Tom Graham, President, CUPE Saskatchewan

CUPE Saskatchewan President, Tom Graham, responds to recent comments made by Saskatoon mayoral candidate Kelley Moore.

Message from the President

With the Saskatoon civic election just around the corner, it is concerning that mayoral candidate Kelley Moore has stated she plans to address a budget shortfall by delivering a tax break to business and won’t rule out job cuts to city staff.

Unaffordable tax breaks at times of needed investment and cutting jobs and therefore services for citizens are the same tired errors of the past, and create a worsening financial position over the long term.

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Elections for municipal officials and school board trustees are taking place in communities across Saskatchewan on Wednesday, October 26, 2016.

Your vote on October 26 can decide the future of your community.

The decisions, policies and budgets made by local elected officials affect our everyday quality of life and determine access to public services. As CUPE members, it’s important that candidates support the work we do to deliver public services that strengthen our communities and enrich people’s lives.

Click here to find out when and how to vote.

Click here for profiles of progressive candidates running for election.

Click here for the local union boards poster.
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CUPE National is conducting a Leadership Survey. The 2016 CUPE National Leadership Survey seeks to understand the challenges local unions experience in engaging members in union activities.

All elected CUPE local leaders are invited to participate in the survey. For the purposes of the survey, elected CUPE local leadership includes the following: President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer, Recording Secretary, Chief Steward, Unit Chair, and/or other elected positions on the local union executive.

This is an online survey which will expire Sunday November 6, 2016. It should take approximately 45 minutes to complete.

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Open to all CUPE members and free to attend, the CUPE Saskatchewan Young Workers’ Committee is hosting a Pub n’ Learn on Thursday, November 17, 2016 in Regina beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Copper Kettle Restaurant. The topic of the night will be: Keeping young workers safe and building a new generation of safety activists.

Join the Pub n’ Learn discussion with free appetizers and non-alcoholic beverages provided.

• Click here to view and download the event poster
• Share the Facebook event: www.facebook.com/events/678157495682233/

To RSVP your attendance and more information, contact the CUPE Saskatchewan office: 306-757-1009 or cupesask@sasktel.net

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Visit: www.wheresthefunding.ca

REGINA: CUPE has launched a province-wide campaign to raise awareness of the funding challenges in K-12 education.

The campaign is called “Where’s the funding?” and features billboards, a website, and a postcard campaign.

• Click here to visit the campaign website: www.wheresthefunding.ca

“Investing in our children is investing in the future of Saskatchewan. But the current trends in education funding paint a troubling picture of our government’s priorities,” said Jackie Christianson, chairperson of CUPE Saskatchewan’s Education Workers’ Steering Committee. “Most school divisions are experiencing budget shortfalls, and it is our children who are feeling the impact.”

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The government of Saskatchewan announced a three person advisory panel to develop recommendations for the reorganization of health care with a mandate to “recommend a structure with fewer regional health authorities to achieve administrative efficiencies as well as improvements to frontline service delivery.” The final report is due on October 31, 2016.

The CUPE Health Care Council has submitted a formal submission to the panel including a list of recommendations. You can read the full submission here: CUPE submission to the Advisory Panel reviewing Regional Health Authorities in Saskatchewan.

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REGINA: CUPE’s Health Care Council has expressed grave concerns about the process around health care reorganization, citing both lack of public consultation and the extremely short timeline.

“Health care restructuring is a major undertaking that will disrupt the established systems and relationships for providing health care in Saskatchewan,” said Gordon Campbell, President of the CUPE Health Care Council. “The prescribed consultation process is woefully inadequate.”

The government of Saskatchewan recently announced a three person advisory panel to develop recommendations for reorganizing health care. The advisory panel will hold limited meetings with stakeholders and no public meetings whatsoever. All public comments are due by September 26, 2016, and the final report is due on October 31, 2016.
“We believe that the process must consider quality of care and protecting our public health care system,” said Campbell. “This undertaking should not be done hastily nor without careful consideration and comprehensive consultations.”

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It’s easy to stay connected to Saskatchewan’s community union.

Sign up for CUPE Saskatchewan email updates to get the latest in union events and news delivered to you – even on your phone!

Click here to sign up for email updates.

The government of Saskatchewan has announced a three person panel to develop recommendations for reorganization of health care. The committee has a mandate to “recommend a structure with fewer regional health authorities to achieve administrative efficiencies as well as improvements to frontline service delivery.” The final report is due on October 31, 2016, and all public comments are due by September 26, 2016.

This is a very quick turn around, and we are concerned that it will be difficult to gather fulsome public feedback. The impacts of health care reorganization are far ranging, and it important that as many people as possible write to panel to voice concerns.

Saskatchewan has gone through two health care mergers. Both instances significantly disrupted the whole health system and distracted from the main purpose of the health care system: which is to provide quality care to patients and residents.

We need to make sure that the process in place considers quality of care, and protects our public health care system.

If you are concerned about the impact health reorganization, please write a letter today.

• Click here to send a letter today

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REGINA: CUPE is concerned about the announcement that Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region (RQHR) is looking at layoffs.

“We know that RQHR is facing financial challenges, but we were not expecting a press conference today announcing layoffs,” said Scott McDonald, president of CUPE Local 3967. McDonald added that there is a lot of uncertainty about what this will mean for workers.“We don’t know what areas will be impacted, and we don’t know who is on the chopping block.”

CUPE is concerned about the impact layoffs will have on the quality of care for patients and residents.

“Frontline workers are already faced with challenges from increasing workload and staff shortage issues,” said McDonald. “We need more investment in staffing, not less.”

The news about layoffs at RQHR comes on the heels of significant layoffs at Saskatoon Health Region.

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