Healthcare workers in the province are frustrated with the lack of a Collective Agreement and after 28 months without a raise, are hoping that negotiations with the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) at the end of August will be positive.

SEIU-West members held an information picket on August 7, 2025, at St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon to educate the public about the state of the healthcare system. SEIU-West members say healthcare workers deserve a fair contract and that SAHO continues to decline their requests for a pay increase and better working conditions.

Carla Saworski is a medical lab technologist and says the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) wants unreasonable provisions in place. “They want to have the ability to move people around the province.  So, you could show up for work in Saskatoon one day and you’re going to North Battleford.  That affects childcare.  You’re not going to get people to stay with that kind of thing.”

The SEIU-West member says the inability to come to a fair agreement has consequences. “We need a wage increase.  We have healthcare workers-people with lower wages-going to the food bank.”

According to Saworski many healthcare workers are leaving the province because of better working environments, and they’re paid better elsewhere.  She says healthcare workers in the province do not feel appreciated.  “During Covid we showed up for work and they called us heroes.  Now they give us zip.”

The next meeting to try to come to an agreement is set for August 27th.