At its regular meeting last Wednesday, October 6, the board of the Sunrise Health Region voted unanimously to ratify the much-delayed tentative agreement between the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) and unions CUPE, SEIU-West, and SGEU.
On Friday, SAHO announced that it and the health employers it represents had fully ratified the agreement. The three unions have done the same, meaning that the contracts should be signed within 30 days.
The four-year agreement will provide wage increases of 4 percent, 2 percent, 1.5 percent, and 2 percent for the respective years 2008 through 2012. Retroactive pay will be issued dating back to April 1, 2008.
The pay increases will be handled by the Ministry of Health, explained interim Sunrise CEO Suann Laurent, so the new agreement will not affect the health region's budget.
Because the agreement was more than two years overdue, a new contract will be needed once again within a year and a half.
