Sask. health-care workers call for action, higher wages at legislature

Sarah Onyango · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 23, 2025 7:21 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

On Wednesday, buses filled with health-care workers from crossed the state arrived astatine the Saskatchewan Legislative Building, calling for just wages and greater respect for front-line workers.

"We person been without a declaration for implicit two years present and health-care workers person not seen a azygous summation successful wages for the past 3 years," said Bashir Jalloh, president of Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 5430. 

"Because of this, we arsenic health-care workers are struggling, our members are struggling, we person important workload issues and ongoing unit shortages." 

CUPE 5430 represents much than 14,000 health-care workers successful implicit 200 occupation classifications crossed Saskatchewan.

"We correspond radical chiefly successful 5 antithetic classification from clerical and nursing technologies and attraction workers, and besides the radical who look aft our buildings," Jalloh explained. 

Wednesday's rally, which CUPE says was attended by hundreds, was a propulsion for wages that bespeak the rising outgo of living, and designation for the indispensable enactment health-care workers execute each day.

"I would emotion to enactment successful the occupation that I americium with the radical that I enactment with, the physicians, the nurses, the unit," said Kayla Gelmich, a health-care idiosyncratic astatine Regina's Pasqua Hospital. 

"It's a large unit, but it's besides hard erstwhile you don't get paid for the enactment that you bash and spell supra and beyond." 

Gelmich added that working 7 days a week is sometimes the lone mode to bring location a decent paycheck.

"It's hard to enactment successful 1 spot erstwhile there's different radical that are getting paid importantly much for little work."

Low wages driving trained professionals retired of Saskatchewan is besides a interest that Jalloh shares. 

"People are leaving this state to spell to different provinces," said Jalloh. "We privation a wage that volition fto our kids who are getting into wellness attraction to enactment successful this state truthful they tin wage their pupil loan."

Amira Lukic, a continuing attraction assistance successful Regina, said astatine Wednesday's rally that astir 60 per cent of her wage goes toward her rent. 

"At 60, I person to enactment overtime successful bid to live, oregon if determination wasn't immoderate overtime I would person to find 2nd occupation conscionable successful bid to live," Lukic said. 

'Everything is connected the table' 

Jalloh described negotiations with the provincial authorities arsenic "extremely disappointing," noting that the national has been acceptable to ballot connected a woody since April 2023.

"They resistance their feet. We did not commencement bargaining until September," helium said. 

Despite gathering with the province every 2 months, Jalloh said much of the clip that should beryllium spent bargaining is not being utilized effectively.

"In February we had a bargaining gathering successful Saskatoon of 3 days," said Jalloh. "Over the 3 days that we met with them, they lone met with america look to look for 41 minutes." 

The national was offered a 3 percent wage summation — an connection Jalloh said fell short.

The Ministry of Health said successful a connection that the "Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) offered an unprecedented interim wage accommodation of three per cent, retroactive to April 1, 2023, to wellness supplier unions." 

The offer, declined by CUPE, SGEU, and SEIU-West, was made in the anticipation of, "providing immoderate impermanent economical alleviation to our valued health-care employees portion negotiations for a semipermanent declaration continue," the connection said. 

Now, CUPE 5430 is acceptable to instrumentality to the bargaining array connected April 29, hopeful for what they volition see a fair deal.

"Everything is connected this table," said Jalloh. 

"We're going to conscionable May 5 to commencement talking astir indispensable services to negociate that we person everything connected this table. If we don't get what we want, decidedly we volition edifice to occupation action."

The ministry said it has confidence that upcoming negotiations volition beryllium successful, and they person investments successful this year's fund supporting the recruitment of health-care workers successful the province.