By paNOW Staff

Health Sciences rejects new SAHO proposal

May 10, 2011 | 1:22 PM

More job action is expected after the Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan rejects the latest offer from health care employers.

“What health care employers and the Wall government claimed was a serious proposal, in fact was a market-adjusted wage rate for primarily one group of our members, EMS workers, who are the lowest paid EMS workers in Western Canada,” said Cathy Dickson, president of HSAS.

The Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations met with HSAS this morning to up their offer to the union.

The new proposal came during a short meeting between the two sides in Saskatoon today and comes one day after about 60 health care professionals walked off the job in the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region.

SAHO has offered a market adjusted wage increase for emergency medical service workers of almost nine per cent.

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“This is a very competitive offer and it actually addresses many of the issues that we might have around retaining and recruiting these highly qualified staff,” said Susan Antosh, SAHO president.

“We think how they respond to this move will actually give us a pretty clear idea of whether they actually want to bargain to a collective agreement or whether they have some other objective.”

After going through the proposal Dickson said the response is “inadequate” and that it won’t help the “chronic under-staffing of our professions as a whole, and nothing to improve recruitment and retention.”

“That’s why we have suspended bargaining, and will soon have further announcements with respect to additional strike action that will highlight health care service issues around the province,” she said.

“With bargaining suspended, we renew our public call to send this contract dispute to independent, binding arbitration.”

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