This award has been established to honour Shelly Banks who led by example and served as SEIU-West vice-president from 2008-2015.
Her invaluable and outstanding contributions have made a significant and lasting impact on our members and our union.
Pinned
SEIU-WEST 2025 MEMBERSHIP SATISFACTION & ENGAGEMENT SURVEY
SEIU-WEST 2025 MEMBERSHIP SATISFACTION & ENGAGEMENT SURVEY
Are you an SEIU-West member? We want to hear from you!
SEIU-West is running a 10-minute online survey of its members. It will be open until Monday, March 17th.
Wherever you work, if you’re an SEIU-West member, we would really appreciate your feedback!
N/52nds Overpayment
If you are an SEIU-West member working for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) and you receive a communication from your employer indicating that you owe them money back for an N/52nds overpayment, please:
Info Pickets
Info pickets provide an opportunity for SEIU-West members to send a message to their employer and to the general public, that bargaining needs to progress and SEIU-West members deserve a fair contract!
Janice Platzke Receives Larry Hubich Lifetime of Service Award
We are so excited to announce that your SEIU-West Treasurer, Janice Platzke, received the Larry Hubich Lifetime of Service Award at the 2024 Saskatchewan Federation of Labour Convention in late October. Congratulations, Janice!
Here's what her nominator had to say about Janice and her years of service:
SAHO/SEIU-West Bargaining Bulletin (2nd edition) No. 5
(Click here for a printable PDF of this Bargaining Bulletin.)
Date: August 22, 2019
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Your SEIU-West bargaining committee met with SAHO and the SHA Employer on August 19, 20 and 21 in Saskatoon. Our goal – our mandate – at these negotiations is quite simple: we represent you, our members, at the bargaining table and you have indicated that you want a fair and equitable collective agreement that treats you with respect and that you can accept.
There are very few items that are outstanding; but one pretty outstanding issue is getting a fair monetary package.
The parties are close on the last few language issues related to interpersonal violence leave; Disability Income Plan; and meal periods. Some of these changes are driven by the Government of Saskatchewan changing The Saskatchewan Employment Act; we want to make sure that we are compliant.
When our members voted against the last tentative agreement, we heard you loud and clear it was because it was wholly insufficient to address the rising cost of living; it contained no plan to address getting and keeping an adequate staff complement to manage the increased workload and reduce the stress members are experiencing on the frontlines of health care; and we heard your demand for fairness and equity. We have explained this in very clear terms to elected politicians, SAHO and the SHA. But they don’t seem to be hearing your message!
SAHO has continued to hold to the same mandate that our members have rejected. We need you to provide clarity to them. You can contact the Minister of Finance, Donna Harpauer (306) 787-6060 OR [email protected]; the Minister of Health, Jim Reiter (306) 787-7345 OR [email protected]; the new Minister of Rural and Remote Health, Warren Kaeding (306) 798-9014 OR [email protected]; or your very own MLA (http://www.legassembly.sk.ca/mlas/).
Explain to them the concept of fairness; how a fair monetary package can be used to recruit and retain quality staff. And don’t let them dazzle you with their ‘new’ math comparing their base wage of over $98,000 to our wages (www.seiuwest.ca/respondtomofputcarefirst); don’t forget that they get allowances, benefits and premiums for additional responsibilities. If you would like some assistance, call the MRC at 1-888-999-7348 extension 1 and an officer will put you in contact with someone who will help you.
You can also add your name to the www.endunderstaffing.ca campaign that we’ve launched to address recruitment and retention in our health care system. Wages are a critical component to ensure that we have appropriate staffing levels.
In Solidarity,
Your SEIU-West SAHO Provincial Bargaining Committee:
CHR: Janice Platzke (SEIU-West Treasurer) • FHHR: Brenda Berry; Donna Gallant • HHR: Colleen Denniss • SHR: Judy Denniss; Rick Brown; Carla Saworski; Kim Wyatt; Charlene Sarafin; • Staff: Bob Laurie (Dir. of Bargaining and Contract Enforcement); Russell Doell (Deputy Dir. of Bargaining and Contract Enforcement); Cam McConnell (Negotiations Officer) • President: Barbara Cape
President's Message: Response to the Minister of Finance
Recently, SEIU-West launched a campaign to raise the issue of understaffing in health care. We want to ensure that our patients, clients and residents have the necessary staff in all aspects of our system in order to live up to a promise of safe, professional world class health care that puts the patients first. But without the necessary staff in place, that promise can’t be kept.
We are reaching out to the staff in health care and people who access to our health care system, in order to build a demand for investment in front line health care providers. We are also reaching out to the general public in order to educate and motivate them to join us in this campaign.
Recently, the Minister of Finance, Donna Harpauer began responding with quite possibly the most glaring example of missing the point! In her template replies, she attempts to justify the wages paid to elected MLA’s ($98,000+) as a base salary in comparison to wages paid to front line health care staff. So let’s take a look:
- The MLA base wage is $98,395.00/year. They received a 3.5% cost of living increase last year, and a 2.3% cost of living adjustment again on April 1 of 2019. Minister of Finance missed the point because health care workers don’t have that as a base salary and don’t get automatic wage increases based on cost of living increases!
- The Board of Internal Economy sets the increases. The Minister of Finance missed the point because this is essentially the MLA’s (and Speaker) establishing their own wage increases!
- This amount doesn’t address the additional allowances received for everything from Legislative Secretary to committee Chair/co-chair to Speaker to Premier to…well, you get the idea! Health care workers don’t get those kinds of allowances for additional duties – extra duties just get rolled into our everyday work! The Minister of Finance missed the point that we are required to do more, with less…less wages, less staff, and less support!
- This campaign is about ending understaffing and investing in front line health care staff. The Minister of Finance missed the point when she failed to address this as the core issue in the campaign and instead justified MLA salaries!
I get it, Minister Harpauer seems to believe that there is a false equivalency between comparing the critical work of front line health care workers with elected politicians. But the irony isn’t lost on any of us that there isn’t a shortage of people running for elected office while there is a clear shortage of staff in front line health care.
If you have received this reply from our Minister of Finance, we urge you to join the many others who have sent her a second message indicating that she missed the point: we need real answers, and real action.
We want to get down to the work of providing safe, professional health care services, so let’s focus on the issue of staffing, instead of justifying politician wages. We’ve called for a roundtable to talk about staffing levels with government, the Saskatchewan Health Authority and the unions representing people. And we encourage you to share the safe staffing campaign with your neighbours, friends, family and colleagues…our system depends on it! Together, our province can make sure patients, residents, clients, and health care providers have access to a safe and quality health care system – together, we can put care first.
In solidarity,
Barbara Cape
Unionism in Practice: Online Application
Unionism in Practice is designed for any steward or unit officer who has completed a minimum of Shop Steward – Level 1. This one day course to be held in October in Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, and Swift Current will provide sessions on Union principles and tips for meeting with management and grievance handling. We are also providing a session on healthy workplaces and mental health issues in the work place.
The deadline to apply has passed.
Win of the Week! August 11-17
This week, our union found out (through the media) that the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) was planning to provide a ‘Whistleblower Hotline’ service. With reporting services already in place, this was an unnecessary and costly step that did not address the major issue in health care – understaffing. As a result, SEIU-West also went to the media to share our serious concerns (you can read our media release here) about how the costs associated with this Hotline should be used as resources towards front line care. Later that day, the SHA withdrew the Hotline proposal thanks to our push-back. This week’s win is yet another example demonstrating that when we fight, we win!
Media Release: Whistleblower Line
For Immediate Release: August 14, 2019
Saskatoon – Members of SEIU-West were surprised to learn that on August 12, 2019, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) posted a request for proposal (RFP) on SaskTenders for the provision of a “Whistleblower Hotline” service.
Win of the Week! August 4-10
SEIU-West is pleased to share another wonderful win this week! A member was not called in for an overtime shift even though their seniority meant they should have been called. SEIU-West initiated step 1 of the grievance process and almost immediately, that member was made whole. This member is very happy with the outcome and so are we!
International Youth Day: August 12
Each year International Youth Day is recognized August 12 and SEIU-West is proud to share that we stand with young workers in our union and communities. We know they are experiencing soaring rent, tuition, inequality, and the growth of precarious work among many other struggles. Our Young Workers Committee is very active in raising awareness and taking action on these issues - we're proud of the work they do and are excited for their future efforts! Check out the Young Workers Committee page to read their latest 'Shining A Light On' articles which focus on issues like mental health: https://www.seiuwest.ca/young_workers
SAHO/SEIU-West Bargaining Bulletin (2nd edition) No. 4
YWCA Saskatoon: Bargaining Update No. 1
Saskatoon, July 29, 2019
Click here to download a printable PDF file of YWCA Saskatoon: Bargaining Update No. 1
Greetings Sisters and Brothers,
Your SEIU-West bargaining committee wants to take this opportunity to thank all members who participated in the July 17 to 26 ratification vote on the tentative memorandum of agreement. We especially appreciated your questions and comments about the Employer’s offer. The votes have been counted and the Employer’s offer has been rejected by an overwhelming majority.
Win of the Week! July 28-August 3
This week a member notified their Shop Steward to an issue regarding their pay. The member’s employer did not recognize their previous experience within and outside the Saskatchewan Health Authority, and rather started the member at Step 1 of the pay scale in their classification. After a first-step grievance meeting with the member’s Steward and Employer, the Employer changed the member’s initial pay to Step 2 due to their work experience, as per the language in our Collective Agreement. This member is delighted and we are also delighted to share the good news!
Meadow Lake Primary Health Centre: Bargaining Update No. 1
Meadow Lake, July 30, 2019
Greetings Sisters and Brothers,
Your SEIU-West bargaining committee met with representatives from SAHO and the Saskatchewan Health Authority on June 11 and 12 and July 23, 24, and 25, 2019 to bargain for a collective agreement.
Win of the Week! July 21-27
SEIU-West members are constantly doing more with less and face workload issues on a daily basis. So for this week’s win, we’re so happy to share a win related to workload. Members who work in a Community Based Organization (CBO) were struggling to ensure the quality of care they wanted to provide for clients due to workload. TLR (transferring, lifting, repositioning) was a particular struggle and they needed to add another shift to properly complete this task. These members therefore called their Union Representative who then called the Employer – these members also met with their Employer soon after to talk about their concerns. As a result of their initiative, the Employer added the requested coverage and this change went into effect just a few days after their meeting. While we struggle to address workload across the province, it’s important that we celebrate wins in order to encourage further action to address workload issues. When we fight back together, we win together!