Health care workers now seen disposable

I’m a health care worker who assists with important medical procedures daily and a proud SEIU-West member who has participated in the bargaining process. When both sides come together with a shared commitment to patients and families, bargaining runs smoothly and everyone wins. However, when government meddles in our bargaining, the process falls apart and everyone loses.

I learned this in 2008, when the Sask. Party passed a law to rig the outcome of negotiations. Ironically, most employees (all full-time, part-time and many casuals) were deemed ‘essential.’ That law was later struck down by the Supreme Court because it was unconstitutional.

In 2017, just as bargaining is starting, the government has announced that health care workers will have to take a 3.5 per cent pay cut and days off without pay. Government no longer views us as essential; now we are disposable.

Yet in Saskatchewan our hospitals and long-term care homes don’t have enough staff to provide safe, quality care. This problem will be made worse by pay cuts and forced days off. I know that fewer procedures will get done if we have no staff to assist.

Let’s quit the attack on workers. Instead, let’s look closely at tax loopholes that benefit corporations so that they can begin to pay their fair share. Judy Denniss, Saskatoon