Last year, SEIU created a survey for members about climate change and the impact on your lives.
Pinned
June is National Indigenous Peoples Month. This is a time to honour the rich history, resilience, and diversity of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. It is an opportunity to reflect on historical and current injustices and commit to true reconciliation in Canada.
The First Nations, Métis and Inuit Committee would like to share some events and resources with you and encourage you to participate in events in your area.
SEIU-West is hosting our first Asian Pacific Islander Summit in Saskatoon on September 24-26, 2026 — an event to bring together workers from across Canada and the U.S.
Being an API member in Canada or the U.S can sometimes feel isolating. You might not have seen yourself in leadership. You may not have always felt seen or understood. But you can find a home with us. We believe in you. We see you. And most importantly, you belong.
Welcome home.
There is currently a vacancy on the SEIU-West Executive Board for members that work for the Community Based Organizations Sector.
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.
Your SGEU, SEIU-West, and CUPE health care bargaining committees met with SAHO on April 24 and 25 in Regina to continue our work to achieve a fair and equitable collective agreement for our members.
This was an epic session as we finished our last meeting at April 26 at 1:30 am. The bargaining committee members remain committed to ensuring that your rights and benefits remain intact as we move through the transition of the new Saskatchewan Health Authority. Our work is complicated by the fact that two of SAHO’s lead negotiators are retiring at the end of April, and we do not know who will take over bargaining.
Since the April 10 provincial budget announcement, we have seen a number of initiatives introduced that affect our members in a most direct way. Government and the employer say they are ‘works in progress’ as we don’t have much information at this time.
Some regional IT services are going to be transferred to eHealth. While the SHA doesn’t have much direct and clear information, your unions are committed to ensuring that we see our members treated fairly in this transfer and that IT members receive recognition for their skill, rights and benefits under their collective agreements. We will be meeting with SHA and eHealth to demand basic information such as how many employees will be affected; what classifications will be transferred; and what the transfer process will look like.
The SHA also announced a province-wide review of security services. We are aware that numerous reviews have been previously conducted, on both a regional and facility perspective, but never acted upon. We are cautious about the anticipated outcomes of this review and have reached out to our partners and allies in other areas and provinces who’ve been subjected to a security service review. We support our security officers throughout the province in making sure their voices, experiences and advice are taken into account in the planning of a seamless security service in rural and urban settings.
Our bargaining session saw us exchange a number of proposals that reinforced to the Employers that our Extended Health and Enhanced Dental (EHD) plan is a valued benefit and source of pride for our members. The provider unions have worked to ensure the financial health of the plan and quality of benefits for our members and we are not willing to jeopardize the plan we worked so hard to get. SAHO and the Government of Saskatchewan want to use the surplus that the plan has earned to reduce their amount of contributions to the plan, but they do not want to commit to maintaining the current status of the plan once those funds are depleted. The provider unions insist the plan be administered solely for the benefit of YOU as the beneficiaries.
We believe we have made significant progress regarding language to work together to address recruitment and retention issues in all of our classifications and facilities; we have an agreement in principle on interpersonal violence leave provisions that will see access to other paid leaves in our collective agreements; we are close to finalizing a specific process to identify and resolve workload issues for our members and provisions for electronic callback (specific to CUPE).
Issues still outstanding are the creation of a steering committee to establish a proper joint trusteeship over all of our benefit plans; joint recruitment and retention initiatives for employees; and a moratorium on changing bargaining unit structures. This last item is of benefit to our members so that we can work to implement this agreement and build a bargaining association that will guide our provincial work together. And, of course, other issues that have not been resolved include negotiations over monetary provisions regarding professional fees, the status of funding for our EHD plan; and general wage increases.
We have offered dates for further bargaining in May.
As we approach the National Day of Mourning on April 28, for workers who have been killed or injured on the job, we ask you to pause and remember to work safely, recognize when your colleagues may be struggling with a workplace injury and encourage your co-workers to work in a manner that allows them to return home safely and soundly.
In Solidarity,
SEIU-WEST, SGEU, and CUPE Bargaining Committees
SFL: Youth Activity Coordinator (YAC) Application
After 4 years of delays, SEIU-West has resolved a long outstanding grievance for one of our health care members. Their Employer implemented a multi-site position without first negotiating with the SEIU-West as per our collective agreement, which resulted in a large number of missed shifts for our member. A compensation agreement was just reached to the delight of our member. Way to go!
Provincial Budget: Moe of the Same
Another member successfully received their disability claim after SEIU-West fought diligently and helped ensure this member achieved fairness. We’re stronger together!
2018 Continuing Care Assistant Conference
More Budget Casualties
MEDIA RELEASE: Baffled by the Budget
SEIU-West is thrilled to announce that Town of Herbert employees voted 100% to join our union family, and we couldn’t be happier to welcome these new members! Entire families in Herbert will sleep better knowing they now have the stability and strength of 13,000 members just like them in their corner. We are excited to help transition these members on to bargain their first collective agreement!
Click to download a printable PDF of Joint Health Provider Bargaining Update with SEIU-West, CUPE, and SGEU
Your health providers coalition bargaining committee met in Saskatoon this week from Thursday, April 5 to Sunday, April 8. We remain focused on getting the best possible collective agreements.
Both the unions and SAHO provided multiple proposal packages over the last four days. Questions were raised, and a great deal of discussion took place as we spent time reviewing the impact of proposed language changes and the introduction of Letters of Understanding to address new and emerging processes.
Some of those processes include the development of a joint trusteeship of all of our benefit plans (such as Extended Health and Dental; DIP) and addressing the new operational phase of the Saskatchewan Health Authority. In both examples, CUPE, SGEU and SEIU-West feel that it’s important to have your unions at the table to ensure that our members’ issues are raised, that your voices are heard, and that we have an opportunity to contribute to improvements.
The coalition of unions is also providing support and solidarity to one another in the form of shared language, such as the development of a workload committee or electronic call-back. With workload, this is an on-going and critical issue that we need to work together to address. It involves reviewing policies and practices, proper reporting of workload concerns, short-staffing and staff retention, and an avenue to address the concerns of not only our members, but the concerns of the patients, clients, and residents we care for each day. The health authority has an obligation to meet the OHS regulations, and as unions, we are adamant about this.
At this time, we have deferred the discussion of monetary provisions in order to focus on items that we believe will be easier to agree on.
April 10 is the day that the provincial budget will be delivered by the Minister of Finance. We strongly encourage you to listen/watch for further updates on the impact to health care and our collective bargaining process. We need to stand strongly together to say “NO” to cuts/rollbacks/concessions! We are proud of Saskatchewan health care workers who deserve to be treated with respect and paid what we are worth!
On another note, we honour and salute the health care workers and emergency responders of every union who performed so incredibly during the tragic Humboldt Broncos bus crash on April 6. To the first responders, medical professionals and volunteers, we owe you our deepest gratitude. You comforted and cared for the injured and dying. You hugged families, friends, and other staff in their time of need. You have cried, worked tirelessly on your feet, grieved, and, at times, found the strength to smile. We are honoured to represent you and to know you. We are proud of the care you provide every day and especially in times of crisis. Never doubt the incredible value that you bring to our health care system. Thank you all.
In Solidarity,
SEIU-WEST, CUPE, and SGEU Bargaining Committees