Three unions representing workers at over 70 community-based organizations (CBOs) across the province are condemning the provincial budget for yet again failing to meet the needs of Saskatchewan’s most vulnerable residents.

On March 22, the Government of Saskatchewan announced an increase of $17.6 million to CBOs in the province—funding that is much needed but not nearly enough, according to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Service Employees International Union West (SEIU-West), and the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union (SGEU). The unions renewed their call for adequate, multi-year funding that will allow CBOs to reliably support their communities.

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The Sask. Party government has signed a $6 million agreement with a Calgary based for-profit corporation, Canadian Surgery Solutions, to provide an undisclosed number of surgeries to Saskatchewan residents. Canadian Surgery Solutions is part of a national network of for-profit private surgical clinics owned by Kensington Capital Partners Limited, an investment firm with $2.6 billion in assets under management.

“Contracting out surgeries is not a silver bullet for wait times. It is a costly scheme with little evidence it will reduce overall wait times,” said Bashir Jalloh, president of CUPE 5430. “If the Sask. Party government can afford to ship people out of province for surgeries, they can afford to invest in public solutions.”

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The Ministry of Education budget breakdown shows that the operational funding for school divisions does not keep up with inflation, and in many cases school divisions will be facing cuts.

“The government is quick to brag that funding for education has never been higher. But an increase of 2.5 percent does not come close to covering inflationary and enrolment increases. Four school divisions are seeing outright funding cuts at a time where the province has a $1 billion surplus,” said Omar Murray, chair of CUPE Saskatchewan’s Education Workers’ Steering Committee. “It is unacceptable. Northwest School Division will see a 0.4% cut, Light of Christ, and Holy Family both saw cuts of 1.1% and 0.9% respectively, and Sun West School Division is faced with a whopping 6.2% cut.”

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Are you interested in serving on a Standing Committee of CUPE Saskatchewan? Further your union involvement and activism – apply today!

Following the 2023 Annual Convention, CUPE Saskatchewan is seeking applications from members to serve on standing committees. Applications for consideration of appointment must be received by no later than noon on Wednesday, April 12, 2023. CUPE members in good standing of affiliated Local Unions are eligible to apply.

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After years of cuts and privatization, today’s provincial budget fails to provide the necessary investment needed to fix the crisis facing Saskatchewan’s public services and misses the chance to provide working people with much-needed affordability measures to ease the rising cost of living.

“Saskatchewan’s public services have been starved for years by the Sask. Party government,” said Judy Henley, President of CUPE Saskatchewan. “Today’s budget is nowhere close to what is needed to fix the crisis our public services are facing due to years of cuts, underfunding, and privatization.”

Henley questioned exactly what the government’s plans for increased health spending would be focussed on.

“Any funding increases in healthcare need to be invested directly into the public system, and not put towards costly privatization schemes that do nothing to fix the crisis the system is facing.”

Key investments in public services that CUPE has advocated for were notably absent from today’s budget, including multi-year funding for community-based organizations (CBOs) and annual funding increases for regulated child care centres.

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March 22 is World Water Day – a day to highlight the vital importance of water for human life and ecological health and, as such, the need to protect water resources from pollution, privatization, and commercialization. The United Nations General Assembly recognized water and sanitation as fundamental human rights in 2010. These human rights to safe, reliable water and wastewater are being denied to many Indigenous communities in Canada. Water services and resources are also under growing pressure to privatize.

CUPE’s Water is life campaign raises awareness about the ongoing struggles of Indigenous peoples, and shows how CUPE members can listen, learn and act. Colonization continues to have devastating effects on Indigenous communities. Access to water and sanitation are human rights according to international law, yet many Indigenous communities in Canada have water that’s unsafe to drink or wash with. Some communities have lived with unsafe water for decades. Other First Nations don’t have any functioning water system at all.

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As we commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the 2023 theme for the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21 focuses on the urgency of combatting racism and racial discrimination.

From the intensified inequalities experienced by Indigenous, Black and racialized workers and communities during the ongoing pandemic and now the growing affordability crisis, to the ongoing activism denouncing the crisis of police brutality and over-policing, much more remains to be done in our society to end injustice. We must speak up and take action!

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Documents compiled by CUPE show that the provincial government is contracting out work to private “staffing solution” companies in health care – including more than $730,000 for Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) in just one region of the province.

“This is the completely wrong approach to dealing with the staffing crisis in healthcare,” said Bashir Jalloh, President of CUPE 5430. “This issue is a mess of the government’s own making, and it’s only one example of the contracting out of healthcare workers that is becoming more widespread across the province. The hiring of private contractors is not only costly, it’s a temporary band aid solution that will do nothing to solve the issues that are causing a shortage of healthcare workers in Saskatchewan.”

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CUPE has released a report revealing increased incidents of violence faced by public library workers in Saskatchewan while on the job.

The report, “Turning the Page,” is based on a survey of CUPE library workers conducted last year in response to reports of a growing number of violent incidents occurring in Saskatchewan public libraries. Results of the survey show a majority of respondents reporting having experienced or witnessed violence in their workplace. Of those who responded to the survey:

• 78% reported having experienced verbal abuse.
• 71% reported witnessing violence.
• 50% reported experiencing violence.
• 44% reported experiencing sexual harassment.
• 40% reported being threatened with physical harm.

“This report makes it clear that public library workers across the province are facing unacceptable incidents of harassment, abuse, and violence in their workplaces,” said Judy Henley, president of CUPE Saskatchewan. “Libraries are essential community hubs that so many rely on as places to gather and access programming in addition to borrowing books and other materials. More needs to be done to make sure our libraries are welcoming and safe places for both workers and the public.”

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Laura Walton, the President of the Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU) who successfully led 55,000 education workers in Ontario to victory over Doug Ford’s Conservative government, shared her inspiring story with convention delegates on Thursday.

“When you’re under attack- what do you do? Walton asked delegates. “You rise up, and you fight back.”

Walton shared the story of the work her union did to build power and mobilize for a successful strike vote, which saw record turnout and led to a 96.5% vote in favour of a strike. Workers came together to have conversations with other workers, making over 50,000 calls to members.

“We started with member-to-member conversations, and that’s how we built power,” Walton said. “We trained over 1,000 workers on how to have conversations. “When you’re organizing, listening is key.”

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