Today, workers from Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) represented by CUPE, SEIU-West, and SGEU gathered at the legislature to send a simple message to the Minister of Social Services and former Saskatchewan Roughrider Gene Makowsky: Don’t fumble the ball on providing multi-year funding for Saskatchewan CBOs.
“Saskatchewan CBOs provide vital services to some of Saskatchewan’s most vulnerable citizens,” said Judy Henley, president of CUPE Saskatchewan. “After decades of underfunding, it’s past time for our government to step up. Saskatchewan CBOs have long been lobbying for stability only to be let down by this government at every turn. It’s time for Minister Makowsky to get his head in the game and provide stable, multi-year funding for our CBO sector.”
CBO workers care for people living with disabilities, respond to domestic violence calls, engage in suicide intervention, provide emergency child care, deliver mental health and addictions services, help people find employment, and more. For the past decade, the Saskatchewan government has provided inconsistent and unreliable funding for the CBO sector. For just as long, Saskatchewan unions have been calling on the government to provide multi-year funding for CBOs. A lack of stable, long-term funding has left CBOs in a constant state of uncertainty and as a result, they have been unable to provide wages that keep up with inflation for frontline workers, and struggle with recruitment and retention of staff.