HSAS in legal strike position; 1,500 Saskatchewan health care workers posed to walk off the job
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No action has yet been taken, but 1,500 health care workers in Saskatchewan are now in a legal strike position.
The Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan (HSAS), which represents 3,000 health care workers in the province, gave the government and the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) 48-hour strike notice on Friday.
HSAS President Cathy Dickson is not saying much about when, or if, any potential action will happen.
“We’ll let the employers know and we’ll let the members know as it’s appropriate, as the time comes,” said Dickson.
Close to 900 health workers in Saskatoon are members of HSAS and the Saskatoon Health Region (SHR) is preparing for a possible strike by looking at downgrading some services.
“There may be some areas within mental health services, some areas within the community, where we may be able to downgrade the service slightly,” said Karen Newman, Director of Employee Relations at the SHR.
“It depends upon what type of job action Health Sciences would perform.”
Not all members of HSAS are in a legal strike position. Roughly 50 per cent, or 1,500, full-time positions have been declared essential services under provincial law, a law Dickson says the union will respect.
HSAS did confirm that most acute care workers, including Respiratory Therapists, Paramedics, Perfusionists and Pharmacists have been declared essential services.
In some health regions, almost 100 per cent of health care workers have been deemed essential.
The two sides are locked in a bitter contract dispute. SAHO’s last wage offer was a 7.5 per cent increase over 4 years while HSAS is asking for 18.5 per cent increase over the same period.
According to Dickson, there are only two ways to avoid a strike.
“Either give us binding arbitration … or change the mandate that the government has given to SAHO to work within and if that’s the case, we will go back to the bargaining table.”
SAHO President and CEO Susan Antosh has rejected calls for binding arbitration and believes the best contract is negotiated between the two parties.
“We believe we already have a fair, reasonable and competitive offer on the table and we’ve invited HSAS to come back to the table next week.”
Antosh did say SAHO has wiggle room in their wage offer and believes they are not hampered by the government’s mandate.
HSAS has been without a contract for over two years.
