October 2, 2026
Dear Members,
Your SEIU-West Bargaining Committee met with SAHO September 28 and 29.
When we last met with them two weeks earlier, we left them with a comprehensive proposal and a long list of days in September and October when we would be available to meet.
Despite this, SAHO kept us waiting until almost noon on the 28th before they were “ready” to respond to our package and provide us with a list of dates. We received, and carefully reviewed, SAHO’s response package, then prepared a comprehensive response covering all matters on which we are prepared to bargain.
The next dates SAHO offered, which we accepted, are October 5 and 6.
We know you’re frustrated with how long this is taking.
Here are our bottom lines:
You deserve to have say over when and where you work.
We all have responsibilities outside of work, such as our families. You need some control over your work schedule and SAHO is determined to reduced that control. They insist that the Employer has the right to force you to take on more hours and work in facilities and communities where you haven’t worked before. We are standing firm against this.
This week, we once again told the Employer that they need to offer more permanent full-time jobs at competitive wages.
You deserve to be paid fairly for the work you do.
This week, SAHO proposed the same general wage increase of 3%, 3%, 2%, 2%, 2% they tabled before. This increase is less than inflation.
SAHO’s proposal this week did include increases to some wages, but they are not nearly enough, they are not retroactive, and they apply to less than half our job classifications. This is an attempt to undermine the solidarity of our membership and we will not stand for it.
We continue to fight for fair increases to your wages and we won’t accept anything else.
Your health and dental benefits must be maintained.
As the cost of living rises and your working conditions get worse, your employer-funded health and dental benefits are more vital than ever to you and your family and these must be sustained. SAHO is trying to use your benefits as a bargaining chip. Under the current collective agreement, the Employer must fund the benefits plan, so that benefits will continue to be at no cost to the employee. SAHO wants to change this to a level that is not sufficient to maintain the plan, which would mean either you pay a share or you lose benefits.
We demand that the Employer fund the plan into the future and maintain your benefits.
You deserve safe staffing levels in your workplace.
We know that your workplaces have been chronically understaffed for years. We know the toll this is taking on you and the negative impact it’s having on the patients, residents, and clients. The government (which is sitting on a huge windfall of oil royalties) must provide the funding for competitive wages and hire more permanent, full-time staff. The solution is not to wring more hours out of current staff, or to poach or reallocate staff from a neighbouring community that has no staff to spare.
We will not retreat and then turn around and call that retreat “movement” or “progress”.
The Employer knows that you are frustrated.
They already know that many of you would go on strike tomorrow to get a fair deal. But they also know the law is on their side: you can’t go on strike without an essential services agreement. And they’re in no great hurry to negotiate one.
We will hold a strike vote when it’s the right step. That’s not until we have reached an impasse. We’re at an impasse regarding the movement of work and employees across bargaining unit lines, but we still have hard bargaining to do for the rest of the deal.
We are not going to shout about a vote that has no power or give in to the Employer and call some language “guardrails” a victory. We are going to the real legal and political steps to get fair treatment at the bargaining table and bargain hard until we get a deal, or we reach an impasse. We don’t want this to go on any more than you do, but that’s not a reason to lose.
We meet with the Employer again on October 5 and 6, and we have more dates for the end of the month. It will not be long before our final position is on the table, and we will know the next step. We will be reaching out to communicate more and give you ways to raise your voice.
If you have collective agreement questions or issues, contact the Member Resource Centre 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.