YORKTON – Supporters of CUPE 5430 gathered at the Yorkton Regional Health Centre for a bargaining information rally the morning of June 11.
The purpose of the rally was to "raise awareness about the crisis in health care and to pressure the provincial government to provide a fair deal at the bargaining table," according to a media release from CUPE.
"Our members are burnt out. Our members are tired. Our members are struggling. That is why we are here today — to raise these issues for them to come to the bargaining table," said Bashir Jalloh, President of CUPE 5430, in his address to supporters in attendance at the rally.
"They don't have staff and people to manage. In order for us to be serious about staffing ... we need to address the issues about retention," said Jalloh.
CUPE Local 5430 is the largest healthcare union in Saskatchewan, representing nearly 14,000 healthcare workers in five Regions, including Region 5, the former Sunrise Health Region, according to a report conducted by a team with the Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit at the University of Regina
The report states that fewer staff and decreased access to specialists leads to increases in time to treatment for rural patients and of the 10 facilities with the highest number of service disruptions in the province from Aug. 2019 to July 2023, five of them are located in Region 5.
This includes the Canora Hospital with 68 disruptions, St. Peter's Hospital (Melville) with 59 disruptions, St. Anthony's Hospital (Esterhazy) with 41 disruptions, Kamsack Hospital with 31 disruptions, and Preeceville and District Health Centre with 31 disruptions. The total number of 235 disruptions represents 44 per cent of service disruptions in the province during that time frame.
The data was compiled by the Saskatchewan Health Authority and includes information on all health care service disruptions in the province with a duration of at least 24 hours, according to the report.
"A reliance on part-time and contract workers to meet labour needs has been consistent in Sask healthcare over recent years. From 2017 to 2022, 33-35 per cent of hours worked by CUPE-affiliated healthcare workers were completed by part-time and casual employees. Discrepancies begin to appear when considering the differences between rural and urban healthcare workers. Rural CUPE-affiliated facilities, on aggregate, relied more on part-time and casual employees to work, as 47 per cent of hours in these facilities were worked by part-time and casual employees, compared to 32 per cent of hours in urban facilities. Of the 37 CUPE affiliated healthcare facilities where over 50% of hours are being worked by part-time and casual employees, 33 are located in rural areas," detailed the report.
"The biggest concerns for our members right now are staffing levels. Everbody is working short-staffed," said Corinne Sopel, General Vice-President of CUPE 5430 Region 5.
"Our nursing departments are struggling. Our labs are struggling. Rural facilities are really struggling as far as staffing and recruitment and retention as well," added Sopel.
"In Saskatchewan we know the cost of living over the past 10 years has gone up by about 27 per cent," said Jalloh, adding, "the wages of CUPE 5430 members have only gone up about 14 per cent. That is something that is unacceptable."
Jalloh told reporters that an internal survey of CUPE members was conducted in regard to the cost-of-living, and said the results of the survey indicate that members are "finding it difficult to live."
"In order to address that we want them to be able to have a fair wage deal at the bargaining. We want to negotiate a higher wage for our members so they can stay in this province," said Jalloh.
