REGINA – A day after the Saskatchewan provincial election was called, one sector is already calling for more support from the next elected government.
On Wednesday, CUPE 5430 healthcare workers took a stand outside the Saskatchewan Legislature, delivering 1800 postcards to the provincial government, each containing the name of a healthcare worker and the issues they’re currently facing.
CUPE 5430 President Bashir Jalloh spoke to reporters about the postcards and their meaning.
“These are the postcards that our members have been signing. We have a lot of them here a lot in the box that our members are signing with regards to their challenges. The challenges they are facing in their workplace with regards to the bypasses, the short staffing, the overwork, the lack of acknowledgement by our health care by our members, the low wages, the pace at which our sale, the employer’s bargaining agent is at the bargaining table,” said Jalloh.
CUPE surveyed 14,000 members between 2020-2023, asking healthcare workers about workplace challenges, staffing, rising inflation and cost of living. The survey found that over the past 10 years, the cost of living has gone up by 27 per cent, while wage increases for healthcare workers have only risen by around 14 per cent in that same span.
“It is unacceptable for healthcare workers to not be able to survive with the current crisis in healthcare with the rising inflation, the cost of living. Our wages are nowhere where they should be. People are struggling, and people are just coping by having multiple jobs, running around, and some people are even deciding to change professions, while some are leaving the province,” said Jalloh.
Jalloh also noted empty promises made by ministers after CUPE laid out plans to fix the healthcare system. “We have had meetings with the minister of health, the then minister of health, the minister of rural services, the opposition. We came here, we lay out, even with regards to recruitment and retention, we gave them our plan, the recruitment, what they can do with regards to the recruitment.” After all those meetings, Jalloah said, “Nothing has been done.”
NDP incumbent for Regina Walsh Acres Jared Clarke joined CUPE 5430 members. Clarke said Scott Moe and the Saskatchewan Party have made the provincial healthcare system last among all Canadian provinces and that it’s time for change.
“After 17 years of Scott Moe and the Sask Party government, the system is broken. Healthcare workers here know that healthcare workers across this province are burning out and leaving. Saskatchewan is in last place in health care across the country because the Sask Party put us there. They are the ones who have broken the health care system.”
Clarke noted that the NDP has plans to help the sector. “We have a plan to fix it. We are going to hire more healthcare workers. We’re going to keep emergency rooms open longer. And we’re going to hire and train people to work in health care in their communities across this province.”
When asked by reporters about the 1,800 postcards from CUPE members, Clarke said, “I think it sends a clear message that our health care system is in crisis, that our health care workers are in crisis, and they need the government to step up. They’ve been asking for a task force, a health care worker task force, for over two years, and the government has failed to come to the table to respect their voices and hear them at the decision-making table. We want to change that. We want to make sure that health care workers are a partner in getting the health care system back on the right track.”
CUPE members have been working without a contract for over a year now. Jalloh and CUPE want Saskatchewan’s next government to discuss immediate and future healthcare plans. “Look at the short term, medium term and long term. We want a fair deal. We want them to come to the bargaining table to negotiate to have a fair deal.”
The provincial election is on Monday, Oct. 28.
