After Saskatchewan’s government expanded the front-line worker wage top-up to include staff at integrated care homes, three of Saskatchewan’s health care unions have come forward to say the funding falls short.

CUPE local 5430 Vice President Pearl Blommaert says the funding still doesn’t include acute care workers across the province.

Blommaert says this is about ensuring healthcare workers are treated equally, regardless of the setting of their workplace.

“They’re all delivering a very professional and caring (service),” Blommaert said. “Their service is valuable and it should be valued the same no matter what setting they work in.”

Blommaert says some members feel they have been excluded from the wage top-up.

“It shouldn’t matter whether they work in long-term care, acute care, or community care,” Blommaert said. “It is the different settings that our members are delivering the same care.”

SEIU-West and SGEU are both calling for more funding as well, saying health care workers have been denied vacation during the pandemic while dealing with a crushing workload and understaffing in many areas of the healthcare system.