NORTH BATTLEFORD, Sask. — Shouting, "What do we want? Fair wages. When do we want it? Now," hundreds of supporters of CUPE 5430 health-care workers gathered for a rally outside Battlefords MLA and Saskatchewan Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill's office in North Battleford on Sept. 15.
"CUPE health workers had voted 99 per cent in favour of job action in Saskatchewan's largest strike vote. Between Sept. 8 and 14, 13,358 members voted to secure a decisive strike mandate after three years of stalling and concessionary demands from the employer at the bargaining table," CUPE said.
CUPE 5430 has 14,000 health-care workers in the province.
They have been without a contract since March 31, 2023.
"It's about what we are going to do to keep health care workers in this province," CUPE 5430 president Bashir Jalloh said. "We train people every day. Our hospitals are teaching hospitals. We see people leaving, going to Alberta. Now we are losing people to Manitoba. No offence. It is because of the low wages. We cannot afford to continue this way. We have to do something about retention. What are we going to do to retain people?
"We can bring people in, but if you don't retain them, they're going to turn right out and go away," he added. "This is about retention. We need to be able to keep people in this province so they can work here and be respected, and raise their families. That is what this is about."
Jalloh said now that the strike vote has been decided, CUPE 5430 has a mandate from its members, so it will go back next week to talk to the province and bargain further.
"If there is no movement, we will definitely move to the next action," he said.
Saskatchewan NDP deputy leader Vicki Mowat was present at the rally with Nathaniel Teed, NDP labour critic.
"We're here today to show support for the CUPE 5430 workers who are rallying today in North Battleford," Mowat said. "They've been four years without a contract. The government should have acted already. They should have come to the bargaining table. They should have bargained in good faith and found an agreement with these folks."
Teed echoed Mowat's concerns.
"This deal should have been signed already," he said. "I think what we've seen today is workers who are fed up with a government that is stonewalling their collective bargaining rights. We have seen a historic strike vote today. Ninety-nine per cent of these workers would go on strike tomorrow. We need to get a deal signed now. This minister needs to get back to the table, and they need to sign a deal for these health care workers."
SaskToday has reached out to Saskatchewan Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill's office for comment but did not hear back by publication time.
