An agreement in principle announced September 1st stated that the five Extendicare special care homes in Saskatchewan were to transition from Extendicare Canada Inc. to the Saskatchewan Health Authority as of October 9th, this past Sunday, pending a final agreement. It also states no details would be disclosed until the overall agreement is finalized, and until then, all transition plans for operations and staffing are subject to change.

As of Friday afternoon, the President of SEIU-West, which has members employed by Extendicare, hadn’t heard whether that was officially happening or not. It also highlights the concerns of members around lack of communication.  Barbara Cape says there hasn’t been much information filtering through since the transition was officially announced, although there have been a few memos issued jointly from the two entities, but no detailed information.

She notes that members want to know simple things like who their boss will be after the transition, what the policies are they need to follow, and whether or not they maintain their seniority, although Cape understand the nuts and bolts of a collective agreement will carry over. She believes the residents at these care homes and their families are probably curious about what’s happening as well.