‘Great deal of development’ in talks between health unions, province

Workload, benefits some of key issues for workers

Unions representing many of the province’s health-care workers continue to negotiate a new contract, with a “great deal of development” taking place recently.

Meetings took place at the end of March and are continuing this week.

SEIU-West, CUPE and the health-care provider branch of SGEU are part of a joint bargaining committee at the table in the negotiations with the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO). Neither the union nor SAHO returned calls seeking comment on the negotiations.

In a recent online post, the union committee listed some of the issues it is trying to address in negotiations, including: recruitment, retention, workload, professional fees and maintaining an extended health plan.

“We hope that the Government of Saskatchewan recognizes that it is health care workers who provide the care, keep the buildings running, and comfort the sick, vulnerable and dying,” said the statement. “But health care workers are running on empty.”

The joint bargaining team also reported, “There was a great deal of development work on both sides of the table to review, prepare and respond to proposals.” That indicates members are perhaps closer to the end than the beginning of negotiations.

Last year, SAHO tabled a proposal described by union members as full of concessions. It included a four-year collective agreement with a one-per-cent compensation rollback in one year, followed by three years of zero-per-cent increases.

Although negotiations appear to be going better than before, the unions still have a number of concerns.

“We face many challenges, including grave concerns about short staffing protocols and processes, lack of investment in the provincial health care system, the threat of the -3.5% rollback, and the transition to the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA),” said the committee’s online post.

SEIU-West, CUPE and SGEU members have been without a contract since the end of March 2017.

The province is also set to begin negotiations with other healthcare providers, including the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN). That contract expired at the end of March.

Last year, the province announced plans to reduce public sector compensation costs by 3.5 per cent to help combat its $1.2-billion deficit.

Then-premier Brad Wall contended setting the targeted reduction for the province’s 64,425 public sector workers would save the province $250 million, or roughly 20 per cent of the total deficit figure.

To date, it has not had success in negotiating those reductions through collective bargaining with unions.