Presidents Message
Building for the New Year
It’s now a new year and the start of a new decade. Let us commit to making our workplaces and communities better places to work and live. For SGEU members, this year presents a number of opportunities to take the initiative.
2010 is our bargaining year
SGEU administrates over 70 collective agreements and almost all of them are open for re-negotiation this year.
This means that close to 22,000 SGEU members are electing their bargaining representatives, submitting proposals to improve their collective agreements and supporting their bargaining team as negotiations proceed.
Some of our units are already at the table, including our Health Service Providers Unit working in Saskatchewan Health Districts. In collaboration with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), SGEU has been organizing around the “final offer” presented to our members.
This health care battle could have a major impact on our other agreements. It is important that we keep our members informed about the issues facing health provider members and provide support when called to action.
Casting a shadow over all our bargaining is Brad Wall’s “essential services” legislation. This legislation is meant to weaken our position when we get to the table and gives employer’s the opportunity to demand rollbacks and table inferior contracts. This legislation isn’t about providing essential services, it is simply a tool to weaken unions and strengthen employers.
Good jobs good for Saskatchewan
The provincial spring budget will be tabled on March 24. A good budget would be one that values public services, health care and doesn’t penalize workers for Brad Wall’s fiscal mismanagement.
SGEU has been bargaining collective agreements for over 65 years, so we have gotten used to governments arguing they can’t provide decent pay increases and improved working conditions due to the “economy”.
As provincial revenues boom then bust, the government should keep their focus on the long term.
- If we are to attract and retain skilled public servants, we need to make this province a place people want to come to and to stay in.
- The wages of SGEU members are re-invested in Saskatchewan businesses and communities.
- In urban and rural areas, public sector workers spend 75% of their wages in the community
- SGEU members help create more jobs in Saskatchewan. For every two provincial pubic service jobs in your community, a third spinoff is created.
- Public sector services and employment have helped prevent the recession from hitting Saskatchewan as hard as other provinces.
Working together
I will be working on building links and improving communications among all our bargaining units and the rest of the labour movement as we head into this round of negotiations.
Sticking together and supporting one another is what the labour movement is all about. We need to make sure it happens.
In solidarity,
Bob Bymoen