President's Message: LOU on Redeployment

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.

Op-Ed: Public Health Care System Needs More Staff

For Immediate Release - February 7, 2020

Saskatchewan people take pride in our role as the pioneers of Medicare. But the public health care system we take for granted has reached a critical point.

Our population is growing and aging, with increasingly complex care needs. Our governments have not made the necessary investments to serve these growing needs. Federal health transfers have not kept pace, and provincial funding remains driven by the ongoing narrative of a tight fiscal budget. 

This growing imbalance between needs and funding has become critically apparent on the front lines, in the form of understaffing.

As a quick fix for budget pressures, health managers are routinely leaving positions vacant when staff quit or retire, or not replacing staff who are on leave. They also refuse to add baseline staff to units whose numbers and needs have increased. The result: crushing workloads that put the health and safety of patients, clients, residents and health care workers at risk.

Urgent action is needed to fix this crisis. And the opportunity and responsibility to act belongs to all of us.

Cape’s Corner

We recently held our kick off for the renewal of SEIU-West committees. Each committee had discussions about improvements to worker safety and how this goal might fit into their future work. Worker safety has been a regular theme this year for the work done within SEIU-West.

 

When you think about it, so much of our work flows to and from worker safety: educating and mobilizing around the three rights (the Right to Know; the Right to Participate; the Right to Refuse); building knowledge and skills with young workers, new Canadians, and more seasoned staff; providing awareness about avenues to become involved and active within the scope of workplace safety; and combating racism, discrimination and stereotypes that affect the emotional and mental wellbeing of all of our members.

 

The committees have been tasked with how they will incorporate worker safety into their work over the next two years. And I’m excited to see the innovative ways that they reach out to build our membership with that goal in mind. Our committees are:  

 

  • Aboriginal
  • Education
  • Member Organizing
  • Nursing Care
  • Political Action & Awareness
  • Retirees
  • Worker Safety
  • Workers of Colour
  • Young Workers

 

These committees are comprised of members from every sector we represent: industrial and allied, education, community-based organizations, retirement homes, and health care. We want to ensure that our members have opportunities to engage with and help lead our union. We should also be looking at how we build a wider movement to encompass people whose principles and beliefs align with ours.

  This is the work of our union beyond bargaining, grievances and arbitration…it builds on our vision of a more just and humane society. Each       one of our committees has brought forward something unique: great opportunities, radical ideas, strong advocacy, and solid history…I look   forward to seeing what they accomplish over the next two years.

President's Message - Put Care First!

Sisters and Brothers,

Your Provincial Contract Action Team (ProCAT) is looking to ramp up our efforts to demand fairness and safety in health care.

We’ll be looking to our members to help ensure their communities are aware of the severe understaffing happening in health care.

A fair contract would definitely help.

If you are interested in setting up a Put Care first end understaffing event (i.e. info picket, leafleting, etc.) in your community, reach out to your ProCAT member or use the event request form to let us know.

We will provide the resources such as leaflets, necessary funding, checklists, etc. but it is vital to have a local unit members engaged and involved.

We all have to work together to keep up the pressure so we can successfully resolve this collective agreement.

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. Explain to them the need for a fair offer; and how an adequate monetary package is necessary to recruit and retain quality staff. You can also send a letter to your MLA with a simply click on our www.EndUnderstaffing.ca campaign. 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.

Remember we’re all in this together!

Please keep an eye on the SEIU-West website and your union bulletin board. And follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for information updates.

In solidarity,

Barbara Cape, SEIU-West President 

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Moose Jaw

Phone: 306.693.7922
Fax: 306.692.2807
Address:
39 Athabasca Street West
Moose Jaw, SK S6H 2B6

Saskatoon

Phone: 306.652.1011
Fax: 306.652.1392
Address:
200–747 46th Street West
Saskatoon, SK S7L 6A1

Swift Current

Phone: 306.773.2536
Fax: 306.773.7535
Address:
333 Central Avenue North
Swift Current, SK S9H 0L5