SASKATOON — As members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 5430 plan a strike vote next month, Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said that the government wants to provide certainty for health workers while continuing to bargain for a new collective agreement.
Negotiations between CUPE and the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations, acting for the Saskatchewan Health Authority, have dragged on for almost four years since the previous contract expired in March 2022, with both sides still failing to reach an agreement.
Among the key issues are wages, with Saskatchewan health workers demanding an increase as salaries are lower compared to other provinces. Additional staffing, free movement, and retaining seniority in transfers are the other issues.
Cockrill said that the government wants to bargain in good faith, and he is confident that an agreement between both parties will be reached. CUPE Local 5430, which represents close to 14,000 frontline healthcare workers in the province, will hold a strike vote from Sept. 8 to 14.
“We want to give certainty to healthcare workers in the province. At the end of the day, though, in any bargaining, whether you have healthcare workers or other areas of public service, both sides have different priorities,” said Cockrill in a recent interview.
Cockrill said they believe that some of their bargaining proposals would improve the healthcare system while benefiting employees, pointing out that workers transferring between communities should not lose accumulated seniority and increased employee mobility will help deliver patient care.
"I think that's a reasonable, important thing from a system perspective to put patients first. “We just recently finished negotiating. SAHO continues to offer additional bargaining dates. As I said, we're going to get a deal done, but that happens at the bargaining table,” added Cockrill.
Lowest paid
The Opposition, however, argues the stalled negotiations are contributing to Saskatchewan's recruitment and retention challenges, with Labour Shadow Minister Nathaniel Teed pointing to the union’s planned job action as evidence the government has failed to address longstanding concerns.
"As we speak, we have 14,000 healthcare workers poised to vote on strike action this coming September. We have a recruitment and retention crisis. We had a physician tell us that Saskatchewan is the departing lounge for healthcare workers in the country,” said Teed, the Saskatoon Meewasin MLA.
He added that the Opposition, if given the chance to form government, is ready to work on fixing the crisis and would prioritize reaching a collective agreement while tackling the broader issues driving workers to leave the province.
“We will get a deal signed with healthcare workers. We will fix our recruitment and retention crisis. We need to solve the crisis. That means signing a deal with healthcare workers as soon as possible, and it means addressing all the reasons why healthcare workers are fleeing out of province,” Teed said.
Asked why negotiations have taken so long, Teed said healthcare workers have consistently identified recruitment and retention as key issues, with Saskatchewan’s healthcare workers among the lowest paid in the country. Wages are a huge point in the negotiations and are a part of recruitment and retention.
Teed said that CUPE 5430 members have gone nearly four years without a general wage increase and said the workers who were celebrated for their sacrifices during the COVID-19 pandemic now find themselves in protracted bargaining.
"They were heroes, and now we're fighting at the bargaining table for three years for an agreement. It's time to sign a deal. That is the number one way we can help stop the recruitment and retention crisis that we're seeing in the province,” he added.
Lagging behind
Opposition Leader Carla Beck also called the absence of a new agreement one of the government's healthcare failures, describing it as an issue that could be addressed immediately, arguing that healthcare workers, patients and families must be involved in rebuilding the healthcare system rather than dismissing their concerns.
"No one's suggesting this is going to be easy to rebuild the healthcare system in this province, but let's get started doing it. Let's show some interest. Let's decide that this is not what we are going to accept as a province and that we are going to dig in, pull everyone in we can — those healthcare workers, families, those who work in these hospitals — to rebuild the system again,” said Beck.
She said that Saskatchewan should no longer accept being among the country's poorest-performing jurisdictions in healthcare delivery, as the province failed to sustain its healthcare and has fallen at the bottom of the pack when it comes to health care delivery.
"This is the place where Medicare was born. Let's have some pride. Let's have some dignity. Let's build a system back that is worthy of the people who live in this province again,” said Beck, who added that warnings about workforce shortages predated the pandemic. They had repeatedly urged the government to work collaboratively on long-term workforce planning and recruitment strategies before the current crisis emerged.
The exchange underscores the sharply different narratives surrounding the labour dispute. While the government maintains that bargaining should continue at the negotiating table and remains confident an agreement can be reached, the NDP contends the lengthy negotiations have become a symbol of a broader healthcare workforce crisis that requires urgent action to improve wages, recruitment and retention.
