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About 80 health-care workers shouted and waved signs at the Legislative Building, saying negotiations at the bargaining table have been in limbo for more than two years.
About 30,000 health-care workers are represented by the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union, Service Employees’ International Union West, and Canadian Union of Public Employees Health Care Workers Saskatchewan.
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Tracey Sauer, president of SGEU, said whenever the union gets to the bargaining table, “it’s like spinning wheels.”
“We have the need to be heard, and we haven’t been heard for a long time,” she said. “It’s been almost three years without any pay raises. We’ve been trying to negotiate a contract that has gotten nowhere.”
Lisa Zunti, president of SEIU-West, said that if a deal is not reached, more health care workers are going to continue to leave the profession.
“It’s so disappointing,” she said. “People are so frustrated and so disrespected.”
Zunti has over 20 years of experience as a health-care worker. Prior to May, she worked at St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon.
She said many employees are feeling defeated seeing overcrowded hospitals and a larger workload – and no deal isn’t helping.
“To me, it just seems like a stall tactic to get our members frustrated, so that they will take whatever is offered to them,” Zunti said.
Bashir Jalloh, president of CUPE Health Care Workers Saskatchewan, said the provincial government is “slow walking” the bargaining process.
“Meetings are not the most important thing – it’s not a number,” he said. “It’s what gets discussed that is substantive.”
Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said more bargaining dates have been added. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)
Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said that bargaining can take time.
“I’m confident that we’re going to get to an agreement that will work for the employer,” he said. “But we’ll also recognize the important work that these folks do across the province.”
Cockrill said the government has added more negotiation dates where the provincial bargaining agents and union representatives can meet.
