Date: May 10, 2021
Greetings Sisters and Brothers,
Your SEIU-West SAHO Bargaining Committee has concluded negotiations regarding a Letter of Understanding (LOU) to transition the SEIU-West seniority system from an hours based system to a seniority date system.
Since we ratified our tentative agreement in January, the bargaining committee has continued to meet with SAHO to fulfill the obligations for the LOU. Agreement was achieved on April 30, 2021.
The work to transition to a seniority date system begins in June of 2022.
The Employer is to produce a hours based seniority list for all SEIU-West members working for the SHA or affiliates on June 6, 2022. Both three week and four week scheduling periods end on this date.
Note: this changeover is more than a year in the future. This does not include Extendicare facilities.
All SEIU-west members will then have 60 days to review the hours based seniority list to make sure that it’s correct.
So our advice is to review all seniority lists between now and then to ensure your seniority is calculated and listed correctly. If the information on the latest posted seniority list is incorrect, report this to the employer ASAP. You’ll also need to submit proof of the error, so paystubs and previous seniority lists are good proof. In addition, be sure to check the June 6, 2022 list for accuracy as well.
Effective June 6, 2022, all newly hired employees will be ranked according to date of hire.
On August 15, 2022, the employer will produce a ‘converted seniority list’ that will change members’ seniority from the number of hours of seniority to the equivalent calendar date. This list will include employee name, employee number, classification, hire/transfer date, total hours of seniority used to convert to a date, current rank within the region, converted seniority date, converted rank within the region. Members will have 60 days to identify any errors – again, do this ASAP to ensure corrections are made. The formula below will be used for this conversion:
There may be an additional column for information purposes only that shows members’ rank across all SEIU-West regions.
The new seniority date list will become effective October 23, 2022.
We have also reviewed the collective agreement for grammar and any errors and the work to start production of the collective agreements will begin.
I ask that you join with me in thanking our bargaining committee members (listed below) for their hard work and dedication in getting a collective agreement for our members. This has been a long and difficult round of bargaining for members and bargaining committee alike.
We have also begun the work related to Recruitment and Retention LOU as set out in the Memorandum of Settlement.
In Solidarity,
Barbara Cape, President of SEIU-West
To download and print a PDF of this Bargaining Bulletin, please click here.
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 Bargaining and Contract Enforcement); Russell Doell (Deputy Dir. of Bargaining and Contract Enforcement); Cam McConnell (Negotiations Officer) • President: Barbara Cape
As we reflect on the past year, there’s been more than our fair share of chaos and division. Some of it is real and some of its political posturing. But we can take the gift of this holiday season and choose peace, friendship, and understanding.
Following the November 30 decision of the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board (LRB) with respect to the successorship of the former Extendicare Regina facilities, SEIU-West held meetings at Elmview, Parkside, and Sunset Special Care Homes to explain the recent decision to move workers from SEIU-West to CUPE.
Oops! The pocket calendars are out, and one keen eyed member found an error where a day was duplicated.