CUPE, SEIU-West & SGEU/SAHO Bargaining Update

March 5, 2025 At the request of the three (3) provider unions (CUPE, SEIU-West and SGEU) SAHO met with the provider unions on November 13, 2024, to explore advancing negotiations at a faster pace. The invitation was welcomed by SAHO as we have felt the pace of these negotiations would be assisted by having discussions with all three provider unions at the same table. Prior to this invitation, there has been reluctance by the provider unions to meet at a common table. This has resulted in each union table being at different stages of bargaining with one union being quite far behind in the bargaining process having only responded to SAHO’s October 2023 proposal package in late September 2024. Concluding individual union issues would provide for the remainder of the issues, including monetary, to be discussed at a common table which would greatly assist in achieving negotiated settlements for the three collective bargaining agreements.  

During the November 13th meeting, the provider unions presented no suggestions for advancing negotiations although they did express concerns about the slow pace of individual tables. Instead, they proposed immediate settlement of all monetary issues and any remaining issues, including priority issues for the employers related to the amalgamation of the twelve (12) former regional health authorities into one provincial health authority, be left for future discussions. There were no suggestions or a plan for when or how future discussions would occur. 

The parties met on February 13, 2025 and SAHO, in an unprecedented move and in recognition of the current financial pressures felt by employees, offered an economic increase of 3%, retroactive to April 1, 2023, if the parties could resolve all outstanding individual union issues by mid-April  and begin negotiating the remaining issues at a common table by early May 2025.   SAHO suggested a Letter of Understanding to ensure that collective bargaining would continue without interruption because the collective agreements were not being rolled over or closed as a result of SAHO’s proposal. 

To expedite negotiations, SAHO proposed each party submit a list of bargaining proposals to be discussed at a common table with all four parties present. Any remaining individual union proposals would be fast tracked. SAHO suggested the use of a neutral third party (mediator, facilitator, etc.) to assist the parties in this process and offered to find additional bargaining dates to assist in completing individual union proposals.

The parties met again on February 19, 2025. SAHO provided a draft Letter of Understanding which incorporated the process improvements discussed the week before and including the economic adjustment, retroactive to April 1, 2023.  The Provider Unions rejected the offer. SAHO is disappointed as the LOU met the goal of providing timely economic relief to employees and addressed the need to expedite the pace of collective bargaining while ensuring the integrity of the bargaining process. 

This offer was unprecedented, taking a creative and innovative approach to addressing the monetary concerns of employees and providing improvements to the timeliness of negotiations. The unions rejected a monetary offer upwards of $90M. For employees in Pay Bands 2 to 20, this equates to retroactive payments which range from approximately $2000 to $5500 per full time employee. It is unfortunate that employees will not receive some economic relief and that the pace of negotiations will be unchanged.

SAHO remains committed to a fair and transparent bargaining process and hopes there will be opportunity to continue discussions on an improved process. The creation of a single provincial employer impacts all employees and unions and solutions need to be considered jointly and collaboratively. SAHO’s proposals are constructed to ensure meaningful employment for all employees without the interference of union jurisdiction or membership and to better meet patient needs throughout the province.

Union/CUPE,Union/SEIU-West,Union/SGEU March 05, 2025