Sask. health-care workers rally in Regina to demand better wages

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Hundreds of health-care workers rallied outside the Saskatchewan Legislative Building this week to demand better pay and “respect” for the vital work they do.

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That’s according to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 5430, which represents about 14,000 workers in Saskatchewan ranging from “clerical, technical, nursing, support and plant operation.”

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The employees have not received a raise in three years despite “rising costs and worsening workloads,” CUPE Local 5430 said in a news release.

Workers from Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Weyburn, North Battleford, Yorkton, Estevan, Moosomin, and many rural communities were bused to Wednesday’s rally in Regina to pressure the government ahead of a return to the bargaining table on April 29.

An offer made by the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) in early March was rejected by CUPE as well as SGEU and SEIU-West, two other unions that represent health workers in the province. SAHO represents the interests of health-sector employers during negotiations, according to its website.

The government said SAHO offered workers a wage increase of three per cent, which would be retroactive to April 1, 2023.

“Our members are the heart of the health-care system but we are being overlooked and underpaid,” CUPE 5430 president Bashir Jalloh said in the release. “We show up every day for our patients. Today, we showed up for each other.”

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Added CUPE Saskatchewan president Kent Peterson: “Health-care workers are holding the system together with their bare hands. These workers are exhausted, overworked, and underpaid. It’s time for the Sask. Party government to step up and deliver the fair wages and safe staffing that our health-care system desperately needs.”

On the same day, NDP critic for rural and remote health Meara Conway launched the “Time to Deliver” tour in Saskatoon.

Conway, who is expecting her third child, plans on touring northern and remote communities “to highlight how the Sask. Party’s health-care cuts are threatening maternity wards, emergency rooms, and other essential services,” according to an NDP news release.

Conway went to North Battleford, Shellbrook, and Prince Albert as part of the first leg, beginning this week.

“Reliable access to quality health care is absolutely essential to making a bright future for all communities in our province,” said Conway in the release.

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