The provincial government has applied to have about 500 unionized health care and social workers switch unions. 

CUPE Local 600 says the Government of Saskatchewan gave notice of plans to apply to the Labour Relations Board (LRB) to move affected CUPE  members into the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees Union (SGEU) bargaining unit.

CUPE Local 600 represents many workers at facilities that will be closed over the next two-and-a-half years, including Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford and Valley View Centre in Moose Jaw. 

The government says the move will give greater opportunity to those workers with uncertain futures. 

"There are currently about 500 employees in that CUPE Local, and after those closures there will be roughly half that," said Bridget McLeod, Executive Director, Employee and Labour Relations with the Public Service Commission (PSC).

"The SGEU unit has about 9,000 (employees)," she continued, adding "if those employees were part of the SGEU bargaining unit, they'd have access to more options for ongoing employment in that larger unit."

"We don't buy that line and our members don't buy that line," countered CUPE Local 600 spokesperson Guy Marsden. "We think it's motivated by a desire to get out of a letter of understanding that was negotiated in the last round of bargaining."

Marsden says enhanced severance benefits for CUPE members affected by the pending Valley View (2019) and Saskatchewan Hospital closures (2018) was a key item in that bargaining process and they are valuable benefits. 

"It would give the people who have the most seniority the opportunity to resign voluntarily or retire to access the enhanced severance," Marsden said of the current agreement. "I think the government is pretty desperate to save money right now and they're going to face an uphill battle with their application to the Labour Relations Board."

McLeod says it's not their "intent" to eliminate the severance benefits, but "through any bargaining process there's no guarantee of an outcome."