About two thousand postcards from people petitioning proposed changes to the province's labour legislation were dropped off at the Cabinet Office in Saskatoon Monday morning. More than a dozen unionized and non-union workers filled baskets with signed postcards that read “ Attention Saskatchewan Government: don’t take us backward!”.
The protest, led by the Service International Employees Union, was reacting to an announcement made by Labour Minister Don Morgan at a recent North Saskatoon Business Association luncheon where he revealed a number of proposed changes to labour laws including enabling government to see exactly how unions spend their dues and changing the way unions fine members who cross picket lines. SEIU-West, which represents more than 12-thousand employees working in sectors such as healthcare, education, and municipality, says employees from across Saskatchewan want the Labour Minister to stop and rethink what's being called 'hasty' changes to labour laws. Barbara Cape, president of SIEU-West, says many workers have not had the opportunity to fully understand what is about to happen to them. Cape says the new changes would allow employers to go beyond a 40 hour work week without overtime pay and do not address improvements to minimum wage standards.
"We've got to get beyond the partisan political arguments and do what's right for the people of Saskatchewan, said Barbara Cape, with SEIU. “It's not business versus worker, it's not left wing versus right wing, it's just Saskatchewan needs to move forward together and that's how we're going to be successful."
The government expects to table the new legislation in early December.
