News

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives have published Caring for the Future: Frontline Workers on the Challenges in Saskatchewan's Long-Term Care Sector.

Your SEIU-West Bargaining Committee will be out meeting with members through the month of October to provide in-person updates to members who are covered under the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Thank you! To return to the home page, click here. 

We have a major win to report this week: members at Valley Action Group Homes have reached an agreement that includes a significant pay increase of 5% as well as a $500 signing bonus! We also successfully negotiated an increase in the night shift premium, as well as non-monetary improvements including:

• better access to vacation
• improved shift trade language
• restrictions on scheduling and schedule changes
• improved call in rules
• the addition of paid leave for citizenship ceremonies
• the addition of son-in-law and sister-in-law to the bereavement list
• improvements to the grievance process
• the addition of reimbursement up to $750.00 for personal property loss or damage at work
• improved personal floating day options

In addition, this agreement ensures new letters of appointment to all staff which will make their guaranteed hours the same as their regularly scheduled hours. This new collective agreement demonstrates the strength of our union and we’re happy to report members voted unanimously in favour! The best way for workers to improve their working conditions is to come together and collectively bargain. If you know anybody who could benefit from Joining SEIU-West, have them call the SEIU-West Organizing Department at 1-888-999-SEIU.   

The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour is currently recruiting to fill a vacancy to the position of Ready for Work Coordinator at the Federation’s Regina office.
The job description for the position is here.
The position is full-time (30 hours per week – Appendix A), and offers very competitive compensation, with excellent benefits, and flexibility. Terms and conditions of employment are set out in the collective agreement between the staff union (CUPE 4828) and the SFL.
Deadline for submission of applications and resumes is 12:00 noon, Monday, January 28, 2019.
Commencement date: As soon as can be arranged.

Please submit applications, complete with resume to:
Recruitment Committee
c/o Lori Johb, President
Saskatchewan Federation of Labour
220 – 2445 – 13th Avenue
Regina, Sask.
S4P 0W1
Fax: (306) 525-8960
e-mail: [email protected]

Here’s another great way SEIU-West has your back - an Employer hired for a position externally and by doing so failed to hire the in-scope member who applied for the job. SEIU-West was able to resolve this grievance at step 1 with the member being offered the position, which they accepted. This member was compensated for lost wages and seniority. Our member loves their job and we’re so happy to share in their celebration!

We have another great win that demonstrates the value of being a member of SEIU-West! An employer posted a vacant in-scope position but posted it as out of scope. When SEIU-West discovered this issue it was identified as a problem & the employer agreed to re-post the position as in-scope. There were no internal candidates but the out-of-scope employee (incumbent) applied. The employer awarded the position to this employee and then put them on probation.  SEIU-West grieved this as this employee had already completed their probation period. Our union was able to reach an agreement that gave this member full seniority rights and completion of their probation period. Way to go!

Members in Security Services in the former Saskatoon Health Region held a festive and fun Holiday Party. Some of the members who coordinated the fun event arranged ways to raise funds for a member who is suffering financial hardship due to family health issues. The fundraising initiative was a great success that demonstrated to this member that their sisters and brothers in Security have their back not just at work, but out of work too. It’s amazing to see these members organizing this kind gesture and demonstrates SEIU-West has strong, caring leaders in our union and community! 

As I mentioned in our most recent update, we received a lot of questions in our virtual town hall last week…I don’t want to lose sight of these questions and I want to ensure that we are responding to your questions. 

Further to our townhall meeting, Dennel Pickering (CCA at Saskatoon Homecare), Shawna Colpitts (Director of Political Action & Education), and myself met with Premier Moe and the Minister of Labour, Don Morgan, to talk specifically about how workload and short staffing are affecting our members. Prior to this round of bargaining, I met with both the Minister of Health and the Minister of Rural & Remote Health, along with CUPE and SGEU, to talk about health care transformation….we have been very clear with these leaders that our members are working their asses off; that they deserve a raise; and they give their heart and soul to the patients, clients and residents of our health care system.

Continuing from December 13 SAHO Bargaining Telephone Town Hall Follow Up No.1:

#13: Can anyone touch on pensions? –James, Saskatoon.

I believe you were looking for a sense of what the impact would be with the proposed general wage increases on pensions…with our pension plan, it’s a defined benefit plan that bases your benefits on your best four years of service with your employer. With any collective agreement, the wage settlement would make a difference to what is considered your best years of service. In any year where there is no general wage increase, there would be no positive impact to your pension contributions. Considering that SHEPP is a jointly trusteed pension plan there is very limited ability for anyone other than the settlers of the plan or the trustee’s to make significant changes. Any unilateral changes would most likely have to be done by way of legislation or amendments to The Pension Benefits Act.

 #14: Are there any improvements on the table besides wages e.g. pension or sick days…? – Brett, Saskatoon.

Not in the usual sense. In the update that I provided during our virtual townhall, I listed the things that we have been able to get the employer and the government to withdraw; and the language improvements that we’ve seen. We have introduced new and improved language on workload under OHS; JJE language to update and improve the pay equity plan; we’re working on a LOU to deal with the transition issues with the creation of the Sask Health Authority; recruitment and retention language to address the lack of staff in our workplaces; interpersonal violence leave language; and the massive amount of work we’ve put into the joint trusteeship process that will see our contribution rates remain the same while we get this in place. We have also received agreement that should SUN or HSAS or SGEU (Cancer Agency) receive greater general wage increases for any of the three years (April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2021) than what is agreed to with the Provider Unions, the difference will be added on the same year of the Provider Unions collective agreement.

Sure, it’s not ‘whiz-bang’ like the other items, but these are important achievements that our members have been demanding for quite a long time.

 #15. Why should SEIU members take less than what SUN received? – Christina, Saskatoon.

In reviewing SUN’s collective agreement, for the period of 2014-2018, they received 0%/0%/1.5%/1.5%; they also received $800 lump sum payment for the years of 2014 and 2015. In our last collective agreement (2012-2017) we received 2%/1.5%/1.5%/1.55%/1.95%. SUN is currently in bargaining for a new agreement.

#16: Why is SEIU considering no general wage increase in any year of the collective agreement? It’s always the same – they should pay us what we’re worth which doesn’t mean no general wage increase. –Julie, location unknown.

That is why we are coming to our members. We want your feedback; we want to know how you feel about where we are at in bargaining. We have been out to meet with the members in person and we’ve held a number of virtual townhall meetings; we need to get direction on what our members want and then do our best to deliver a tentative agreement you can vote on. When we first started down this path the employer was expressing a desire to see a -3.5 in the compensation. At that time in our consultations with the members many were saying that a status quo agreement was sufficient just don’t lose anything. As we have negotiated our way past the negative 3.5 we understand that expectations have changed and that is why we have looked for increases in the last two years and a signing bonus upfront. You should absolutely be paid what you’re worth…but we are all up against a government that won’t pay us unless we put the pressure on them.

#17: Is there any talk of rolling back our benefits package? – Ted, Saskatoon.

There was talk…but not anymore. There was talk about members co-paying for their benefits, but not anymore. There was talk about the employer taking a contribution holiday, but we’ve ended that line of thinking by negotiating a proposal on setting up a joint trusteeship of our extended health and dental benefit plan that will have union representation providing input into the decisions made on behalf of the beneficiaries (you!) to the plan.

#18: Is the employer not offering any general wage increases so they don’t need to pay retro? And is that why they offer the lump sum payment? – Lindsay, location unknown.

This is negotiating, there is a hope that you’ll accept no general wage increase…and yes, then there would be no need for retro pay. The lump sum payment has been proposed by the coalition of health care unions to offset the lack of a general wage increase.

#19: If there was no general wage increase, there would be no retro, correct? And if a lump sum payment is taxable, why not enhance benefits or something else not taxable? – Audrey, Cudworth.

I’m assuming you are referring to extended health benefits. These benefits aren’t negotiated at the collective bargaining table – we have members on an EHB working group who make recommendations on benefit improvements to the ‘trustees’ to the EHB to operationalize.

But if you are referring to benefits like improved vacation or sick time or those types of benefits, I’ve got to be blunt with you, this wasn’t the round of bargaining to advance those proposals…not when we had to get the Government of Saskatchewan to move off that -3.5% mandate.

#20: We’ve had a contract before with two years of no general wage increases – has that been mentioned? – Janet, location unknown.

Thanks for raising this issue. It will be brought to the attention at the bargaining table and should be noted by all in all future discussions with MLAs and government as we have now confirmed that the Hospital Agreement between SAHO and the provider unions in the period January 1, 1992 to December 31, 1994 do contain two years where zero percent (0%) wage increase was accepted. This was done to manage fiscal restraint.

#21: Why can’t we have increases in the first half of the CBA? – Shelley, Saskatoon.

The bargaining committee considered this and the timeframe of bargaining. We put forward our proposal with the plan of getting any increases applied in the current time period – not in the past. Ultimately the membership gets to determine whether or not no increases in the first half of the agreement is acceptable. The negotiating committee’s mandate is to reach a tentative agreement that is acceptable to the membership and reflects the direction provided to them.

#22: If the employer doesn’t change their last offer and they force us to vote on their ‘final’ offer, what happens? What happens if we vote no? Is it back to the bargaining table and we lost all that has been agreed to? –Judy, location unknown.

Excellent questions! There is a difference in The Saskatchewan Employment Act (SEA) between a ‘last’ offer and a final offer; a ‘final’ offer simply means the employer is getting close to the end of bargaining. A ‘last’ offer is covered in the SEA as being a trigger for a vote of the membership on the offer. At the point we’re at right now – we are close to the end.

If our members voted no on the offer – then we would go back to the bargaining table. However, I would argue that the items we’ve agreed to up to now would still be agreed-to…I’m not sure everyone would agree with me on that!

#23: Is there a paper/electronic copy of all this information? – Tammy, location unknown.

If you go to the SEIU-West website and click on the bargaining in the ‘what we do’ section…you can read up on all the bargaining updates we’ve posted since before bargaining started. However, we are very cautious about putting the monetary proposals in black and white on these updates…so if it seems like I’m being super careful in my responses…that’s because I am.

#24: I’m a CCA, and my wages are so low its getting hard to keep up. Why aren’t they being made more aware of our low wages? – Theresa, Saskatoon.

Oh, they most definitely are (see above for the meetings with leaders in the Government of Saskatchewan!) And the employer representatives at the bargaining table know exactly what our members earn per hour. My comments during our townhall were pretty direct: your bargaining committee needs you to call/email – or better yet, visit your MLA to make sure that THEY know what you do, how hard you work, and how much you make. You are skilled, educated and professional – and the politicians need to know this directly from you. They have heard this from the bargaining committee. MLA’s need to know how their decisions will impact their constituents.

#25: When we retire, can our employer pay out our banked sick hours? This could help the use of sick time. –Maryana, location unknown.

Sadly, no. Our sick time is a negotiated benefit (an ‘insurance’ of sorts) that keeps our paycheques whole in the event of an illness. And we have progressive disability coverage beyond sick time: both short and long-term. During every round of bargaining, members request this type of payout, but this isn’t a path the employers want to go down because sick time is an unfunded bank, meaning that the employer doesn’t set aside money in their budget to cover this as it’s an unpredictable expense.

I think it’s important to point out that sick time is for use when you’re sick…if you’re healthy, that’s great. But there are points in our life where we need to access sick time because we are dealing with an illness. And as we come into an early flu season, I would echo the comments of the provincial public health doctor and say eat well, drink lots of fluids, and if you are sick, stay home to recuperate…don’t come to work sick!

#26: What is happening with professional fees? Anything new/better? –Terry, location unknown.

In the townhall update that was posted, I’ve outlined the changes to professional fees. The amount hasn’t changed, but we’ve made improvements to the effective dates of professional fees – reflecting those fees established as of April 1, 2017.

#27: When are they going to deal with seniority province wide? –Brenda, location unknown.

I would like the answer to that question as well! We’ve proposed a Letter of Understanding to deal with this on an interim basis; essentially, we have proposed a method to ‘park’ your seniority/timebanks/etc. while this gets nailed down. It’s similar to the process that is already used in the former SHR Gateway system – so it’s not introducing a new or different idea.

On the broader question about moving seniority/benefits throughout the province, or using seniority to bid on jobs, the health care provider unions have discussed this a number of times and are more than willing to negotiate this with the employer. We want to make sure that if members are moving, that there are clear, fair rules regarding probation or trial period; we want to lock down a formula for seniority (CUPE uses date of hire/SEIU-West and SGEU use hours based).  These are not insurmountable questions.

#28: Would a lump sum payment include employees on WCB or short-term disability on the date of ratification? –Patti, location unknown.

The proposal as it stands currently has only one qualifier and that is the lump sum is payable to all who are on staff.

I believe it would have to – subject to the rules of those plans. It’s a question of non-discrimination – people who are recovering from an injury can’t be discriminated against because of ability. Also, they are still considered on staff – which would be the standard if this is accepted.

That brings us to a close on the updates for the virtual townhall meeting.  We don’t have any more bargaining dates set in the new year as of yet. 

On behalf of your bargaining committee, thanks for the feedback – it’s been really helpful and instructive. I know that people have concerns about what has been put forward…I respect that and your bargaining committee will make sure we share them with the employer.

But here’s my request of you…we need you to contact your MLA which you can do here. Your bargaining committee needs you to help push us over the finish line. Call/email/visit your MLA in person. This matters! When you add pressure to the elected politicians, they react and can help us get a deal you can vote on.

Have a good Christmas and enjoy the holidays, however you celebrate.  For those of you working, thank you! You folks bring your ‘A’ game to the work every single day. We are proud of you and will work hard to get you a deal.

Don’t hesitate to contact us via the website if you have other questions regarding bargaining.

In Solidarity, on behalf of the SEIU-West SAHO bargaining committee,

Barbara Cape, President

For a PDF of this President's Message, click here.

Throughout 2018, SEIU-West members stood up for what they believe in and took action on issues that matter to our communities. SEIU-West members have joined together to face challenges head-on. We learned from one another, and empowered one another to be leaders. We formed strong and lasting bonds with each other, and also had fun as we collectively stood up for what we believe in. SEIU-West is comprised of some incredible people, and therefore incredible memories – together, let’s take a look back on some of these memorable moments of 2018 - click here to download the pdf of our 2018 Year in Review, or use the arrows in the bottom right corner of the report below to expand the document! 

We have a very exciting win to share this week: members at Chinook School Division have ratified a new agreement! It is a 3 year agreement that includes a signing bonus of $675 to all full-time calendar and academic year employees and is prorated for part-time employees. All members will receive this signing bonus before Christmas. The members also achieved an agreement with wage increases each year: 1% in 2018, 2% in 2019, and 1% in 2020. We are so proud of the members for achieving this collective agreement and standing strong together – it is a real challenge when government continues to push for rollbacks but as demonstrated, our solidarity wins!

In this last week before Christmas, I wanted to take the time to provide an update on our virtual townhall meeting held last week regarding SAHO bargaining. Thanks to everyone who made the time to participate in our call…the response from our members was overwhelming in terms of numbers on the call and questions submitted.

Your SEIU-West SAHO bargaining committee wanted to reach out to provide an update to our members on the state of bargaining.  We wanted to get your direction on what is left at the table to negotiate…a general wage increase. 

During our townhall, myself and Russ Doell, Deputy Director of Contract Bargaining and Enforcement, provided a high level overview of how bargaining has evolved: from the beginning when the government of Sask set out their mandate of a 3.5% reduction which took the form of things like:

• A 1% wage reduction and zero increases for the whole contract;
• The creation of two lower pay bands;
• Eliminating professional fees, the vehicle allowance and time in lieu banks;
• Reducing shift and weekend premiums and overtime rates; and
• An employer contribution holiday on our extended health plan & having employees co-pay for their benefits and a cap on funding the plan;

Our membership has provided the bargaining committee with a mandate: NO cuts/NO rollbacks/Treat Us With Respect/Pay Us What We’re Worth! And members have been extremely active in contacting MLA’s about how awful this proposal was; each of you talked about the great work you do in the health care system; how you contribute to your workplace, your family and community; you signed petitions and postcards; you shared the economic facts that the government proposals presented for you; you came to rallies and your support has moved the government off of their proposals. Our members have been active participants at the bargaining table by doing all this work.

Because of this support, we’ve been able to make some modest improvements at the table:

• Stronger language to deal with workload issues;
• JJE language to update and improve the pay equity plan;
• We’re working on a LOU to deal with the transition issues with the creation of the Sask Health Authority;
• We’ve negotiated recruitment and retention language to address the lack of staff in our workplaces;
• We’ve got agreement to interpersonal violence leave language;
• Improvements to the effective dates of professional fees – reflecting those fees established as of April 1, 2017;
• We’ve protected the rates that the employer contributes to our extended health plan;
• And we’ve finally reached an agreement to work on a joint trusteeship of our extended health plan & benefits.
  • This is new and was a huge point of dispute between the parties. We weren’t going to agree to our members paying for the increased costs to the plan. And we’re happy to share this update with all of you.
• We have also been able to get the employer to withdraw concessions like:
  • Reduction in shift/weekend premiums and overtime rates;
  • The elimination of professional fees, vehicle allowance and time in lieu banks; and
  • The creation of the two lower pay bands.

Your bargaining committee is fully aware that the cost of living in this province continues to go up, and our wages don’t meet that demand. 

SAHO has proposed a similar wage increase that was offered to SGEU government employees – if you’ll recall, this was resoundingly turned down.  The coalition of health care unions (SEIU-West/CUPE/SGEU) has put forward a marginally higher proposal that includes a signing bonus.

During the virtual townhall, we asked three poll questions, poll question #1: outlined the employers wage proposal versus the unions wage proposal.

Results significantly favoured the union’s position.

Poll question #2: asked about preferred priority between the rising cost of living versus the provincial financial picture.

Results indicated that the bargaining committee should prioritize the rising costs of living over provincial finances.

Poll question #3: asked whether members would support a five year collective agreement with enhanced monetary proposal in the fifth year.

Results were that members would accept a five year deal but much less enthusiastic than the two previous poll questions.  

For our membership questions, we received over a large number of questions specific to this update and the SAHO collective agreement process.  Over this week, I will do my best to answer all of them. 

#1: Does everyone get the lump sum payment or is it prorated somehow? – Russ, unknown location.

In the proposal, as the coalition has put it forward, everyone would get the lump sum payment.

#2: Did SEIU consider dropping STD (short term disability) to free up some money? – Denise, Saskatoon.

No, we didn’t think about scaling back our STD benefit to increase the amount of money available. Partly because the STD benefit is utilized by a great number of members, but also, because we weren’t willing to give up a benefit that is already well established, in order to get a much needed wage increase.

#3: Regarding the signing bonus and the back pay, can that be on a separate cheque for tax reasons? – Cindylee, Saskatoon.

We would most definitely be requesting that. There is some question about whether or not there really are tax implications, but regardless, our members like seeing the hard numbers to confirm that they were paid correctly.

#4: Are there any improvements to benefits that would make me feel better about a minimal wage increase? – Julie, unknown location.

We have negotiated some modest improvements (as itemized above); but there is much in our collective agreement that would remain the same as it currently stands. In terms of extended health benefits, that is separate from this bargaining table, but we’ve been able to enhance a number of procedures and items covered under the extended health and enhanced dental plan over the last year.

#5: Has there been any view to enhance bereavement to include aunts and uncles? – Karen, Saskatoon.

That was in our initial proposal package, but our bargaining committee made the decision to withdraw this proposal and focus on getting rid of the wage rollbacks and the -3.5% as a priority from our membership.

#6: Will the 4 year contract start when we sign or from when the last contract ended? – Madeline, Saskatoon.

Our contract would be effective April 1, 2017 – the day after our last contract expired.

#7: LPN’s want to know if there is anything for licensing fees being paid directly by the employer, like SUN gets? – Karen, Saskatoon.

No there isn’t, Karen. The employer has adamantly refused to agree to this although we’ve put forward this proposal before and we’ll continue to do so.

#8: What year are we in for not having a contract? – James, Saskatoon.

Our collective agreement expired on March 31, 2017. As of today, we are 1 ½ years without a contract.

#9: This proposal does nothing for people about to retire, what’s in it for us? – Kelly, Wilkie.

That’s a good question…and I guess it really depends on each individual’s perspective. On the general wage increase, the any years with a 0% increase will not have any positive affect on your pension.  Your SHEPP pension is based on your best 4 years of service. But, the other piece around bargaining that we need to remember is that it’s not just for the ‘right now’ improvements, but the gains that we make or the language that we protect – for the next round of bargaining and the members (staff) who come after us.

#10: You say they cleared the boards with the new SHA. I have not seen one job loss for out of scope in Swift Current, only a change of job titles. Have you noticed this? – Jenn, unknown location.

There are 2 different pieces here: the 12 health region boards were disbanded – there is only one health authority board in place now…and the government has indicated that this will save millions of dollars (stay tuned!).

With the creation of senior vice-presidents; executive directors and directors and out of scope admin positions, I see a lot of management staff simply changing their titles …but I don’t know how that is working in the out of scope realm and don’t think I should guess on that one!

#11: With the lump sum payment, are they even going to come up to inflation as it goes up…are there any more increases to benefits? – Sheila, Saskatoon.

This essentially is a status quo collective agreement; we focused our fight in bargaining this round on beating back the -3.5% cuts. If you are wondering about the improvements, they are set out at the beginning of this update, but you can also take a look at our bargaining updates since last year to see how things have evolved over the past 18 months.

We’ve seen extended health benefits increase over the last couple of years.

#12: Will we catch up with the cost of living with the proposal that the coalition has proposed? – Colette, Saskatoon.

The last numbers about the cost of living that I saw were 2.2%...so the short answer is no, what has been proposed wouldn’t meet the cost of living. The longer answer is more along the lines of what are we able to achieve in this current economic and political climate in the province?

I will post more questions and answers throughout the rest of this week.  Again, your union thanks you for your support and your engagement.  I said it repeatedly on the call, but bargaining isn’t a spectator sport…we are all in this together and we need you to talk to your MLA’s. Phone/email or better yet, visit them – even if you’ve done it already – we need them to feel the pressure of the message that healthcare workers will not accept cuts/rollbacks; we wanted to be treated with respect and paid what we’re worth!

In Solidarity, on behalf of the SEIU-West SAHO bargaining committee,

Barbara Cape, President

For a PDF of this President's Message, click here.

Check out this year's Holiday Greetings from SEIU-West members, and keep an eye out for the video on CTV!

We have a major win to share this week! A member who had been denied at all previous levels has now been awarded coverage through the Disability Income Plan final adjudication process. This is an enormous relief for our member and we’re so proud to stand with them every step of the way to this huge success. The work of our union often leads to results like this one, and we particularly appreciate the role our Benefits Officer has in helping our members achieve fairness. When we work together, we win together!