May 28, 2026
Dear Members,
1. Virtual Town Halls Rescheduled
Virtual town halls (VTHs) were scheduled for the evenings of May 27 and 28 to update SEIU-West members about SAHO bargaining and answer bargaining questions. Unfortunately, the VTH on May 27 ran into major technical glitches. We apologize if you were one of the hundreds of members whose experienced this failure. We were not satisfied that the supplier of the VTH platform would be able to properly fix these problems in time, so we decided to cancel the May 28 VTH.
We have arranged an alternate provider for two telephone townhall (TTH) meetings on June 2 and 3 at 7 pm. Notifications for these meetings will be delivered June 1, 2026, by phone. If you did not receive a call for the previous meetings, your profile may have been marked “No Voice Blast Allowed”. If you want to make sure you are getting the call, please contact the MRC by 9:00 am June 1, 2026 by emailing [email protected] or use the contact form on the website to give the Union permission to call (contact) you.
There will be an online streaming option, but that link will not be available until right before the calls begin.
2. Last Week’s Bargaining
The bargaining committees of the three health provider unions (HPUs) met with the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) from May 19 to 22, 2026.
Discussions focused once again on the movement of workers and work, which SAHO has made their top priority.
SAHO gave more details about their plans for multi-facility and multi-agency positions, and for the movement of work—which they have started referring to as “sharing” of work. They gave examples of situations where employees’ assigned work areas would overlap with each other or cross union boundaries. While this provided some clarity, it also raised many further questions which SAHO seemed not to have thought about, and on which we pressed them for more details. For example:
- How many and where are the areas where there would be overlaps and “sharing of work”?
- How many positions and members in each union might be affected by SAHO’s proposed changes? Which job classifications?
- Will every position, including more mobile ones like home care CCAs, have a “home base”—a facility in a town or city? Will workers in these positions now be expected to report to their base each day to get their work assignment and client list? What are the specific rules and protocols about how, with whom and when work must be shared?
- SAHO wants the Employer to be able to decide how work and worker will be moved with no input from you. The current collective agreements of every HPU already contain language allowing the employer to create multisite positions and move work within each union…if the employer follows the terms of the Collective Agreements and negotiates with the Union.
- The Unions demand mutually agreed to and specified processes that, if employee movement is needed because of emergency or needed provision of health care, gives choice to members, protects your hard-earned rights, provides for consultation with any affected workers and unions, and guarantees limits on how long these arrangements can last.
Upcoming bargaining dates are scheduled for:
- June 8 to 12, 2026
- June 22 to 26, 2026
If you have collective agreement questions or issues, contact the Member Resource Center at 1-888-999-7348 ext 1, email [email protected], or complete the Contact Us form on our website, www.seiuwest.ca.
In Solidarity on behalf of the SEIU-West Bargaining Committee,
Lisa Zunti
President
SEIU-West
Click here for a printable version of this bargaining update.
Find all the information for next week's telephone townhall meetings here. As more information becomes available, we will share it here.