SASKATOON — The Service Employees International Union-West and provincial health officials have yet to agree. Both parties remain in a deadlock in their latest collective bargaining talks. SEIU-West members continue with their information pickets in the city, this time at the corner of Fairlight Drive and Diefenbaker Drive.
SEIU-West Vice President Jason Monteith said they have been meeting at the negotiating table regularly, as they wanted a speedy process since their members have been working without an agreement since the previous expired almost two years ago. However, things are moving slowly, and they still disagree on many issues that affect their members.
“We're just worlds apart on a lot of issues. We must work closely, and the [Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations] needs to work with us. They need to hear what our members are saying because we're hearing loud and clear what our members need, and we're not willing to take less than what our members need and deserve. On average, it's usually every five to six weeks we're meeting with SAHO,” said Monteith.
“We would like to see meetings happen far more often because if we're at the table, hopefully, we can reach an agreement. In our last collective agreement, we received zero, zero, one, two and two. So, five percent [wage increase] over five years. As you know, when you get groceries and go to fill up your vehicle, the cost of living is going up significantly, and our wages just have not kept up, and our members are feeling that crunch.”
He added the information picket, which takes place all over the province, like in Regina and Moose Jaw, is to make the public aware that SEIU-West members continue to wait to get what they deserve for working long hours and sometimes double shifts and staffing shortages as healthcare workers continue to leave.
“We're creating awareness right across the province. We have information pickets throughout Saskatchewan, so we want to ensure that the public knows we have been waiting over two years for a collective agreement. It is unacceptable, and our members must get a fair collective agreement. Our members are the backbone of healthcare,” said Monteith.
“Our members keep the healthcare system running and functioning; without our members, it would crumble. Healthcare workers carried us through a pandemic. They've worked short, took double shifts, and we've heard of staff working as many as 26 consecutive hours while seeing zero percent wage increases during their last collective agreement.”
Monteith said their members can no longer wait and need fair treatment after working longer hours and 小蓝视频 short-staffed during the pandemic. Still, they did their job of providing healthcare to their patients and keeping the system alive when almost anyone could get infected by the virus.
“Our members deserve more. They can't keep waiting; they're still working short-staffed and double shifts. Our members deserve to be treated fairly and compensated fairly. As I said before, SEIU-West members are the backbone of healthcare. We need to get things moving; we can't keep waiting. The cost of living keeps increasing, and we're seeing staff leaving faster than we can get staff to come in. If we don't have workers, the healthcare system will fail at the end of the day,” said Monteith.
“We're seeing firsthand that we can't recruit and retain staff and healthcare workers. Wages aren't keeping up, and that's why it's so important that our members get treated to a fair collective agreement. They work their butts off, they're working double shifts, and they're not 小蓝视频 compensated fairly, so it's essentialt that they get to the table and they offer us a fair collective agreement. We're hearing from all of our members throughout the province that they're working more hours and short-staffed, often double shifts.”
Monteith told the story of one licensed practical nurse who had to work a 26-hour shift due to a lack of staff, which was unacceptable and one of the reasons why more healthcare staff have been leaving the province rather than working here. He added that the province is not successful with its retention and recruiting practices, which has resulted in shortages and problems in the healthcare system, and that Saskatchewan residents deserve better healthcare.
More than 60 people, some from other facilities, joined the information picket to show their support for their colleagues and that their union is united in pushing for better working conditions and fair wages, which were some of the demands they brought to the bargaining table. The picket will continue until an acceptable deal is agreed on.
“We want to make sure the public is aware that we want to see a fair collective agreement; our members deserve it, and we don't want to wait. All individuals who join do it in their own time. None of this is 小蓝视频 done on employer time so as not to affect their work,” said Monteith.
