The information picket takes place outside of Bigger and District Health Centre on Jan. 15, 2025. (Kenneth Cheung/ battlefordsNOW staff)

By Kenneth Cheung

SEIU-WEST

‘It’s like we don’t matter’: SEIU-West workers in Biggar rally for better working conditions

Jan 16, 2025 | 8:00 AM

SEIU-West members picketed and rallied outside the Biggar and District Health Centre on Wednesday to voice their frustrations with the provincial government over the slow progress in negotiations for a fair contract.

“They haven’t budged on anything with us. It’s been a very slow process. It’s like we don’t matter,” said Candice Moon, an internal organizer for SEIU-West and unit chair of Biggar and District Health Centre.

Moon noted that one of their demands is to address unfair wage increases, saying that in 25 years, some workers’ wages have only gone up just over $9 an hour.

“Our cost of living has risen much higher than $9 an hour in 25 years, so it’s not fair,” she said.

“We know that our parliament just got all their raises. How fair is that to us? Every year, they get theirs guaranteed, but In our last contract, we took two zero per cent wage increases for two years.”

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For context, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), Saskatchewan MLAs will receive a 12-percent salary increase over the next four years and starting April 1, they will get a three-percent raise.

“Healthcare heroes deserve better.” (Kenneth Cheung/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Moon shared that the union began bargaining in March 2023 after their contract ended but didn’t receive any discussion date until October.

Noting that the government only had meetings with them once a month, she believes it was insufficient and frustrating.

“We’re still working with an old contract 21 months later,” she added.

The other issue they face is being short-staffed. She mentioned that healthcare workers are frequently required to work overtime because employers are not hiring enough staff to meet demands.

“We burn ourselves out, we’re so tired, we lose time with family, and we end up sick ourselves. But we’re here to look after everyone, right?” Moon said.

She explained that the government’s title audit recommends that workers spend only seven minutes helping each resident get up in the morning. In reality, it often takes them around 15 minutes.

“Our staffing levels really don’t meet the demands of what our facility is at.”

Even if the government opens up more seats for continuing care assistant (CCA) programs, she says, it will not solve the problem because “people see how little we make.”

“As time goes on and wages don’t increase and people don’t enter this field of health care, whether it be in nursing or essential services, there’s going to be no one here to take care of them[health centre residents],” she added.

When asked why people should care, Kate McDaid, a union supporter, said the workers are the backbone of the healthcare system.

“The people that hold it up, the very backbone of health care, the workers, need to be taken seriously. Their wages need to rise. They [the government] need to take a look at what is the demand in rural areas; it’s growing everywhere, not just in the cities,” McDaid said.

(Kenneth Cheung/ battlefordsNOW staff)

Looking ahead, SEIU-West hopes to establish an open and productive dialogue with the new Minister of Health, Jeremy Cockrill, and the Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, Lori Carr, to make “real improvements.”

“We came away from the meeting with cautious optimism,” said SEIU-West President Barbara Cape in a release after they met with Cockrill and Carr last week.

In a statement to battlefordsNOW, Cockrill discussed last week’s meeting with SEIU-West, highlighting the government’s plan to create a patient-focused nursing team task force.

He says that the force aims to reflect on current nursing care and collaboratively address the needs of patients and families.

“A nursing team task force among the Ministry of Health, Registered Nurses (RNs), Registered Psychiatric Nurses (RPNs), Nurse Practitioners (NPs), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) and Continuing Care Assistants (CCAs) and the Unions representing them in the Saskatchewan Health Authority.”

“A key priority for our government is to deliver the highest quality health care to Saskatchewan patients in collaboration with our partners and service providers,” Cockrill said in the statement.

Regarding the matter of the contract negotiation, he explained that because it has been underway since the fall of 2023, “it would be inappropriate to specifically comment on the bargaining process.”

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com