Effective Tuesday, October 14, 2025 SEIU-West will resume mailing out member expense cheques via Canada Post.
If you have questions about the status of your MEV, please email [email protected] and one of our team members will be happy to help.
Pinned
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 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!
On October 31, 2019, SEIU-West President Barb Cape sent the below open letter to Premier Scott Moe. Click here to view the signed letter.
Dear Premier Moe:
RE: A New Deal with Health Providers
On October 22, the day after the federal election, you issued an open letter to Prime Minister Trudeau titled “A New Deal with Canada”.
In it, you issued an urgent challenge to the Prime Minister to make good on his commitments to better address the needs and concerns of Saskatchewan people.
In that same spirit, I issue this urgent challenge to you: be fair to those who care.
Over the past several years, your government, through the health sector employers it mandates and funds, has neglected the basic needs of thousands of workers who provide the vast majority of front-line health care services to Saskatchewan people. This strategy has resulted in chronic understaffing in the health care sector, to the detriment of patients, clients and residents. I ask you now to put care first.
In ratification votes held this spring in the former Saskatoon, Five Hills, Cypress and Heartland Health regions, SEIU-West’s 12,000 members soundly rejected the employer’s offer of 0%/0%/1%/2%/2%. In bargaining since then, the employer, with direction from the Ministry of Health, has stubbornly refused to budge from this offer.
The sense of frustration and alienation among our members is now greater than it has been at any point since 2008, when the Government of Saskatchewan introduced essential services legislation which seriously undermined bargaining rights in the public sector—legislation later struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional.
In the Throne Speech, your government committed “to invest in important government services that provide a better quality of life for all Saskatchewan people.” Those are pretty words, but we need action, not words.
It’s time, Mr. Premier, for a new deal with SEIU-West health care providers.
The Throne Speech mentions a new plan for growth, but says little about planning for the effects of growth. If, as promised, Saskatchewan’s population grows to 1.4 million by 2030, its health care needs will grow as well. Do you have a plan to attract and retain the additional health providers needed to meet the growing health care needs of this larger population? Shouldn’t we begin working on that plan now?
The speech boasts of facilities built and professionals hired, but doesn’t even acknowledge the need for additional health care providers in order to run these facilities. It ignores a basic fact: health care in Saskatchewan, including long-term care and home care, depends on the hard work of tens of thousands of workers who are not physicians or registered nurses. The wages of these workers have not kept pace with the rising cost of living. The intransigent bargaining mandate directed to the employers by your Ministry of Health offers current and prospective health care providers no hope that this will change. It is a glaring example of the lack of institutional, financial, educational and emotional support currently faced by health care provider employees. They have consistently expressed to me their overwhelming frustration at being asked by your government to take zeroes, particular when Members of the Legislative Assembly (whose pay has increased by more than 50% since 2007) are not being asked to do the same.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority’s list of “hard to recruit” positions is growing. Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon--the province’s major tertiary care centre, and a critical resource for the adjacent Children’s Hospital—is reporting dangerous levels of overcrowding and understaffing. Many of our rural units report that the Employer simply cannot recruit Continuing Care Assistants to care for residents which lends to a fear of bed closures. How do you propose to recruit and retain health providers to work in understaffed facilities that are experiencing shockingly high rates of workplace injury and violence?
Premier Moe, if you are serious about providing a better quality of life for all Saskatchewan people, here is what you could do right away:
1. Re-evaluate the staffing levels in the health care system (acute, long-term care, homecare and community services) and look at investing more in front-line staff to provide the quality hands-on care needed;
2. For example, through your Health Minister, direct those bargaining on behalf of the Saskatchewan Health Authority that they are no longer bound by the mandate containing zeroes, and urge them to bring to the table a more innovative offer that better meets the needs of our members who are health care providers to ensure a timely address to ongoing retention and recruitment challenges.
I am ready to meet with you at any time to discuss how we can move forward together on these issues. You have indicated that you are Standing Up for Saskatchewan. Our members are ready for you to demonstrate your commitment.
Sincerely,
Barbara Cape
President
SEIU-West
Save the date for the upcoming Telephone Town Hall meetings!
Given our experience with SAHO and the Employers at conciliation we would like to announce another four live and interactive virtual town hall meetings for our health care sector members.
The calls will be taking place on Monday, November 4 at 2 pm and 7 pm; another set of calls will occur on Tuesday, November 5 at 10 am and 7 pm. 
Your SEIU-West SAHO bargaining committee is looking forward to providing you information about the status of SAHO bargaining and our desire to get direction from our membership. Extendicare members are invited to participate as well.
You will be receiving a reminder call from us in advance of the telephone town hall meeting dates.
During the Town hall meeting, you will be able to ask any questions you might have.
How do you get on the call? All you have to do is pick up your phone when we call.
If for some reason you are unable to pick up when we call you, instructions on how to join will be left on your voicemail (if you have voicemail or answering machine).
Visit our events page for more details.
SEIU-West is proud to announce our latest arbitration win! A member was facing a misallegation that threatened their job and livelihood, which led to a grievance. SEIU-West made every effort to ensure this member’s rights were protected by proceeding to arbitration on this grievance. A mutual resolve was met during this process and demonstrates that when we unite together, we win together!
A vacancy has arisen on the SEIU-West Political Action & Awareness committee as a result of the resignation of a member. The remaining term will be for approximately one year and five months for this position.
We are inviting interested members to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) form to fill this vacancy. You can submit your EOI online or via paper. Please forward your EOI form to President Barbara Cape; she will work with the Top Officers who will make a recommendation to the Executive Board to appoint an eligible member to fill the vacancy for the remaining term.
The successful applicant will have the opportunity to expand their union involvement and activism in this position, and play an active role in making the connections for SEIU-West members as to why politics is important.
If you or any of the member in your unit are interested in applying, please complete this paper Expression of Interest form or Online EOI and submit it to Barb Cape's attention by Monday, November 24, 2019. In the meantime, if you or your members have any questions please feel welcome to contact Barb at (306) 693-7922 (ext. 8730) or email [email protected].
Read the latest editorial written by President Barb Cape in recognition of Health Care Providers Week - and don't forget to celebrate this week! You can request funding for your Unit's celebration at this link.
As we celebrate Health Care Providers Week, let’s take the opportunity to pause and think about the incredible amount of work that health care providers do every day across a myriad of classifications for their patients, clients and residents.
This dedicated and caring team of professionals includes technologists with specialized skills to frontline nursing staff who provide direct hands-on care and technical expertise; administrative professionals who manage scheduling, billing, and the ‘behind the scenes’ ebb and flow of work; our environmental services workers who provide a clean, safe and healthy place for our patients, clients, and residents to recover; our food and dietary services staff who ensure proper nutrition; our medical device reprocessing staff who ensure equipment and tools are sterilized; our facility and trades people who manage the infrastructure needs and challenges of our new and aging buildings; and our security officers who keep a watchful eye to ensure everyone in and around the buildings are safe.
They all play a vital role in the provision of health care services. SEIU-West invites you to celebrate every person on the health care team. All members of the team bring value and skill to keeping our public health care system running. This is truly the crown jewel of our provincial public service system as it reaches into so many aspects of our lives.
Unfortunately, our system has been understaffed for far too long.
This chronic understaffing has led to people not choosing health care as a career because of the stagnant wages, which leaves those left in the system to do more with less people – putting them at risk both physically and emotionally.
We are encouraged by the commitment to build new facilities. However, we need people to provide the services that are being offered within these new buildings.
You deserve quality public health care services. We are calling on you, members of the public, to help protect your public health care system and the people who provide the services by telling the government to put care first – end understaffing.
Send your letter of support today; visit EndUnderstaffing.ca.
Please join SEIU-West in celebrating health care providers and the incredible skill and dedication they bring to work every day.
Barbara Cape
President, SEIU-West
SEIU-West is in the process of recruiting up to seven facilitators for our internal membership training programs. The successful applicants will excel in communication and leadership skills, and will gain valuable knowledge around their union’s practices and the greater labour movement. Are you outgoing, friendly, approachable, and energetic? If so, this facilitator training opportunity may be for you!
The facilitator training is a four day workshop that will provide sessions on popular education, active listening, class/group dynamics, diffusing situations, and how to deliver education in a fun and interactive way. The facilitation skills you’ll learn will create confidence amongst participants. Most importantly, this confidence will help strengthen the necessary skills to spark action on issues that matter to workers.
The facilitator course will run from February 18-21 at the Saskatoon Office – 747 46th Street West. Applicants must be available to attend all four days of training as well as one evening session on the 19th.
As per our usual practice, your union will cover travel, hotel, and meal expenses. You will also be reimbursed for lost wages or will be provided with an honorarium for your attendance on days not scheduled to work.
Applicants will need to fill out the Facilitator Training Expression of Interest Form and Registration Form and submit them to Catherine Gendron by email at [email protected] or by fax at 306-652-1392. You can apply online or apply via paper. The deadline for applications is November 24, 2019.
Related documents (downloadable PDF format):
EOI/Registration Form - online application
EOI/Registration Form - pdf application
Saskatoon, October 24, 2019
Click here to download a printable PDF file of Canadian Blood Services: Bargaining Update No. 1
Click here to download SAHO/SEIU-West Bargaining Bulletin (2nd edition) No. 9
Date: October 24, 2019
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Your SEIU-West bargaining committee met with SAHO and the Employer, along with conciliator Dan Ish in our continued engagement in voluntary conciliation. Despite the parties efforts there was no progress made, so both SAHO and ourselves have agreed to ‘pause’ the conciliation process with the option to resume if we receive any information that indicates there are more resources available at our bargaining table to conclude an agreement.
SAHO and the Employer was given a clear message that they needed to come to the session on the 23rd at 9:30 am – with their proposals to share with us. They did not. The conciliator described an ‘elephant in the room’, which is the potential impact of other public sector agreements. Specifically, the UNIFOR/Crowns tentative agreements where UNIFOR claims to have ‘broken the mandate’. There was reluctance to move forward without knowing the details of that deal and without any assurance additional monies would be made available to SEIU-West health care providers as a result. SAHO has indicated that their government partners have not disclosed the specifics of the UNIFOR settlements regarding the mandate.
Both parties identified disappointment in that more ‘creative’ options to achieve an agreement were not generated. The difference between the message received from our members that money was the outstanding issue and the message SAHO received from their principles (aka the government of Saskatchewan) that they refuse to consider advancing any ‘new money’ curtailed any opportunity for a fair deal.
SAHO indicated that our members shouldn’t expect to see other settlements for other groups of members and believe that it would be applied to them. We indicated our members see additional resources provided to other bargaining tables and significant new money provided for SHA projects, out-of-scope staff and MLAs, and believe added resources need to be committed to their Collective Agreement.
Our bargaining committee has been patiently waiting for SAHO and the Employer to respond to our proposals. Our patience has not been rewarded. So, we have determined (and communicated this with SAHO, Employer and the conciliator) that we will be going to the membership to ask for a mandate for job action.
Your SEIU-West bargaining committee will be setting up virtual townhall meetings and a roadshow to come out to meet with our membership in order to seek a mandate for job action.
While your committee is on the membership roadshow we committed to continuing discussions should there be any movement, progress or information about improvements to the public sector mandate. Please keep an eye on the SEIU-West website, Facebook page, and your union bulletin board for information updates; venues, dates and times for meetings and voting.
And please remember to show your support for our bargaining efforts. 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 need for a fair offer; and how an adequate monetary package is necessary to recruit and retain quality staff. 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.
If you have not already done so, you can also add your name to the www.endunderstaffing.ca campaign that has been launched to address recruitment and retention in our health care system. Wages are a critical component to ensure that we have appropriate staffing levels.
Your SEIU-West bargaining committee appreciates your support and engagement.
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 Contract Bargaining and Enforcement); Russell Doell (Deputy Dir. of Contract Bargaining and Enforcement); Cam McConnell (Negotiations Officer) • President: Barbara Cape
Recently, an employer did not adhere to our collective agreement in health care as they placed a full-time employee on the casual list in a different classification. This not only resulted in a collective agreement issue, it led to other members not getting calls for shifts as they would have before. SEIU-West therefore filed a grievance and this issue has been resolved. It is vital that we enforce our collective agreement so everyone’s rights are protected. What a great win!
SEIU-West is delighted to share that we had a very successful training on Investigations & Formal Documentation, with over 100 participants! Experienced Stewards expanded their knowledge in the steps to a successful investigation and learned what to do and what not to do in the use of applicable documents. They also learned about the importance of preparedness when investigating, recording, and documenting at the shop-floor level.
Some feedback from the workshop included;
“Excellent course! Very helpful tips and information.”
“Everyone needs this!”
“Great session, lots of discussion.”
“Informative, good case files.”
SEIU-West is excited to see these members utilize the skills they gained in order to make our workplaces better places to work. Way to go!
In addition to Education Week this week, SEIU-West is proud to recognize and celebrate Facilities and Engineering Week!
The work of our members in Facilities and Engineering is crucial to the success of the health care team and positive outcomes for those they care for. We need heating, water and lighting systems to be well-organized and operational; this is required to support quality health care environments that patients, residents, visitors and staff rely on. The SEIU-West members who make up the Facilities and Engineering department ensure our health care environments are safe, comfortable, and efficient.
Members who work in Facilities and Engineering work in a variety of fields including: Building and Energy Maintenance, Construction, Waste Management, Groundskeeping and Landscaping, and Clinical and Plant Engineering.
SEIU-West Facilities and Engineering workers are a vital part of efficient health care work environments – none of us could successfully complete our jobs without them! So in honor of our members who work in Facilities and Engineering, we are holding a contest and you can nominate a member of the Facilities and Engineering team who really makes a difference in your workplace. It could be their positive attitude, their awesome work, or the way they support the whole health care team.
Please send in your nominations, along with a sentence or two as to why they deserve to win to [email protected] by October 27, 2019. Your nominee could win one of several great prizes!
Put Kids First: By Barbara Cape, President of SEIU-West
As the school year continues on, we have an opportunity to celebrate Education Week (October 20 – 26. 2019) and to put kids first. But this is no mere platitude, rather a call to recognize the value of education and the impact on our province.
Saskatchewan has undergone some dramatic changes in the past ten years. Our provincial government boasts an increase in population and a strong economy. Our Premier publicly states that he is standing up for Saskatchewan. We need to engage on this undertaking with him – is he really standing up for our younger generation? Is he standing up for education?
We lost approximately 350 Education Assistant jobs during the boom years. This was followed up by the 2017-18 budget, where the education sector experienced deep cuts to the tune of 54 million dollars; in the 2018-19 budget funding was restored but only to the extent of 30 million dollars. In our current budget year school operating grants were reduced by 31.5 million dollars. This leaves us struggling at significantly reduced budget levels. The real world impact of those funding cuts has been larger classroom sizes; reduced services in maintenance and infrastructure; further cuts to all staff who work as Librarian and Education Assistants, Administrative Assistants, and Maintenance, among others. When classroom sizes balloon and resources are stripped, it is the students who suffer. With a growing population, the program cuts for English as an Additional Language and supports for students with special needs are particularly concerning…our kids need our support!
Your voices and collective wisdom can make the difference in the decision of the government to ensure that we have more staff: Teachers, Education Assistants, Maintenance, Administrative and Library Assistants. Our province depends on the education that we can provide: high quality education is a silver bullet that can promote prosperity and progress for our future society.
The time is now – during Education Week – reach out to your MLA and ask them to put kids first – end understaffing. Our children deserve a safe, comfortable and well supported learning environment.