Original editorial published in The Prince Albert Daily Herald on October 7, 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic has sounded the alarm on the state of long-term care in Canada.

Canadians have been horrified to learn that four out of five lives lost due to COVID-19 have been residents or workers in long-term care facilities – the worst record in the developed world. A report from the Canadian Forces, who were deployed to help manage outbreaks in several care homes, put into gruesome detail just how deep the crisis in long-term care had become, and sent shockwaves across the nation.

While the public is mostly just waking up to this reality, if you ask one of the thousands of CUPE members who work in long-term care in Saskatchewan, they will tell you that this crisis isn’t new. They will tell you that this crisis has been brewing for years. They will tell you COVID-19 fell like an avalanche onto a system that had already been broken and left totally unprepared by decades of underfunding and understaffing.

The election on October 26 is our best chance to reverse course and fix long-term care. Seven months after the novel coronavirus arrived, there’s no longer any excuse for being unprepared, and there’s no excuse for continued inaction.

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As CUPE members, we know that our work delivering a reliable network of public services enrich our communities and peoples’ lives. But, we need a government that will reliably fund and keep our services public. That’s why as we approach provincial and community elections this fall, it’s important to vote for public services.

Through the Public Service Voter campaign, CUPE Saskatchewan will highlight the many public services that keep our communities safe, cared for, and an affordable place to live and raise our families – and we will also highlight the facts and track record of governments at the community and provincial level.

• WATCH NOW: Three citizens explain why they’re voting to protect our schools, our care homes and all public services.
• SIGN UP FOR A LAWN SIGN OR WINDOW DECAL.

Campaign information will be shared on CUPE Saskatchewan’s facebook page and available online at: www.publicservicevoter.ca

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A message from Judy Henley, President of CUPE Saskatchewan, printed in the Labour Day feature of the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix (print issue: Friday, September 4, 2020).

This week I am reflecting on what Labour Day meant historically, what it will look like during the COVID-19 pandemic and what it may look like in the future.

Labour Day, a statutory holiday in Canada since 1894, was created to honour the labour movement and the social and economic achievement of workers. Every year we celebrate the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country.

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CUPE Saskatchewan President, Judy Henley, Secretary-Treasurer, Kent Peterson, and John McDonald, Senator on CUPE Saskatchewan’s Indigenous Council visited Tristen Durocher at the Walking with our Angels camp to drop off a donation and to hear from him directly.

Saskatchewan is facing a suicide crisis. Over the last 15 years, over 2,300 people in Saskatchewan have lost their lives to suicide – the highest suicide rate in Canada. The issue is especially critical in Northern Saskatchewan where young people are 10-30% percent higher than those in southern communities.

On July 2nd two young men, Tristen Durocher and Chris Merasty, have drawn national attention to this important issue. The pair walked 630 km from La Ronge to Regina to raise awareness of the crisis and call for immediate action. With no response from the government, Tristen Durocher and his allies set up a teepee across from the Legislature and began a hunger strike.

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In a recent Regina Leader-Post article published online on August 19 and in the paper August 20, titled: “Prairie South SD says safety not impacted by cuts”, the chair of Prairie South Schools Board of Trustees, Robert Bachmann, has finally responded to the growing concern shared by parents and staff about the decision to cut over 20 hours of cleaning per day in Moose Jaw area schools. Bachmann is claiming that somehow cutting cleaning hours during a pandemic isn’t a safety risk. It’s a claim that just can’t be backed-up, and the excuses as to why it is occurring just don’t add up, says CUPE.

“There is no excuse to justify cutting school cleaning during a pandemic, and cleaning hours in Prairie South School Division should be restored and enhanced before the doors open for back-to-school in September,” says Judy Henley, president of CUPE Saskatchewan, in response to the article and the comments by the Division’s Board chair.

Custodial service cuts impact daily cleaning hours in AE Peacock Collegiate, Riverview Collegiate, Central Collegiate, Prince Arthur School, Westmount School, William Grayson School, and the 9th Avenue Board Office and Maintenance Building in Moose Jaw.

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Statement from the CUPE Saskatchewan Education Workers.

Premier Scott Moe recently announced updates to the provincial governments “Safe Schools Plan” still falls short of the measures parents and staff are calling for.

Last week, Minister Gordan Wyant said that school divisions were able to access the province’s $200 million contingency fund, but that “no school division has asked for any additional funding at this point in time.” Yesterday Moe announced that a paltry $40 million of this funding would be available to school divisions – but only on an application basis.

An additional $40 million shared by over 800 schools does not go very far in ensuring safe environments for our students and staff.

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The Government of Saskatchewan’s latest tweaks to the Safe School Plan ignores expert advice and the concerns of many staff, parents, and students, says CUPE Saskatchewan’s Education Workers’ Steering Committee.

In the last week, the Public Health Officer of Canada came out with recommendations that students over the age of 10 wear masks, that students and teachers stay two metres apart wherever possible, and that students and teachers be grouped together to reduce the number of people they come into close contact with. This advice is echoed by physician organizations in Saskatchewan and across the country.

“The Ministry of Education is ignoring expert advice and passing the buck to school divisions,” said Jackie Christianson, chair of CUPE’s Education Workers’ Steering Committee. “Why is the government refusing to do their job – be strong leaders when it comes to keeping our students and staff safe?”

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The province’s largest union representing education support workers says the government’s approval of back-to-school plans in September announced today with eight common main components does not provide the conditions necessary for a safe return in these far from normal times.

“The plans to return back-to-school by the provincial government lack the overall prerequisite safeguards and resources needed to protect against virus transmission before full in-classroom learning begins,” said Judy Henley, president of CUPE Saskatchewan. “The rushed implementation and lack of key details leaves significant doubt that education staff and students will be properly protected.”

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CUPE Saskatchewan and its Education Workers Steering Committee have written a letter to the Minister of Education expressing concern over the final stages of planning to re-open schools this upcoming school year in September, highlighting the conditions that prevent a safe return with full in-classroom learning. The letter was issued today as The Regina Leader-Post reports that Saskatchewan is experiencing the most severe surge of COVID-19 cases in Canada.

• Read the full letter here.

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With the province set to announce finalized K-12 education plans after the August long weekend, the province’s largest union representing over 7,000 education support workers says that a return to in-classroom learning for the upcoming school year in September is too rushed to ensure the safety of staff and students – especially since education support workers have been left out of the Education Response Planning Team reviewing those final plans.

“The final review of the re-open plans from school divisions set to be announced next week leaves out the very support workers that are key to the effective and practical operations of those plans – from cleaning, to supervision, to the transportation home in the school bus. You can have plans on paper, but the fact is the government has left out front-line support workers and there is inadequate time to receive orientation, prepare and test these so-called final plans,” said Jackie Christianson, chair of the CUPE Saskatchewan Education Workers Steering Committee and an educational assistant.

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