SEIU-West President Barb Cape, who was outside of St. Paul’s Hospital Wednesday, says members are doing their best every day to provide professional care and have never stopped even when faced with the dangers of COVID-19.

There were demonstrations at 20 locations in Saskatoon Wednesday, all at health care facilities, where union members were expressing their frustration with lack of progress in the bargaining process.

She says the Wednesday demonstrations were to let the general public, who has shown immense support for front line health care workers, know that the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations and the Government of Saskatchewan need to put some more resources at the bargaining table in order to reach a fair collective agreement.

“These folks are doing like, wicked amounts of overtime, double-time, they’re doing continuous masking and they are doing all of this at 2016 rates of pay.”

Barb Cape says they are happy to hear honking horns from anyone going by a demonstration on Wednesday but she says the general public can show support in other ways.

“We also invite them to write to their member of Leg Assembly. I mean, right now we’re in the silly season of election campaigning and this is really a time for us to press home the point, that health care workers deserve a fair collective agreement.”

She says their members were tired and burned out prior to the pandemic and have still done their part to flatten the curve now its time for SAHO and the government to step up.