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.

For Immediate Release - March 2, 2023

Saskatchewan— Yesterday, the Federal and Provincial governments announced an agreement in principle on health care funding. Saskatchewan will get almost $6 billion in federal funding over the next 10 years, including an “unconditional, one-time” Canada Health Transfer (CHT) top-up of $61 million to deal with “immediate” needs, such as pressures in children’s hospitals, emergency rooms, and long surgical wait times.

Date: February 24, 2023

Sisters, Brothers and Comrades,

On February 22 and 23, your SEIU-West Bargaining Committee met to review and finalize the package of proposed changes that we are intending to make to the SEIU-West/SAHO collective agreement.

We’ve heard from our members, very clearly, that the cost of living and its impact on healthcare workers is not sustainable. Members have identified their priority is to be paid more money, and to be respected for their contributions to keeping the Saskatchewan healthcare system afloat.

Period poverty describes the struggle faced by women and girls who cannot afford the cost of menstrual products, like pads or tampons. Having a period is a regular occurrence for 50% of the population; however for those who cannot afford basic sanitary supplies, it can become a monthly ordeal that limits their ability to go to school or work. Access to period products is a necessity, yet 1 in 3 Canadian women have sacrificed something else to buy pads or tampons.

 

All extended health care and dental expenses incurred in 2022 must be submitted to Canada Life before April 30, 2023.

Do you want to be more involved in the governance of your Union? Do you have a unique voice to lend to the Executive Board? Here's your chance!

Saskatchewan—The Health Standards Organization (HSO) has released their highly anticipated Long-Term Care (LTC) standards. SEIU-West strongly supports these standards and encourages that they be made mandatory across Canada.

Date: January 27, 2023

Sisters, Brothers and Comrades,

Your SEIU-West Bargaining Committee met January 25 and 26, to conclude our review of the SEIU-West proposal package.  We also reviewed a package of “common proposal”, where SEIU-West, SGEU Health Providers and CUPE have the same language, to identify improvements our members have identified in their replies to the bargaining updates, in their calls and emails to the Member Resource Center and in their responses and comments in the bargaining survey that our members completed.

It has come to the Union's attention that a few of our members have been requested by the employer to sign a Letter of Discipline or Letter of Expectation they received. The signing line states that the member has read and understands the contents of the letter. Please note that signing such a letter is strictly voluntary and is not a requirement. Members are not obligated to sign. If you are uncomfortable with signing the letter or if you do not understand or agree with the contents of the letter, you may refuse to sign it. In the event that you feel pressured to sign, despite your discomfort, you may simply mark the letter with the words "Refuse to sign."

Should you have any questions or concerns regarding a Letter of Discipline or Letter of Expectation, please contact the Member Resource Centre by calling 1.888.999.7348 ext. 2298, by emailing [email protected], or by completing the Contact Form on our website.

Saskatoon – A recent assault on a health care provider walking to Royal University Hospital (RUH) from their car located off-site has shone a bright light on the lack of parking for hospital staff and safety of our streets.

SEIU-West is pleased to sponsor up to five (5) members to attend the SFL Pensions and Benefits Conference 2023, taking place March 22 & 23 in Regina. 

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is looking for feedback from health care staff on the AIMS program. Please check the SHA Daily Rounds - December 5, 2022 email for more information and other opportunities to participate.

If you have any questions about your collective agreement, please contact the Member Resource Centre (MRC).

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we will be experiencing delays in processing member expenses.  We remain focused on ensuring member expenses are processed in an accurate and timely manner. Your patience and understanding during this time is greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, please contact the Member Resource Centre (MRC) by phone 1-888-999-7348, email [email protected], or using the contact form.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) and SEIU-West have resolved the outstanding grievances filed in response to the Proof of Vaccination/Monitored Testing Program.

Click to download a printable PDF of SEIU-West/SAHO Bargaining Update No. 4

Greetings Sisters and Brothers,

Your SEIU-West bargaining committee met with SAHO during the week of May 29 – June 1. We reviewed the proposals SAHO and the Employers provided last week in order to develop our questions of clarification on both the language and the financial information behind each proposal.

CUPE and SGEU met with their SAHO bargaining committees at the same time.

The bargaining committee received a lot of feedback after Bargaining Update #3 and we want to thank each and every one of you for contacting us with your concerns, questions and suggestions. This kind of engagement means so very much to the bargaining committee and it also helps us provide the stories and rationale behind our proposals. We ask that you take the next step and also contact your elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) to ensure they understand our concerns. We need all of us working together to get government to change their demands for concessions and rollbacks.

Your bargaining committee sent out the last bargaining update in order to let you know what we are all up against. Never before has a government so blatantly tried to have certain health care workers pick up the tab for the entire provincial out-of-control spending. Members from across the province were vocal in their condemnation of the government’s actions. Anger, a sense of injustice, and incredible sadness and empathy for members who would be most heavily impacted by these proposed cuts were the themes of the messages we received. We are determined to carry these messages forward, so keep your texts, emails and phone calls coming!

SEIU-West has put forward a proposal package that reflects the mandate our members have given the bargaining committee:

Hours of work issues:

• We have proposed a modest increase in wage premiums, as well as standardizing overtime to 2x; we proposed ways to identify problems and develop solutions to the challenges with our call-in system; we want to improve scheduling so no member is scheduled for more than 6 consecutive days; we want to allow for a pay out of any time in lieu banks over 80 hours every year; and we believe that standby and callback rates should be increased.

Workplaces:

• We want to preserve our bargaining unit work; strengthen language around harassment and get serious about stopping this insidious behavior in our workplaces; improve and promote cultural diversity in our rapidly changing workplaces; create a more robust system for return to work and duty to accommodate; and create a process for reporting workload concerns that includes a review of staffing levels and practices.

Other improvements:

• We have proposed increases in transportation allowances, a supplementary maternity and parental benefits plan and improved compensation when our members are required to take on more responsibility in the workplace. We have proposed that anyone who has to pay professional or licensing fees are PAID IN FULL by the employer.

Your bargaining committee is scheduling town hall meetings in all of our health regions to talk with our members, and hear their concerns, over the course of the next six to seven weeks. We will be sending posters and meeting information to all our facility executive. Watch for information on our website and stay in touch via the ‘contact us’ link on the website!

Don’t forget to contact your MLA to ensure they understand our concerns. We need all of us working together to get government to change their demands for concessions and rollbacks. Find your MLA by visiting: http://www.legassembly.sk.ca/mlas/. Lost for words? Here is a letter template for your use.

We encourage you to share your questions and concerns about bargaining with your SEIU-West bargaining committee by contacting us through the Member Resource Center (MRC) at 1-888-999-7348 Ext 2298 or contact us through the “contact us” form on SEIUWEST.ca.

Your participation in your Union makes your Union strong.

In Solidarity,

SEIU-West Bargaining Committee

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; Simone Corriveau; 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

Greetings Sisters and Brothers,

Your SEIU-West bargaining committee spent the week of May 23rd finalizing our union bargaining proposals. We also worked within our coalition group with SGEU and CUPE to finalize what we would see as coalition bargaining proposals.

On May 25th, we met with our coalition partners, SAHO and the Employer representatives for CUPE, SGEU and SEIU-West health regions. The parties went over some ground rules prior to SAHO presenting all three unions with the SAHO/Employer proposal package.

The government mandate was confirmed as a reduction of -3.5% of provider union compensation and then 0% for the following three years. This is the worst mandate we have ever seen.

SAHO and the employers’ proposal package contained concessions totaling 4.09%. SAHO called their package a “menu of options”, and offered the Unions a chance to choose the concessions they preferred in order to meet the -3.5% government mandate.

The menu of concessions include the following:

• A 1% general wage reduction to the base rates of pay with a 0% wage increase for the remaining 3 years;
• Creating two lower paid steps in the current pay bands – reducing the starting pay rate of a classification by approximately 7%;
• Eliminating the payment of professional fees;
• Eliminating the vehicle allowance;
• Eliminating the employer top up for direct WCB payments to employees;
• Eliminating time in lieu banks;
• Eliminating payment of stand-by rate when employees report to work;
• Elimination of any overtime or premium pay at double time, reduce all rates to time and a half;
• Return to premium pay rates in the 2008-2012 Collective Agreement:
  • shift premium reduced to $2.43;
  • weekend premium reduced to $1.80;
  • stand by rate reduced to $2.19/hour and $4.12/hour;
  • EMS standby reduced to $4.12/hour.
• Extended health and Enhanced dental plan:
  • Employer allowed a contribution holiday to reduce plan funds;
  • 3.1% guaranteed funding reduced to a “cap” on funding
  • Employees pay 25% of the cost to fund the plan;
  • Joint trusteeship of EHD plan.
• Reduce market supplement and market adjustment pay rates to 95% of Western Canadian Average (whatever that is).

And then there are SAHO/Employer proposals that do not have any effect on compensation, but are based on “principles.”

• Posted positions awarded to the employee with the “best” qualifications, not on the Joint Job Evaluation Job Description qualifications.
• Required to work a “supernumerary” shift to get paid for a missed call-in shift due to Employer error.
• Required to work a “supernumerary” shift to get paid for a missed overtime shift due to Employer error.

Your SEIU-West bargaining committee then presented our proposal package to SAHO and the employers at our individual table. We know SAHO and the Employers understand the concept of a mandate. We told SAHO and the Employers that we had received a mandate as well – from our members through extensive consultation – one can’t necessarily say the same thing about the government’s consultation – which as you all know was through phone calls, texts and emails, unit meetings, the electronic/paper surveys and our bargaining conference. We told the SAHO/Employer group they would have some choices to make as well.

We said that this would be a tough round of bargaining – that was an understatement!

Your bargaining committee need our members’ support now to help us get to a fair and reasonable Collective Agreement. We’ve been able to do this in the last two rounds of bargaining with our members’ engagement. Now, the Sask. Party government wants to take away all the gains we bargained the past. We need your help again. We are asking you to call, write, email and visit your Member of the Legislative assembly (MLA). We need you to inform them that that you are a health care provider employee, that you vote, and that you deserve a fair and reasonable Collective Agreement; not to be treated like a disposable worker. We need you to ask your family, friends and neighbors to do the same.

The mandate presented at our bargaining table is no less than a direct attack on health care providers by a short-sighted Government. Not only will it make doing our jobs harder, it will damage the sustainability of public health care services in an irreparable way. Faced with what amounts to a “head tax” on health care provider employees, what young worker would want to start a career in health care?

Attached is a list of Saskatchewan MLAs – please call them today and every single day that we continue to be stuck with this bargaining mandate. If you aren’t sure who your MLA is, send us a message on our website and we’ll help you find out.

We need to put the care back into our health care system – we all need to stand up and advocate for our system because its sure apparent this government is too distracted to do its job.

Please note: your SEIU-West bargaining committee wants to remind everyone that we need to stay strong and united with all of our co-workers. Do not let this mandate divide us from our co-workers; remember who is behind this bully bargaining…it’s a government mandate! Let’s stay focused and not attack each other.

Your SEIU-West bargaining committee has the following dates set for bargaining:

• May 30, 31,
• June 1, 13 and 14
• July 4, 5, 6, 24, 25 and 26.

We encourage you to share your questions and concerns about bargaining with your SEIU-West bargaining committee by contacting us through the Member Resource Center (MRC) at 1-888-999-7348 Ext 2298 or contact on SEIUWEST.ca.

Your participation in your Union makes your Union strong.

In Solidarity,

SEIU-West Bargaining Committee.

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; Simone Corriveau; 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

Related documents:

SEIU-West/SAHO Bargaining Update No. 3

Find your Constituency

MLA List online

Your SEIU-West President, Barb Cape, wrote a message in recognition of National Nursing Week 2017:

Licensed Practical Nurses and Continuing Care Assistants – vital to health care – essential players in the nursing team.

In our busy health care system, we see men and women in scrubs moving past us all the time. Whether it’s in our community hospital, nursing home or home care environment, the members of your public health care team want you to get the care you need when you need it.

Nursing week gives us a chance to get to know all of the players on our nursing team, how they work to benefit you and your family. We want you to know that behind those scrubs, there are different skills, knowledge and talents working to provide world-class health care to the people of Saskatchewan.

Click here to acccess a printable PDF of SEIU-West/SAHO Bargaining Update No. 2!

Greetings Sisters and Brothers,

Your SEIU-West bargaining committee has met a number of times to prepare our SEIU-West proposal package as well as our “common table” proposals to be tabled in negotiations with SAHO and the Regional Health Authorities (RHA’s). The SAHO and Extendicare bargaining committees have met jointly as both Collective Agreements are closely tied to one another.

We had met with SAHO on March 7th to discuss logistics (how often to meet, where, how many days consecutive, etc.). However this meeting was cut short due to the direct communication delivered by SAHO on behalf of the Minister of Finance. In that communication, the health care provider unions (in fact, all public sector unions) were ‘invited’ to join the elected politicians in reducing compensation by 3.5%, for example by agreeing to a number of unpaid days every year. Virtually identical correspondence was delivered to our education sector union leaders by their school divisions, on behalf of the Minister of Finance.

Since that time, the provincial budget has been presented, and we have analyzed its impact. The 3.5% compensation reduction expectation was included in the budget and has been a part of the deliberations of the Legislative Committee on Human Services. Subsequent to the budget being delivered, the Minister of Health has announced a further 10% funding cut to ‘community services’, as identified in the Ministry of Health’s budget. These are services like mental health support and addictions services, together with community support programs. Beyond the regions, what this means for affiliates and associate health care facilities like Extendicare is uncertain at this time. RHA budgets are due by June and this additional information will assist in developing a more comprehensive analysis.

With a declared deficit budget of over 1.3 billion dollars, the collapse of our regional health care structure to one provincial health authority; and the direct, ongoing and regressive tactics of government in interfering with free collective bargaining, once again we are faced with some monumental challenges. There are continuing threats of layoffs, service cuts, and the ever-present concern about contracting out or privatizing our bargaining unit work.

Separate from bargaining, the Unions have met to discuss what member representation would look like in a single provincial health authority. We have met with the Associate Deputy Minister of Health, Tracey Smith; Transition Team member, Mike Northcott; and CEO of SAHO, Mike Higgins; along with the Manager of Labour Relations for the Ministry of Health, Valerie Bayer to share the common principles developed by SEIU-West, along with CUPE and SGEU that would allow us to represent our members within a formal bargaining association. We know this form of representation will work as we have bargained as a coalition on common proposals in the last 3 rounds of SAHO bargaining. The unions have also worked collaboratively with Joint Job Evaluation, on benefits committees, joint trusteeship of SHEPP, and with 3rd parties such as 3sHealth on transcription services. We believe a form of continuation of this partnership will provide needed stability within the health care sector workforce for our members and your patients, clients and residents. However, Extendicare members are represented exclusively by SEIU-West and would not be included in our bargaining association.

The provider unions have agreed to meet again with SAHO and the RHA’s on May 3rd to conclude our logistics meeting. We expect to receive the government’s mandate in formal correspondence at that time and will report this to our membership.
We encourage you to share your questions and concerns about bargaining with the SEIU-West bargaining committee by contacting us through the Member Resource Center at 1-888-999-7348 Ext 2298 or contact us through the “contact us” form on SEIUWEST.ca.

Your participation in your Union makes your Union strong.

In Solidarity on behalf of your SAHO and ECI bargaining committees,

Barbara Cape
President

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; Simone Corriveau; Kim Wyatt; Charlene Sarafin; • Staff: Bob Laurie (Dir. of Bargaining and Contract Enforcement); Russell Doell (Deputy Dir. of Bargaining and Contract Enforcement); Kerry Barrett (Negotiations Officer) • President: Barbara Cape

The SEIU-West Political Action and Awareness Committee supports the Protest at the Premier’s Fundraiser on Thursday, April 27 from 5-7pm at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon. We invite you to join this important action!

The latest Saskatchewan budget included many cuts that hurt all of our communities:  five different health care programs have been cut including audiology, podiatry, travel immunization clinics, parent mentoring program, and pastoral care – this has resulted in further layoffs in health care. Libraries and park budgets have been slashed, while K-12 education has been ransacked with future layoffs. The entire STC has been eliminated, resulting in 224 good jobs being lost. Pastures are being threatened, seniors are being forced to pay more in long-term care and we all have to pay more in PST, including a new tax on children’s clothing.

Meanwhile, the government chose to give corporations more tax cuts, causing Saskatchewan to have the lowest corporate tax rates in the country.

The Premiers Dinner is $250 per plate which gives the wealthy another opportunity to influence Brad Wall and our Sask Party MLAs, so we need to come together as the majority who say no to this cruel budget! By joining together, we can ensure our voices and priorities are heard.

WHEN: Thursday, April 27 from 5-7pm

WHERE: Prairieland Park – 503 Ruth Street, Saskatoon

For more information, visit www.stopthecutssk.ca and RSVP/share the Facebook event by clicking here.

In Solidarity,

Political Action and Awareness Committee

Print off your copy of your SEIU-West/SAHO Bargaining Update No.1

Greetings Sisters and Brothers,

On March 7, the coalition of health provider unions (SEIU-West, CUPE and SGEU) had our first meeting with the Sask. Association of Healthcare Organizations (SAHO) to begin the process of bargaining our new collective agreements. The parties did not formally exchange proposal packages, rather our discussions dealt with processes (traditional or collaborative) of negotiations, logistics, and some of the outside factors that could influence bargaining. When we talk about ‘outside factors’ we mean government.

You see government is not supposed to interfere in collective bargaining; while it is the funder of health care, the system is run by the regional health authorities. The theory behind this relationship is to let the employers (RHA’s) and their negotiator (SAHO) achieve the best deal at the bargaining table without the influence/interference of politicians. Sadly, for everyone involved, government decided to interfere significantly.

In the middle of our meeting, while the provider unions were caucusing, SAHO came back into the room to deliver a message on behalf of the Minister of Finance. As many of you will have heard or read about, the Minister of Finance wrote to each union to outline that government Ministers and Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA’s) were being asked to take a 3.5% wage reduction. Further to that, their political staffers were going to agree (voluntold?) to nine unpaid days off per year (equivalent to 3.5%). We were then ‘invited’ to give the government our ideas around how the unions were going to achieve the savings target within the public sector.

Let’s be clear here, politicians make a heck of a lot more than most health care workers; the base salary of an MLA is approximately $96,000/year…a 3.5% reduction brings their salary down to approximately $93,000/year. Compare that same 3.5% reduction for someone working on the front line of health care for $20-$30/hour… a 3.5% reduction is like losing approximately two weeks of pay per year! That is a significantly different impact on a household budget!!

This hard target by the Sask Party government comes literally in the middle of our very first meeting with SAHO and the health regions to begin bargaining. The provider unions are now facing the threat of concession demands at the bargaining table, another reorganization of the health care structure (and the inevitable resulting chaos), changes in the governance of our benefit plans, and now this?!

This round of bargaining is going to be difficult, it’s going to be troubled and it’s going to test all of us. You have heard this before, every round of bargaining is more difficult than the last. We need all of our members to stand up with their union bargaining committee to demonstrate your support and determination that we need a fair and reasonable collective agreement that we can accept.

We have decided to set additional dates to meet after the upcoming budget address on March 22, where we may get further information about the Minister of Finance and the government’s targets and directions. We will be meeting with our bargaining committees and our coalition of unions to analyze the potential impact to our proposals and establish bargaining plans.

We encourage you to share your questions and concerns about bargaining with the SEIU-West bargaining committee by contacting us through the Member Resource Center at 1-888-999-7348 Ext 2298 or contact us through the “contact us” form on SEIUWEST.ca.

Your participation in your Union makes your Union strong.

In Solidarity,

Your SEIU-West Provincial Bargaining Committee
CHR: Janice Platzke (SEIU-West Treasurer) • FHHR: Brenda Berry; Donna Gallant • HHR: Colleen Denniss • SHR: Judy Denniss; Rick Brown; Simone Corriveau; Kim Wyatt; Charlene Sarafin; • Staff: Bob Laurie (Dir. of Bargaining and Contract Enforcement); Russell Doell (Deputy Dir. of Bargaining and Contract Enforcement); Kerry Barrett (Negotiations Officer) • President: Barbara Cape

SEIU-West offers 20 scholarships of up to $750 every year:

• 10 for members
• 10 for children of members.

PAWS: Justice for All

Please click here for a downloadable PDF file of the letter!

On April 1, 2016, SEIU-West sent a letter to our new Federal Minister of Health, Jane Philpott, outlining our concern around the expiry of the Canada Health Accord. We have received a response:

Related Documents:

April 1st Letter from SEIU-West

October 21 Response from Federal Government

November 21 Response from SEIU-West

On October 21, SEIU-West received a response from our Federal Minister of Health regarding the expired Health Accord. Here is our response to the Honourable Jane Philpott:

Related Documents:

April 1st Letter from SEIU-West

October 21 Response from Federal Government

November 21 Response from SEIU-West