The head of SEIU-West, a union representing health-care and education workers in Saskatchewan, said wage rollbacks and layoffs will not cure the province’s ailing economy.
In media interviews, Premier Brad Wall has suggested that public sector workers may be asked to take less to help tackle the province’s $1 billion deficit.
READ MORE: Premier Brad Wall hints at wage rollbacks as Saskatchewan faces ballooning deficit
Barbara Cape, president of SEIU-West, said Wall’s comments show a lack of good faith and deflect responsibility away from the government’s performance in managing the province.
“Our members were not the people who benefited from the economic boom,” Cape said in a statement.
“Now Mr. Wall is making them pay for his government’s mismanagement.”
She said the union’s 13,000 members didn’t benefit from the economic boom and shouldn’t be asked to make up the government’s budget shortfall.
“They have coped with costly lean management experiments and ongoing demands to do more with less. They’ve been hit hard by the rising cost of living. They didn’t get double-digit pay increases that were given to doctors and registered nurses,” Cape said.
READ MORE: Billion-dollar Saskatchewan deficit can be blamed on government: Opposition NDP
The union’s members include people who work in health care, education, municipalities, community-based organizations, retirement homes and other sectors.
Cape said public services and workers are at least as valuable to Saskatchewan as oil and gas companies.
With files from Global News
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