Labour leaders list their issues as a September election call looms
Labour Day Report | Stephen Whitworth
Saskatchewan’s healthcare system is in trouble. There’s no getting around it. From long waits in emergency rooms to delays seeing specialists and scheduling surgery; to sagging staff morale and trouble attracting (and retaining!) workers, the birthplace of medicare is in rough shape.
It’s no surprise healthcare is the topic provincial labour leaders had the most to say about heading into labour day, and election season beyond.
But healthcare is far from the only election issue for the province’s labour movement.
A lot of things seem to be going wrong in Saskatchewan these days.
“The one main issue I’ve been hearing about from members is the growing concerns about the skyrocketing cost of living,” says Tracey Sauer. “It’s become a crisis for many of our members and many of the public, as well.”
Sauer is the president of the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union, one of the province’s bigger labour groups. Like most Canadians, she’s concerned about affordability.
“Our members are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet,” says Sauer. “And they’re looking at all levels of government to provide some relief.”
Saskatchewan Federation of Labour president Lori Johb echoes Sauer’s concerns. She points to low wages and inadequate public services as two culprits behind ordinary people’s struggles.
Would a change in government make a difference?
“I think that there’s a chance we would see affordability measures. I think that everybody in this province is concerned about that,” says Johb. “And I think that we need a higher minimum wage. We need a living wage.”
And strong public services — childcare for instance, she says.
“I think we need to make sure we’re meeting people where they’re at,” says Johb. “They need to have accessible, affordable childcare, and I think we’re moving in that direction. But we need to see the support we are getting from the federal government in that area actually go where it’s intended.”
“We saw many times over the past several years — especially though covid,” Johb says. Money that flowed to Saskatchewan from the federal government intended for working people never got to them. It went into the coffers.”
The SGEU’s Sauer wants to see federal money go where it’s intended. The workers her union represents need the support.
Sauer suggests a few affordability measures governments could enact that would help workers and the public alike.
“I think SGEU members understand that it’s not just one level of government that can help bring down the cost of living, whether it’s reducing income tax, gasoline taxes, property tax, the high cost of post-secondary education [and the] constant additional expenses with children in the K to 12 education system,” says Sauer.
Privatization: Profits Vs People
Privatization goes hand-in-hand with rising prices.
One example is telecommunications. Public telephone companies dominated Western Canada, but after conservative governments in Manitoba and Alberta privatized their services — creating windfalls for investors (and paid seats on company boards for conservative politicians) — ordinary consumers were hit with higher service prices.
There’s also the fact that privatization leads to layoffs and salary suppression. That’s one of the reasons Prairie Dog was livid at the privatization of SLGA retail stores, which wiped out more than 350 living-wage jobs in 2023 and replaced them with… less well-paid positions.
Then there was the Saskatchewan’ Transportation Company. The former provincial bus service, which the Sask. Party government shut down in 2017 — a move devastating to rural seniors, chronically ill people and disabled individuals in particular — was valuable to tens of thousands of riders, many of whom benefitted from a public bus company willing to service unprofitable routes. As well as, again, the STC workers making those living-wage salaries public sector jobs are so good at providing.
One wonders if SaskTel, long viewed as sacred, would survive another Sask. Party government.
Are labour leaders concerned about the possibility of more privatization should the Scott Moe government be reelected?
Do geese poop on the Ledge lawn?
“Oh yes, absolutely,” says the SFL’s Johb. “I think [privatization is] definitely on the agenda of our provincial government.”
“I think it’s clear that private anything costs more,” says Johb. “People like to make the argument that there’s better access and things like that. Sure, maybe there IS better access if you have more money, if you can afford to pay for it.
“That’s not what our province, that’s not what our country, is about,” says Johb. “Everybody needs to have equal access.
“SGEU members are also concerned about privatization and potential job losses that result,” says SGEU’s Sauer. “Largely that’s because of the impact of the current government’s privatization agenda.
“Over the last several years far too many SGEU members have lost good-paying jobs,” Sauer says. “We’ve seen job cuts and privatization through STC. SLGA liquor stores were huge for our members and communities. Healthcare, laundry services, Crown agencies, government services such as cleaning staff [and more].”
In a recent interview, SEIU-West president Barb Cape shared Sauer’s concerns, calling privatization “financially unsustainable” and condemning the health care system’s increasing reliance on contract staff, such as nurses.
As for Johb? Privatization of public services is where she draws a line in the sand.
“Selling off any of our services to private companies is not going to be a good idea and we’ll be pushing back against that at every step,” she says.
Loveless Labour Laws, Get Lost
Cost of living action: check. Privatization worries: acknowledged.
What else is on Sask. labour’s agenda as the province counts down to an election call?
“In terms of labour, [there are] some important things we’d like to see heading into the election,” says The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour’s Johb.
We need to bring back card check certification,” says Johb. “We need people to have better access, easier access to joining a union if that’s what they want to do.”
Card check certification automatically certifies a new union if 50 per cent of employees sign union cards. In 2008, Brad Wall’s government passed the Trade Union Amendment Act, which, among other things, made it tougher to form unions by mandating a secret ballot — an extra step that gave hostile employers and other anti-union voices more power.
But wait, there’s more.
“We need to see anti-scab legislation,” says Johb. “We’ve seen what happens, especially when lockouts are planned and scabs are brought in. Alberta license plates everywhere. We saw what happened at the refinery. There’s a lot of very serious concern about that.
“We’ve seen progressive provinces bring in anti-scab legislation,” Johb adds. “The federal government has anti-scab legislation. We need to have those conversations.
Another thing Saskatchewan’s next government needs to revisit? Its essential service legislation.
“Fix the essential service legislation,” says Johb. “If you’re a healthcare worker, if you’re in the public sector in any way at all, you need to be able to understand that the essential services legislation is seriously flawed.
“You get to the point where members are frustrated, so you kind of end up getting a settlement that is less than desirable just because it’s taken too long and you need to get it over with,” says Johb. “And it’s so unfair. The process is unfair.
“It needs to be repealed,” Johb concludes. “We need to have something we can work with, because it’s hampering our ability to bargain collective agreements.