SASKATOON — Despite having around 70 members, the Service Employees International Union-West pushed through with its information picket line to continue voicing its concerns about healthcare workers' daily problems, including wages that have failed to match the current cost of living.
SEIU-West Treasurer Janice Platzke said the minimum wage has risen by $10 an hour since she started working with the Saskatchewan Health Authority in 1991. The current minimum wage in Saskatchewan is $15, the same as Alberta's, and the lowest among the other provinces in the country.
“I went online, and I looked up an analysis. When I started with the SHA in 1991, the minimum wage was $5. It's now $15. So, in my 34 years, the minimum wage has [increased] more than my health care wage. That's demoralizing,” said Platzke, who joined their members in an information picket on Wednesday, Jan. 22, outside the Saskatoon City Hospital.
“I have a daughter that works for Starbucks, and with the raises they're getting, in another three years she'll be earning more than me 小蓝视频 in this job. By then, it'll be 37 years. It's disgusting. We hear members say the cost of living is so high. We know some members must use the food bank. You’re a healthcare worker and must go to the food bank?”
That is why workers’ wages are among the issues they want to highlight in the struggles over the current round of bargaining agreements.
“We're out here today to support our bargaining team, and we want a fair contract in 2025. Our collective agreement with the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations expired almost two years ago. In April, it will be two years. We served notice to bargain in January of 2023, but the employer didn't meet with us until October 2023,” said Platzke.
“It's already been 16 months, and we've been bargaining with SAHO because we only meet with them once a month. Our members must be respected, protected while at work, and adequately compensated for their vital work in providing care to the people of Saskatchewan. Healthcare workers need a raise, not another one that amounts to pocket change.”
She added that Saskatchewan healthcare workers always provide the best value for the tax dollars the province's people pay for their services. That is why it is beneficial that their request for improved working conditions and adequate compensation remain on the negotiating table, allowing them to keep working in their respective communities.
She added that some of their members had been riled up and indignant waiting this long for a collective agreement after surviving the long working hours during the COVID-19 pandemic, where everyone hailed them as the new heroes.
“In that collective agreement, we ended up with zeros, a couple of years of zeros. It was very deflating. They are working overtime all the time. They're working short-staffed all the time. Every meeting we go to, they tell us they're exhausted, they're mentally drained, and many of them are considering leaving health care,” said Platzke.
“We've heard them say: ‘Our children are making more money than we are for the back-breaking work that we do in healthcare.’ But they also say That we do it because we love the people we serve. We love the residents. We love the patients.’ It's their giving nature that makes them stay in healthcare.”
Platzke said their members need a decent wage increase, citing her salary as an example. “I did the math on what three per cent means on my pay rate: two quarters and a nickel. That’s pocket change. One day, we met with the CEO of the SHA, and I told him about my pay rate.”
“They looked aghast, like no one thinks three per cent can be so little for someone. I also said to him: You know, we have a disability plan. If I ended up on long-term disability, which is only 60 per cent of my wage, I'd be earning less than $13 an hour to live on. Who can live on $13 an hour, which is below minimum wage if I end up on long-term disability? It's shameful.”
