About Us

Service Employees’ International Union (SEIU) was founded in 1921 when building janitors in the United States formed the Building Service Employees International Union. Since that time, workers from diverse countries and backgrounds have opted to join the SEIU family. This diversity is also reflected in the membership as workers employed in the private, public, and industrial sectors have chosen SEIU as their representative Union. The SEIU currently has approximately two (2) million members across North America.

In Canada, SEIU represents approximately 100,000 members. SEIU represents members who work for school boards, home care agencies, hospitals, special care homes, retirement homes, emergency services, social services, and municipalities, among many others.

SEIU members include bus drivers, janitors, teacher aides, clerical staff, caretakers, group home workers, addictions counselors, licensed practical nurses, special care aids, day care workers, and ambulance personnel, to name a few.

[SEIU-West is affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress and the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour. The structure of SEIU-West is described in our Organizational Chart.]

How SEIU-West was born

SEIUWEST.ca was created through a merger in 2008 of 3 strong Locals:

Local 299, based out of Moose Jaw, was established in 1946 and consisted of approximately 2,000 members who are school board employees in both the Public and Catholic school systems, as well as employees in the health care sector and in a variety of other industries.

Local 333, based out of Saskatoon, was the largest Saskatchewan Local, with 8,200 members. St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon was the first hospital organized by SEIU in 1946. The majority of members who were affiliated with this local, worked as health providers in the health-care sector, community-based organizations, private care homes and group homes.

Local 336, based out of Swift Current, was chartered in 1947. Its founding members were employed primarily in the health care sector. This local broadened its representation to include education workers, caretakers, office and clerical workers, crisis service workers, and municipal workers. It consisted of approximately 1,200 members.

Since the 2008 merger, SEIU-West has become a force to be reckoned with in the Labour movement. With the best membership in the country SEIU-West is the example of Stronger Together!

Our Mandate:

The mandate of SEIU-West is to improve the lives of working people and their families, and lead the way to a more just and humane society. We stand for economic and social justice, for dignity and respect, for having a voice on the job and in society, and for a secure job with the opportunity to advance.

We encourage members to participate in the Union through attendance at workplace meetings, involvement as stewards, participation on Committees, and through education and training sessions. Regular elections occur which enable interested members to be nominated for a position on their Unit Executive.

In addition, SEIU-West employs administrative, research, communications, education, and field staff representatives, to enhance our members’ working life.

In 2011, SEIU-West launched it’s very own Member Resource Centre (MRC) in order to more efficiently respond to our members.

For more information regarding SEIU-West, please call us at 1.888.999. 7348 or use our Contact form.

We look forward to hearing from you and remember, we are Stronger Together.