineering team who really makes a difference in your workplace, whether with their positive attitude, their awesome work, or the way they support the whole health care team.
Please send in your nominations, along with a sentence or two as to why they deserve to win, to [email protected] by October 29, 2021. Your nominee could win one of several great prizes!
(For a link to the Q&A from the Town Hall event held October 14, 2021, please click here.)
President Barbara Cape and Director of Contract Bargaining and Enforcement, Bob Laurie, answered members questions about the SHA Proof of Vaccination Policy Directive. The Zoom meeting was recorded to provide accuracy in responding to these questions. All participants were encouraged to put their question in the chat – and questions from members were gathered prior to the meeting…many with the same theme.