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.
Good afternoon Mr. Premier,
I hope you are doing well during the COVID-19 pandemic as we all navigate these new and unprecedented times.
I would like to identify who the “others”, as you refer to them in previous media events, are who are working in healthcare beyond the doctors and nurses. I would respectfully request that you consider their incredible contributions and sacrifices to bending/flattening the curve of the cases of COVID-19 in this pandemic. There is an incredibly diverse group of people who are keeping health care running and ensuring that we are not overwhelmed by the pandemic.
- Medical and Diagnostic Technologists and assistants complete tests that identify not only COVID-19 but other diseases and pathogens that are still affecting our population: cancer, HIV, MRI, CT, and seasonal flu are among their tests.
- Licensed Practical Nurses provide dressing changes, dispense medications, work in operating rooms and emergency rooms, long-term care and home care to provide compassionate hands-on skilled care to our patients, clients and residents.
- Continuing Care Assistants work in acute care, long term care and home care providing hands on services like dressing, bathing, medications, lifting and repositioning with care and compassion.
- Security, maintenance and tradespeople continue to keep our facilities running efficiently, to set up COVID units in hospitals across the province and keeping staff and patients safe.
- Food services prepare and provide nutritious meals to patients, long-term care residents and homecare recipients.
- Environmental services staff perform enhanced cleaning to ensure that our facilities do not harbor and are not a vector for transmission of any virus.
- Administration staff keep every part of the health system connected and communicating – this includes acute care, long-term care, home care, community care and other primary care ward and department support, payroll, finance, and schedulers who ensure that our facilities are staffed & paid properly to provide the skilled professional care that is key to all health care services.
- Of particular note are those working in supply chain, materials management, and sterile processing who ensure that we have the health care materials and resources, such as PPE equipment and supplies, necessary to keep us all safe and to provide quality healthcare that Saskatchewan residents have come to expect.
This is only a representative sample of the ‘other’ that you refer to…there are many more particular jobs that cover tens of thousands of health care provider workers. We are proud to acknowledge that there are over 35,000 frontline staff who are part of the ‘health care team’…across various unions.
SEIU-West is very proud of the work that members perform every day and I believe we are heroes not only during this pandemic, but every day of the year.
On behalf of these professionals, I ask that you take a moment to acknowledge the varied work that is being performed under some incredibly tense and stressful circumstances. They go into work every day, not sure if they will come into contact with COVID-19 or if they will take it home with them to their families. They are the people your government asked to take a 3.5% cut in compensation, and a large number of them are working without a collective agreement.
Yes, their last pay increase was April 1, 2016, yet, they continue to show up and lead our health care system. They do this for their patients, clients and residents. We should all appreciate their efforts and do our best to keep them safe. I think their efforts are worthy of our praise and acknowledgement, don’t you?
Respectfully,
Barbara Cape
President
SEIU-West
#200-747 46th St. W
Saskatoon, Sask
S7L 6A1
MRC Toll Free: 1.888.999.SEIU (7348) ext. 2298 | URL: www.seiuwest.ca
Here’s one of your SEIU-West Front Line Heroes. 
Providing hands on care during a pandemic is not easy but Russell is offering some advice from his Kitchen headquarters.
I work as a cook in an LTC facility. Every day seems to be like walking into a new job because we don’t know what we are walking into and a lot of us frontline staff feel the same way. We are looking to our managers for direction. Many of my coworkers have worked here a long time so they know their jobs but there’s a lot of pressure and stress with COVID-19.
Everyone is scared for their own safety to start with. Workers are already coming into work with anxiety. Many of my coworkers are scared to bring it home to loved ones.
Sometimes we just have to talk about it and when we do, I see that people are ready to cry. Everyone seems to have an understanding that this is bigger than our unit, our region. We are just trying to do the best we can.
For the most part, everyone is working beyond their job. People are having to work together. People are so stressed out that if one day they are moving slower than normal, the rest of the team covers that slack without judgement. This is bringing unity to my team. My advice to everyone out there is to lean on each other, talk to each other and help each other out because after this settles down, it comes down to your life.
We are all in the same boat. I think this is going to humble everyone. Growing up, we had more of a community and we shared resources because we had to. I’m hoping this helps us realize we need to get together and take of care of each other. We are lucky we have healthcare and sanitation. It’s good to be a Canadian.
Today the 22nd of April, SEIU-West is proud to celebrate ‘Administrative Professionals Day!
The fights against the coronavirus and the climate crisis go hand-in-hand, and as we work to flatten the curve of this pandemic, we must strive toward the longer term goal of building a society rooted in sustainability and justice.
From April 22, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, to April 24, activists, performers, thought leaders, and artists will come together for an empowering, inspiring, and communal three day livestream mobilization:
- April 22 will focus on Earth Day and youth climate strikes. Join indigenous leaders and youth climate leaders as they unite through storytelling.
- April 23 will spotlight divestment, climate financing, and reorganizing the global economy so that it works for all people and the planet.
- April 24 will focus on voter registration and political engagement.
Find out more at Earth Day Live 2020 and RSVP now!
There are many other ways to celebrate Earth Day if you can’t join the livestream events. At https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2020/, you can view worldwide events to join, or you can develop your own personal Earth Day action! For example, many people are putting up signs in their windows to support a sustainable planet - make an Earth Day window sign to encourage activism and let neighbors know how to get involved.
Many people are also cleaning up their neighbourhoods so if you can, get outside and collect trash! You can also Take the Earth Day Daily Challenge, a 22-day series of actions to protect the environment, which are posted by the Earth Day Network. Participants can also add their own actions with the hashtags #EarthDay2020 and #EARTHRISE.
For more information on Earth Day events and how to get involved, visit this link.
On April 17, 2020, we annouced that we've reached a Letter of Understanding (LOU) related to staff redeployment and cohorting between all five health care unions, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), and Saskatchewan Association of Health Care Organizations (SAHO).
Here’s one of your SEIU-West Front Line Heroes. 
Providing hands on care during a pandemic is not easy but Roxy is offering some advice from her Laboratory headquarters.
"We are holding up alright here, and staying informed. I’m focused on what I can control and what I can’t. We are in the calm before the storm right now. There is a lot of buzz and people are jittery due to the high level of uncertainty. It seems like change comes constantly. It seems like we are in a crisis right now but we have zero cases at our facility as of today. It’ll get worse before it gets better. Do what you can to keep yourself and your family safe."
For Immediate Release, April 17, 2020
Saskatoon – SEIU-West and the other health care unions [Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Sask Government & General Employees Union (SGEU), Sask Union of Nurses (SUN) and Health Sciences Assoc of Sask (HSAS)] have reached an agreement with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) to create a staff redeployment strategy for COVID-19.
Click here for a printable PDF file of this President's Message (LOU on Redeployment).
Over the course of the last 10 days, representatives from SEIU-West, CUPE, SGEU, HSAS and SUN have met with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) and the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) reps via Webex to negotiate a Letter of Understanding (LOU) regarding the development of a Labour Pool and redeployment strategies from the Labour Pool – this is only in relation to COVID-19 health care needs.
A number of our members have asked about hazard pay. They hear grocery store staff are receiving a bonus and ask why aren’t health care workers getting something similar.
Good news! After weeks of talks with the employer and the Ministry, the SHA has finally released a new set of PPE guidelines setting out much-needed access for PPE for those working in the health care sector and Extendicare facilities!
Going forward, recommendations for Continuous face mask use and Extended use of face masks and eye protection are now as follows:
*Continuous face mask use: all health care workers who come into contact with patients during the course of their shift must wear a face mask at all times.
*Extended use of face masks and eye protection is the practice of wearing the same face mask and eye protection for repeated interactions with multiple patients for the maximum of one complete shift.
Please read the attached documents below for details regarding the PPE, staff types and tasks it applies to.
CV-19-G0006-Continuous-and-Extended-PPE-Use-Guidelines-Acute-Care-April-14-2020
CV-19-G0007-Continuous-and-Extended-PPE-Use-Guidelines-Continuing-Care-April-14-2020
CV-19-G0008-Continuous-and-Extended-PPE-Use-Guidelines-Testing-Assessment-Sites-April-14-2020
CV-19-G0009-Continuous-and-Extended-PPE-Use-Guidelines-Home-Care-April-14-2020
CV-19-G0010-Continuous-and-Extended-PPE-Use-Guidelines-Primary-Care-April-14-2020
This directive covers the SHA and Extendicare facilities. If any issue arises with following directive, please speak to your employer.
Remember to you can also send all questions/concerns to our Member Resource Centre - you can call anytime at 1.888.999.7348 ext. 2298 (province-wide) or email at https://www.seiuwest.ca/contact.
SEIU-West continues to fight for the safety and wellbeing of our members. #GetMePPE #Solidarity #ProtectAllWorkers #StrongerTogether #WeAreAllinThisTogether
Here’s one of your SEIU-West Front Line Heroes.
Providing hands on care during a pandemic is not easy but Deidre is offering some advice from her Home Care headquarters.
"Stay safe and do proper hand washing. Get correct information. Do not rely on Dr. Facebook! We will get through this. We are a team!"
Here’s one of your SEIU-West Front Line Heroes. Providing hands on care during a pandemic is not easy, Tami is an SEIU-West Front Line hero. Her super power is diagnostics.
"Unless you’re on the front lines, you don’t see COVID-19 directly. You don’t work with COVID-19 patients. You don’t know what it’s like. 
The unknown scares us. Everything is changing literally by the hour. PPE changes, which leads us to wonder if we were safe.
It’s hard to feel like we are well informed. The plan changes daily. Everyone feels out of the loop but as staff, we have tried to find out more information.
We attend emergency safety meetings and contact other departments.
To get through every day, I rely on my coworkers. This pandemic has brought our department closer together.
Best thing to do if I’m feeling anxious or nervous, is to talk it out as it helps me realize I’m not the only one and everything feels better when you get it off your chest. It’s important to stay open and communicate. If you need support, reach out to those you trust that can help you."