More than 7,200 Saskatchewan nurses hold strike vote to back contract demands

By: THE CANADIAN PRESS

REGINA - Saskatchewan's nurses went to the polls Wednesday to hold a strike vote after overwhelmingly rejecting their employer's latest contract offer.

More than 7,200 nurses have been without a contract since the end of March and Saskatchewan Union of Nurses president Rosalee Longmoore said they're not happy with the current bargaining process.

"They feel very, very angry that when we're faced with a nursing shortage such as we are, that employers have come to the bargaining table so ill-prepared to address these very important issues," said Longmoore.

One of the key issues is a retention and recruitment initiative that the union wants negotiated into the collective agreement with the employer, the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations.

The nurses' union has said it believes Saskatchewan is short 1,000 nurses.

It also said the province could lose another 2,600 nurses over the next three years if others follow through on plans to resign, retire or revert to casual status.

The Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations has said it's disappointed that the union called for a strike vote. The vote result was not expected to be known until late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

The union must give at least 48 hours notice before any job action.

Longmoore said that even if the nurses vote to strike, it doesn't mean they'll be rushing to the picket lines right away.

"I'm pretty confident from the members that we spoke to that we will be getting a strong strike mandate and we hope that will send a very strong message to decision-makers around our collective bargaining," said Longmoore.

"We're not going to act quickly. Our members have asked us to give time for a very positive strike vote to produce results."

The two sides are scheduled to resume negotiations later this month.