SASKATOON— Service Employees International Union-West (SEIU-West) president Barb Cape criticized the slow pace of collective bargaining with provincial health officials, saying they have barely made any progress or real difference in workers’ lives since the agreement expired on April 1, 2023. Wages, working hours and the need to invest in health care are key issues at the bargaining table.
Cape said the last time health-care workers received a wage increase was in April 2023. However, current salaries no longer match today’s cost of living, especially with inflation rising during the pandemic and their buying power diminishing. The Saskatoon City Hospital’s emergency department also has staffing issues that result in limited hours.
“When we invest in health-care workers, we can provide the public services. For example, the [Saskatoon] City Hospital is open 24 hours or until 8 [p.m.]. That's what [ERs] are for,” said Cape, who joined about 100 colleagues in their information picket on Tuesday, Feb. 25, outside the Royal University Hospital near St. Andrew’s College.
“But when we don't have the doctors, we don't have security officers, we don't have frontline registered nurses or licensed practical nurses, and when we don't have the people who can provide that care, the health-care system will collapse. It's in a free fall. So, fighting for better emergency room care [and] for improved services across RUH, across the province, we're there.”
She added that an information picket is their way of informing the public, with the help of local media outlets, about how long it's taking to reach a collective agreement instead of quickly resolving the issue and reaching a compromise that benefits both parties.
“For the love of God, we're in the health-care system. We should be moving through those bargaining sessions with speed. We should see investment in the health-care system, but we are not. Respectfully, [the administrative information management system] is not investing. We need to invest in frontline workers like these folks who do the hands-on work, and that's where we want to see bargaining go,” said a visibly frustrated Cape.
“We have lost health-care workers, from doctors to plumbers and environmental service workers. Everybody in the health-care system, every classification, has seen a significant loss of workers on the frontline. Because we don't have enough workers and hands-on people to do the work, we're seeing incredibly … short staffing. We're also seeing incredible wait lists, and that's how the public sees it. We see the difficulty in getting the care done compassionately. The people I get to represent want to be able to do a great job that they can do.”
Cape said they will continue holding information pickets until they reach a deal and the government hears their demand for adequate investment in the provincial health-care system.
“If you want to know who's keeping the health-care system running, these people behind us. Information pickets like this and ones that are being held across the province. The idea is to add pressure to the ministers of health, to the [Saskatchewan Health Authority] to put real funding dollars on the table so we can get a deal that these guys can support,” said Cape.
“They want to be able not to work so much overtime. They want to be able to work an eight-hour shift and not have to work up to 20 hours. I don't think that's a high bar to ask. How are we running a public health-care system without investing in frontline health-care workers? They're the ones who make this system successful.”
She advised the government to intensify its recruitment efforts and offer permanent or part-time jobs to qualified candidates to fill vacant positions.
“Well, I'm not quite sure what their efforts are besides having a kick-ass website for the Saskatchewan Recruitment and Retention Organization. A class of licensed practical nurses is about to graduate from Medicine Hat College, and they will not come to Saskatchewan if there are no full-time permanent jobs. They will not go where they are not wanted. They will go where they can put their skills to good use. They will go where they can make a difference in patients' and clients' lives,” Cape said.
“In Saskatchewan, we must create an environment to attract those LPNs from Medicine Hat College. Attract the LPNs and technologists from Sask Polytech, [Northern Alberta Institute of Technology] and [Southern Alberta Institute of Technology]. I don't know what the government of Saskatchewan is doing to recruit, except they're going on many junkets to the U.S. and the Philippines. We need to support the folks here. We must build an environment where health-care workers from other countries are supported. They are allowed to succeed, along with those already here.”
Several Amalgamated Transit Union Saskatoon Local 615 members and the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour joined the information picket.
