What’s leading to labour unrest and could more strikes be coming to Saskatchewan?

What is leading to this summer of strikes and could job action and picket lines pop up in Saskatchewan in the coming months?

Lori Johb is President of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour and said while inflation and the cost of living are part of the issue, an increase in corporate profits is contributing to the unrest.

“Labour unrest is a result of out-of-touch and greedy elites who don’t give a damn about workers,” she said. “Political leaders haven’t done anything to level the playing field.”

Judy Henley, the President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) for Saskatchewan agrees but adds the discontent for many public workers started years ago, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Many of them were called heroes and then there was a temporary wage top-up for some and not for all. So, that already started the mixed emotions, especially in healthcare,” she said. “It started the mixed emotions because childcare didn’t have some choices as to what they were doing.”

Since then, Henley said many governments put in wage freezes or rollbacks which was met with a huge backlash from unions, considering the rise in food costs, housing costs, and utilities.

Union leaders like Henley don’t understand how governments can spend millions or billions of dollars for different initiatives or projects while some public workers struggle to make ends meet.

“There seems to be this ability to find money for some things but not to find the money for the workers and the workers, especially in public sector, they’re the services to the people of this province and they shouldn’t have members that are supposed to have better-paying jobs, going to food banks because they can’t afford to put food on their table or they can’t afford to pay their bills.”

So, does this mean more unionized employees, whether public or private sector could put themselves in a position to strike in Saskatchewan?

Johb said it’s inevitable.

“The provincial government is socking away billions in surpluses while hiking taxes, increasing utility costs, and offering nothing to level the playing field,” she said.

“We have healthcare at the bargaining table this year, we have several municipal workers,” added Henley.

Currently, the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) is negotiating a new contract as their current Collective Bargaining Agreement with the province is set to expire this year.

Those negotiations have already led to a war over wages after the Sask. Party government erected billboards claiming Saskatchewan teachers make $92,000 a year, well above the Western Canadian average.

The STF has already called out those billboards as misinformation and insisted negotiations should happen at the bargaining table and not on public billboards. The STF also mentioned that a major issue in these rounds of negotiations is focused on bringing down class sizes.

The Sask. Party has defended that campaign saying that teachers are paid fairly and that just under 69 per cent of full-time equivalent teachers in Saskatchewan are paid at or above $92,067.

Many Saskatchewan unions say they just want to make sure workers are paid fairly as inflation continues to burden households across the province.

“We’re not asking for fortunes, we’re just asking for money that we are able to live, with the ability to pay, that’s all,” said Henley.

With files from The Canadian Press and CJME

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @princealbertnow

by Derek Craddock

What’s leading to labour unrest and could more strikes be coming to Saskatchewan?

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