We don't really understand the hesitancy being shown by the provincial government and its appointed agencies to step up to bargaining tables these past few months.
The Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations, which is supposed to serve as the intermediary between the health care administrations in the province and the government, doesn't appear to have a very good track record when it comes to the job of completing negotiations with front-line health care professionals. The job inevitably gets shifted over to the Health Ministry and eventually finds a solution somewhere close to, or within, the premier's office.
So we wonder out loud at this point, why it is taking more than two years to achieve an agreement with the Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan? Wasn't there a point several months ago wherein SAHO should have thrown in the towel and shifted the file over to those who would ultimately be charged with actually completing the deal?
The next worrisome item is the recent job action taken by our province's 13,000 teachers who have also gone a long time without a working contract.
One shot at arbitration failed and since then there has been a stalement on the new contract, a stalemate that has lasted about nine months. Again, we wonder out loud ... why?
The opening offer of 5.5 per cent spread out over three years from the government and the SSBA compared with the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation opening request for 12 per cent for one year, indicated a significant gap, but it appears as if neither side is willing to move away from these door opening salvos. Both the offer and the responding demand are just short of laughable, but that's what happens in negotiations.
Each side takes their high road and then they work toward the middle. Somehow that concept appears to be lost on the STF and the provincial negotiators.
We doubt that our teachers would be anxious to accept a one-year contract, retroactive to last August. It would mean having to return to the bargaining table within a few weeks of completing the contract, even if they did get the 12 per cent.
The educators make a good argument insofar as they can refer to their past negotiations when they agreed to be the good scouts and accepted no pay increases while the province crawled out of tough economic times. Things have changed, the provincial government is boasting about how rich it is now. Well, now comes the time to share and not just with one pre-selected working group. Rich regimes are expected to share the wealth, not like the wealthy banks, trust companies, oil companies and the like. Governments aren't private business, they are using everyone's money not just investors' coinage. If they don't share, they don't get re-elected. It's one of the ways the public has to keep them in line.
So we urge the government to get off the laughable 1.75 per cent per year offer to the teachers and we urge the teachers group to come up with an alternative to their 12 per cent one year demand. Perhaps 16 per cent over three years? Or a signing bonus alternative, or a rejigging of the salary grids? There should be all kinds of options to explore, but first and foremost the players need to get back to the table.
