Health-care unions want to see amalgamation plan

Unions representing more than half of Saskatchewan’s 43,000 health-care workers say they are concerned about deep uncertainty in workplaces as the provincial government moves closer to amalgamating 12 health regions into a single health authority.

With the government’s deadline of “fall 2017” about six months away, representatives of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Service Employees International Union-West representatives say there has been little communication about how the transition will be achieved — or what it will mean for workers and their patients.

“They’re not coming forward and saying, ‘This is what’s happening, this is when it’s happening, and this is who will be affected by it,’ ” said Gordon Campbell, president of CUPE’s Health Care Council, which represents about 13,000 workers.

SEIU-West treasurer Janice Platzke, whose union represents about 11,500 health region employees, said while the government has released some broad information, a detailed plan has not yet emerged.

“We don’t see the plan as a whole, and if you want everyone on board and working together to make this work, you’ve got to show the plan with everyone, all the stakeholders, involved,” Platzke said.

The Saskatchewan Party government announced its plan to consolidate the province’s 12 health regions late last year, a few months ahead of its controversial 2017-18 budget, which aims to cut a $1.3 billion deficit in half.

Despite the province’s financial situation, Remote Health Minister Greg Ottenbreit told reporters this week that the transition to a single organizational body is more about improving care than saving an estimated $10 million to $20 million by 2018-19.

Ottenbreit and Health Minister Jim Reiter announced on Monday that the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) will be headquartered in Saskatoon, and most of the existing regions’ CEOs and vice-presidents will lose their jobs as a result.

Reiter said front-line health staff “are going to see very little, if any difference,” but Campbell, Platzke and Saskatchewan Federation of Labour president Larry Hubich agreed job losses are often inevitable during major mergers.

“Those are always concerns when there’s any kind of restructuring or amalgamation,” Hubich said, citing his experience in the private sector as an example of how mergers frequently lead to employees being laid off or relocated.

There are other concerns, too. Campbell said CUPE wants to know if additional medical services will be privatized. Platzke, meanwhile, said SEIU-West worries about patients “getting lost” in a larger system rather than receiving better care.

Cypress Health Region CEO Beth Vachon, who is heading the Ministry of Health’s nine-person “transition team,” said the group issues weekly communiques to the health system, which largely consist of general information rather than detailed plans.

Because of the “tight” timeline, the group is concentrating on items — such as establishing a board and senior leadership team — that must be in place when the SHA begins operations, while other details are not as pressing, she said.

Asked about the possibility of unionized workers losing their jobs, Vachon reiterated Reiter’s comment that “not a whole lot is going to change” for front-line staff, but noted that many operational decisions will be left to the newly formed SHA.

“There are no guarantees when these kinds of reorganizations happen, especially for senior people.”