September 18, 2026
Dear Members,
Your SEIU-West Bargaining Committee met with the Employer on September 15 and 16 for negotiations. We last met with them on August 12-14, when we presented them with a comprehensive package of proposals on all outstanding issues, including monetary. That package withdrew many of our earlier proposals and agreed in principle with many of the Employer’s proposals, in a good-faith effort to conclude bargaining. We expected a similarly good-faith response from the Employer at the next session of bargaining.
On September 15 SAHO presented their response to our package: another package centered on making it easier for the Employer to move employees and work (especially across bargaining unit boundaries) and to use contract workers. We reviewed their proposal line-by-line, and made our response plain:
On September 16 we responded with our own comprehensive proposal to resolve collective bargaining – a package deal – that includes everything we need to conclude a collective agreement, including monetary.
Our package deal doesn’t include their proposals on moving employees around, allowing people to perform work in each other’s bargaining units and contracting in and contracting out. In previous package of August 14, we presented alternatives to address the Employer’s goals, but they said they aren’t enough. They said that in public statements less than a week after we tabled it and long before we had even set the next dates let alone had a discussion. We told them this time we cannot agree to put any form of those things in the contract. We can’t give away so much and accept worse and worse working conditions to make room for their poor management practices.
What they want will change the scope of our agreement. It will take away work of the bargaining unit protections, and we can’t agree to that. We told them it is an unfair labour practice for them to force us to accept the changes they want by holding out on bargaining for wages. We said that if they include movement of work and workers and contracting in and out in the next package deal they offer we will consider filing a complaint at the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board. We believe the law is on our side. If that happens we will do everything we can to enforce the Employer’s legislated obligation to continue bargaining. A dispute can’t stand in the way of getting a deal. We will also be talking to you regularly and asking you for your support in whatever way it is needed.
Our strategy is sometimes different from the other Unions. We are being methodical and relentless in forcing the Employer to address what’s needed to get a deal and nothing else.
The HPUs are in regular contact with each other and share information about their tables, so that the employer can’t play divide and conquer or set up a race to the bottom.
We think the Employer’s proposals are just a scheme to mask their understaffing of health care. They’ve driven the system down and they want to try and solve it on your backs, with a plan that isn’t fair, takes away too much, and won’t work anyway.
We also asked the Employer to provide us with more dates. That was the first thing we talked about at this round. We offered 14 possible dates in September and October and after 4 days they still haven’t agreed to any new dates. How hard is it to check your calendars?
We live and work in Saskatchewan, but first and foremost/above all we live and work and get sick and need care in communities. Defending the jobs in your community and working conditions that make them sustainable is the line in the sand in this round of bargaining. That includes fair pay.
We want dates to bargain and we want fair bargaining. The issues are clear and the path forward is clear. We will provide updates as soon as we have anything to report and we will be consulting with you soon and regularly. Thank you for your patience and support.
If you can, contact your MLA, the Labour and Health Ministers, and other government officials. Your continued pressure on government is creating positive momentum at the bargaining table.
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.