Representatives from the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN), the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), and the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) came together to meet for two additional sessions since our last update. Those dates were April 28th, 29th, 30th and May 1st and May 20th, 21st 22nd.

SUN’s Negotiations Committee approached this set of dates optimistic that the parties would be in a position to begin signing off on certain articles that have been in discussion through our last few sessions. SAHO’s lead negotiator returned to the table for both sessions and discussions resumed on some of the articles that have been difficult to date, specifically Articles 26, 27, 37, 45 and LOU #10. Seeing as the parties were still not on the same page regarding Articles 26 and 45 it was decided to defer these discussions for now. SAHO is looking to have the ability to the move nurses as they see fit and create positions which would encompass extremely large areas within the province. SUN does not deny that community positions currently exist and that “floating” is a process that requires the movement of staff in specific situations. The main issues at play in both articles are the size of the servicing areas being proposed for community positions and that SAHO is looking to enhance the ability to “float” people outside of their facilities. Articles 37 and LOU #10 were also set aside to allow the parties to tackle Article 27 before revisiting and hopefully finalizing the content changes being discussed in these two pieces of the Collective Agreement.

With the parties agreeing to concentrate on Article 27 in our April 28th to May 1st dates, the following Articles 8, 11, 17, 18, 22, and 38 were also agreed to by the parties to be part of the discussions talking place over the four-day session.

On May 1st our four-day session ended with the signing off of numerous Articles that were discussed. Both parties were able to come to agreement on the bulk of the content included in Article 27, as well as Articles 8, 11, 17, 18, 22 and 38. The improvements to Article 27 include many updates to the overall process of postings including much needed language on the information that is to appear on them. We were able to accomplish upgraded language in Article 17 related to education leave and special leaves, and SAHO withdrew their proposals that were attempting to rollback our named replacement leave language.

Articles 8, 11, 18, 22, and 38 also received upgrades, including some modifications related to ensuring clarity of the language within these articles. In total there were fifty-four specific Articles agreed to over the four-day session ending on May 1st.

Our three-day session of May 21st to May 23 began with the parties beginning to address proposals from both sides related to Articles 32, 42, 56, 57, 58, 59. These discussions went well with both sides chipping away at the language proposed on each article. Our team is hopeful that our next session will produce agreed to language on all of these articles.

In addition to these articles, the parties also discussed proposals related to Articles 12, 13, 16, 35, 55, 61 and 64. The most contentious being proposals from SAHO on Article 12 where they would like to delete Article 12.02 to allow “Standby” to be attached to any shift and do away with waivers. Needless to say, this was not well received by our team which was made clear to SAHO.

Overall, the last two sessions have returned to an atmosphere of joint problem solving, modifying proposed language and returning with solutions that reflect the needs of both parties. SUN’s goal has been and always will be to problem-solve, consider the interests and challenges of all parties, and bring language that supports the broader goal of stabilizing, enhancing, and supporting the nursing workforce in Saskatchewan.

SUN’s Committee is hopeful that all parties will continue their commitment to productive discussions and significant progress when meetings resume on June 2nd.

Negotiations Updates are regular communications meant to keep SUN members informed of the bargaining committee’s activities and the status of SUN’s bargaining efforts.