News

On September 13, 7 pm, CUPE is holding an important webinar: Pharma profits or health justice? Mobilizing for universal pharmacare.

Supported by the Canadian Health Coalition, Council of Canadians, and Canadian Doctors for Medicare and expert panelists, including from the Canadian Labour Congress and NDP, you’ll find out why this is an important moment in history for health justice and why we need to mobilize!

Are you a CUPE member? Are you a health care worker? Are you a social justice activist? As union and social justice activists, we need to gather in solidarity and fight back.

The unions representing health care providers in Saskatchewan are questioning the creation of the Saskatchewan Health Care Recruitment Agency.

“This is just another layer of bureaucratic smoke and mirrors. The government is under pressure to do something – but instead of implementing actual programs they created this Crown corporation,” said Bashir Jalloh, President of CUPE 5430. “The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) already has resources and a robust out-of-scope workforce, some of whom are dedicated to workforce planning and human resources. They are funded by and directed by the Ministry of Health. Why do they need another structure to do the job of recruitment and retention?”

REGINA: In a recent media release, the Sask. Party government announced it was moving forward with surgical privatization, including contracting out surgeries to for- profit providers, and shipping patients out of province for surgery in private clinics.

“Sixty years ago, the people of Saskatchewan came together to create universal Medicare. It is disappointing that our current government seems to be doing everything in its power to move the clock backwards and privatize our health care system,” said Bashir Jalloh, president of CUPE 5430.

“Contracting out surgeries is not a magic wand for wait times. In fact, there is little evidence to show that contracting out will result in shorter wait times. We point to Saskatchewan’s own MRI wait lists which have increased since the government implemented a two-tier system. Even in the case of private surgeries, these patients end up coming back to the public system for follow up. Home care and therapies are just a couple of programs that are also experiencing backlogs,” added Jalloh.

The Government of Saskatchewan is soliciting proposals from non-profit and for-profit corporations to provide 375 standard long-term care beds within Regina.
These beds would, in part, replace the standard beds at Regina Pioneer Village, which is a publicly run, Saskatchewan Health Authority facility.

“It appears the provincial government has learned nothing about the failing of for-profit delivery of long-term care during the pandemic,” said Bashir Jalloh, president of CUPE Local 5430. “There is strong evidence that shows private, for-profit long-term care facilities have lower staffing levels, which creates poor quality of care and requires residents to pay more for the care they need out of their own pocket.”

CUPE Local 5430 took a stand against bed closures at Parkland Integrated Health Center in Shellbrook, the Premier’s home community, where half of the acute beds were shut down on May 20, 2022 due to short staffing.

“With beds being closed these communities are now having to travel further for care and to see loved ones. We believe this is adding an extra hardship to the elderly, as most of the communities have a large group of elderly people living in their towns, who rely on the Shellbrook facility,” said. Sharon Paul, General Vice-President for Region 2. “Even before the bed closures happened the facility is often on bypass – which means beds are full and new patients can not be accepted. This means patients seeking care would have to travel further for care. And delays could be deadly.”