The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) has reviewed Bill No. 5 – An Act to Amend the Saskatchewan Employment Act and provides our analysis below.

Likely to echo other labour organizations in their responses, the Ministerial Advisory Committee has previously been a platform for stakeholders to discuss legislative changes. That process was not engaged for the bill, and the SFL encourages a return to that platform for future legislative and regulatory changes.

Not all amendments have been noted in our analysis, but rather the priorities determined through consultation with affiliated unions on Bill No. 5 and/or considerations proposed in the SFL’s 2023 submission to the Ministry on employment standards.

The proposed legislation responded positively to three (3) of the SFL’s 2023 submissions on employment standards:

• Explicit protection of tips against employer theft
• Creation of end-of-pregnancy leave
• Expanded application of bereavement leave

While disappointed that paid sick leave was not incorporated into this legislation, the SFL cautiously supports the limited protections for employees from sick note demands from their employer.

In consultation with the unions we represent, the SFL has identified three paramount concerns with the proposed amendments to employment standards in the Saskatchewan Employment Act.

Increasing group termination notice threshold

Increasing the threshold for group termination notice from 10 to 25 is a concern to workers, as it intentionally shifts the balance to the employer. The SFL has not been provided rationale for this proposed change.

In the face of tariffs and economic uncertainty, decreasing this notice safeguard stands to unfairly harm workers. This could facilitate ‘stealth layoffs’ which are not only bad for workers, but for their communities and the economy as well.

Without mandated termination notice, pay in lieu of notice of termination – a standard to ensure an element of fairness to workers suddenly put out of work – is jeopardized.

Eliminating the two-day rest provision (AKA ‘the weekend’)

This legislation appears to remove any remaining provisions enshrining ‘the weekend’ in labour legislation. Since 2007, the two-day rest provision was rolled back in previous amendments to the SEA, and this will further shift the balance to the employer. The SFL has not been provided rationale for this proposed change.

The weekend has been a fixture of Saskatchewan work and commerce for a century, and one of the labour movement’s most celebrated victories for good reason. Not only will the end of two-day rest provisions create more unpredictability for workers and erode work/life balance, consecutive days off are connected to more spending on hospitality, local tourism, and fuel sales. Removing the last reference to the weekend is not just symbolic, it’s also bad for the economy.

Changing the definition of a day

The legislation makes significant changes to the definition of a workday, which shifts the balance to advantage the employer. The rationale provided for the change is claimed to be to align with Alberta and other jurisdictions. The SFL would discourage looking to Alberta for best practices in workplace safety and employment standards.

The proposed adjustments to ‘the day,’ not unlike the changes to the weekend, has implications on the work/life balance of working people. Further, this adjustment intends to make it easier to manipulate and even eliminate overtime costs, disproportionately impacting workers with irregular or inconsistent hours of work.

Any provision that allows for more hours with less compensation is bad for workers and bad for the economy. And when workers can be scheduled more hours with less pay and rest, it impacts the health and safety of the workers and those they serve.

This bill makes other changes that shift the balance to employers at the expense of workers. These include the ‘waiver clause’ of meal break and scheduling entitlements, and the exclusion of vacation entitlements from termination and layoff payments to workers. The SFL condemns all proposed changes that shift the balance to employers at the expense of workers’ job security, compensation, or safety.

Additionally, the SFL questions the changes to the statutory review period to ten years from five years.

Aside from what is found in this bill, the SFL notes some key omissions that stakeholders were asked to consider about employment standards in 2023. Provisions on the right to disconnect, paid sick leave, and the expansion of employment standards to gig/platform workers are notably absent from this proposed legislation.

This budget is an opportunity for the Sask. Party government to really commit to Saskatchewan workers, including investment in:

• Better jobs with good paycheques
• Quality, reliable public services
• Trade & utility infrastructure

The SFL reiterates its demand for strengthened workplace safety protections, and hopes this budget dedicates resources to reduce serious workplace incidents.

Finally, workers deserve to see every Premier get on the ice, elbows up, for the same team – Team Canada. Will Premier Moe lace up his skates one last time for the home team, or keep warming the bench?

In the spirit of Red Green, keep your stick on the ice, everybody. We’re all in this together.

Lori Johb, President
Saskatchewan Federation of Labour

Bea is the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) President and a member of UFCW from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

It’s been ten years since SFL led the effort to enshrine the right to strike as a constitutional right. The entire labour movement in Canada is grateful for this monumental win.

This is what solidarity looks like! The coming together of unions under the umbrella of the SFL shows what we can achieve when we support one another and work together!

This decision is a critically important win for the whole Canadian Labour movement. Defending the right to strike is the bedrock of labour movement. Without the ability to withdraw our labour, we are at the whims of the employer. This decision ensures that all workers can demand better and fight for a fair deal.

We can never take our rights for granted. In strike after strike, we see governments attempting to chip away at our rights and use whatever means at their disposal to give an upper hand to the employer.

But the same solidarity that brought us this win ten years ago will help us win even more victories for working people.

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Rob is the President of International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) Canada, of which Saskatchewan’s GSU & RWDSU are affiliated.

A decade ago. unions across this country won a great victory led by the SFL and a great legal team, but this victory came with a gremlin locked inside of it – one that would not show its ugly face a for a few years.

But do we actually have the “right to strike”?

Let me take you to July 2023, when our longshore division went on strike for a fair and freely negotiated collective agreement. We managed to strike for thirteen days, but then then the federal government forced us back to work through section 107 of the federal labour code.

They folded like a cheap deck of cards to the cohort of usual suspects, complaining about the economy, or that goods were not able to get through. The federal government never thought that sending them back to work would embolden employers not to bargain with unions… or did they?

Then in 2024 we saw the federal government threaten - or steal away - workers’ rights to withhold their labour. This was apparent in the WestJet fight, and especially the 13-hour Teamsters rail strike (the day before, the Minister of Labour announced the feds would not be getting involved).

Then the feds stole away the right to strike with S.107 from ILWU Local 514 and CUPE 375 as well.

It’s a government that pats us on the head and says to us, “good little workers, we have pretended to give you what you want - now run along while we change the rules to f$%k you!”

They send the organized working class of this nation to binding arbitration, which is exactly what the employing class wants. Instead, it should be us fighting it out on the streets where it belongs! There should be zero use for ‘back-to-work orders’ and there should be zero use of scabs!

So back to the question: do we have a right to strike? My answer: yes, but - the government and the employing class will forever work against us. This is why voting (and who we vote for) matters!

We must put aside the many attempts at division used to split us apart: on gender, race, religion, or any other divide. We must stand united no matter how hard it feels. We must do this to survive against the employing class that wish to crush us!

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Kent: Brad Wall and his right wing, anti-worker Sask. Party won the 2007 election and immediately set about using the levers of power to punish workers and their unions. Bill 5 imposed the most onerous, restrictive essential services framework anywhere in Canada.

Larry: Bills 5 and 6. It became abundantly clear to me that Wall intended to do his utmost to strip workers of rights and to engage in a campaign of government-sponsored union busting unlike anything we'd experienced in my lifetime.

Lori: I was one of the vice presidents representing SEIU on the SFL the time this all began. We knew without a doubt the newly elected Saskatchewan Party government was going to war with labour. They gutted trade union laws and introduced essential service legislation that would seriously restrict collective bargaining and striking.

Craig: Victory Square Law Office was asked to provide a legal opinion to the SFL on this legislation. On May 15, 2008 we provided our conclusion, which led to the legal challenge.

Rick: My first major role was to represent SGEU at the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, and then the SFL and affiliates at the Supreme Court of Canada, along with Craig Bavis and Peter Barnacle.

Larry: The SFL along with many affiliates and other unions concluded that we should prepare to launch a legal challenge. These decisions were not unanimous. It was a difficult and challenging time. There was no appetite to launch a concerted job action. We needed to either share the cost of a legal challenge, or put our tails between our legs and concede defeat.

Rick: I was very concerned that based upon the 1987 Labour Trilogy, the courts would interpret workers’ rights as something akin to the administrative law duty of fairness. But once I got formally involved, I started to formulate my own argument as to why the right to strike must be seen as a human right - the same way unequal treatment is a human rights issue in racial discrimination cases.

Lori: There was never a time during these years when I was totally certain in our position or chance of victory. Remember that in the beginning this was all about challenging Bill 5 - we didn’t yet have our sights set on enshrining the charter right to strike.

As SFL Treasurer, I had to ensure we were on a path that would not break the bank. One thing was clear, this was a risky but necessary fight. At the end of the day, to do nothing was not an option.

Kent: The outcome was never certain. It was a real life made-for-Netflix labour political thriller. While winning in the courts would be historic, so would losing. Precedents would be set either way, and that extreme risk meant it was not a unanimous decision for the SFL to proceed with a Charter challenge.

Craig: Parties rarely know if they have met the tipping point … the SFL case was a rare exception. Justice Ball asked how the workers could have an effective strike when 124 [of 125 RWDSU laundry] workers were designated essential and would not be able to withdraw their labour. The judge’s frown as he made a note of [the Health Region’s] position spoke volumes, and I realized that workers had reached the tipping point in persuading the judge.

Kent: What I - and only a handful of people in the country knew - was that the Supreme Court of Canada had reached its decision on whether Canadian workers had a constitutional right to strike. We just didn't know if it was good or bad.

Craig: Given the decision in Mounted Police, I was cautiously optimistic about the decision. After a sleepless night, I walked to the SFL office and anxiously sat in the conference room waiting to hear the decision. Because it was a high profile case, the Court released the decision to the parties and media an hour prior to the general release.

Kent: I was new to the communications role with a deadly case of imposter syndrome, and I did not have a damn clue what to do. My boss, Larry Hubich - who shepherded this all the way from the initial debates to the Supreme Court - was out of the country. Who is the spokesperson?

"Here are the two versions of the news release" I said. "Which of these will we use?” Nobody had a sniff.

Lori: Craig received a copy of the decision. It wasn’t long and someone - I think it was Craig - screamed WE WON! The room erupted. Next, the press conference. Something I had never done before. I was terrified of being in front of a mic, now I'm in front of a bank of cameras and reporters from all over. It might have been the most anxious moment of my life.

Larry: I was on a winter vacation with my wife in Hawaii on that remarkable day. I participated in the meeting via Skype when then SFL Secretary-Treasurer, Lori Johb had assembled a group to meet in the PSAC Board Room.

Rick: My wife, Adrienne, and I were in the horn of Africa in January 2015. When we did get the results, I went into the bathroom at our resort and wept uncontrollably. Shortly after, [now Justice Norbeck] patched me in. It felt absolutely glorious to share this moment with my colleagues and union friends in Regina.

Lori: After the media circus died down, union leaders and our supporters all partied at the Copper Kettle, including a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Hubich. I remember popping a champagne bottle... let's just say it was a lot of fun.

Rick: The truth is that this case - and the work I did to prepare for it - changed my professional life. For one brief moment, we were at the centre of the universe! The SFL decision is one of the most important labour rights decisions in Canadian history.

Lori: We won the right to strike for all workers in Canada, and the SFL is now part of the new labour trilogy that will forever be part of legal arguments intended to protect workers and their rights. This is not a small thing!

Craig: As of January 16, 2025, SFL has been referred to in 592 decisions of Canadian courts, arbitrators, and labour relations tribunals. I have spoken about the case countless times and the decision comes up almost every week in my legal practice.

Larry: I believe that governments are now more reluctant to intervene in disputes, recognizing that their legislative interventions to bring disputes to an end will run afoul of the Charter and be struck down as unconstitutional.

Kent: We did what no group of workers had ever done before. That means something. It means something that it was won through the federation of labour.

Where there are barriers to exercising workers rights, then let's bulldoze those barriers on the wildcat picket lines, and in the streets, and at the ballot box. To make an omelette, you have to crack a few eggs. ||

Editor's note: This article is based on excerpts from a series of five interviews. Emphasis and copyediting for clarity.

Brad Wall and Saskatchewan Party defeat the NDP and form government.

Immediately, the Sask. Party introduces Bill 5, the Public Services Essential Services Act (PSESA) and Bill 6, the Trade Union Amendment Act (TUAA). Both pieces of legislation are rooted in ideological opposition to organized labour.

Bills 5 & 6 become law.

Multiple unions and labour organizations file complaints to the International Labour Organization (ILO) against the Government of Saskatchewan.

The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, led by President Larry Hubich, begins their Charter challenge against Bills 5 & 6 in the case SFL v. Saskatchewan.

The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour files an additional ILO complaint on Bills 5 & 6 against the Government of Saskatchewan.

The ILO finds Bills 5 & 6 in violation of international law commitments. Specifically, the Bills contravene ILO Convention No. 87: Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, an agreement that Canada, Saskatchewan, and all provinces have ratified.

Saskatchewan’s Court of Queen’s Bench rules that elements of Bill 5 are unconstitutional. The Saskatchewan Party government appeals the decision to the Court of Appeal.

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal overturns the Court of Queen’s Bench ruling on Bill 5:
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the 1987 Labour Trilogy cases that freedom of association in Section 2(d) of the Charter doesn’t guarantee a right to strike. That line of authority has never been overturned by the Supreme Court. Therefore, until the SCC overturns itself, it is inappropriate for a lower court to issue a decision that is contrary to SCC precedent.

Urged on by this decision, The SFL and affiliates appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court grants leave and litigation continues.

The SFL argues in front of the Supreme Court of Canada on the unconstitutionality of Bill 5, joined by intervenors from across the country.

The Supreme Court of Canada decision on SFL v. Saskatchewan deems Bill 5 unconstitutional. The decision overturns former precedent, and provides all Canadian workers the constitutional right to strike.

Season's Greetings!

As we reach the end of 2024, it's a time to reflect on both the struggles and victories of working people, to celebrate with friends and family, and share in the bounties of our labour.

We send our solidarity to workers facing adversity this holiday season, including:

• Striking postal workers, fighting for fairness and dignity at work.
• UFCW members, locked out of the Heritage Inns for well over a year.
• Those who are looking for work, who cannot work, and who are denied work.
• Those working over the holidays to keep the rest of us safe, healthy, fed, and fueled.
• The countless workers the globe over yearning for peace in the face of ongoing conflict, destruction, and bloodshed.

What we desire for ourselves, we wish for all. To this end, may we take our share in all the world's work and the world's struggles.

However you may celebrate this season, the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour sends holiday wishes to you and yours.

“Without legislative action, workers are going to keep getting killed and injured at work," said Johb. "The death of a worker must be met with criminal charges, not just a pesky fine."

Johb noted that while the political winds may have realigned the Assembly, the priorities for workers remain the same:

• Better jobs with decent paycheques
• Quality public services
• Accessible public health care

“Workers in every corner of this province are feeling the squeeze, and so many are burnt out,” said Johb.

With the provincial election top of mind, she had a call to action: “For pete’s sake - the least the next government could do for cash-strapped, exhausted workers is to make sure everyone comes home safe from work every day.”

Johb noted in her closing remarks that her work continues this afternoon, as she delivers a message of solidarity from the SFL to the teachers’ union.

Incumbent Secretary-Treasurer Kent Peterson did not reoffer for another term. Marilynne MacFarlane was elected on a contested ballot. A member of UFCW, Marilynne comes from a background in financial services, and currently serves as the Secretary-Treasurer of UFCW 1400.

The Convention closed Friday before noon. The next Convention is scheduled for fall 2026 in Regina.

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The Sask Party was first elected to government in 2007. For seventeen long years, Saskatchewan has been governed by Brad Wall & Scott Moe. Over that time, the Sask. Party has favoured friends & corporate interests instead of workers. Lest we forget things like:

• Essential services legislation

• Axing the film tax credit

• Selling off STC & public liquor stores

• Ending card check certification

• The lowest minimum wage in Canada

• Using the notwithstanding clause to suspend worker & student Charter rights.

That’s why – with political winds of change blowing – your SFL has been laser focused on defeating Scott Moe and the Sask Party this October. Over the last year, Speak Up Saskatchewan has connected us with tens of thousands of regular people, all ready for change.

Our Labour For Labour initiative launched in August, which collaborated with local campaigns best suited to defeat Sask. Party candidates. As part of that, we hope you cans support one or more of a whopping twenty-five pro-labour union members running against the Sask. Party this October.

Once the election is called, the SFL will be all over Saskatchewan, working in collaboration with those unions with boots on the ground to defeat the Scott Moe and the Sask Party. Check our ever-expanding listing of worker canvasses happening throughout October.

Regular people deserve better. After seventeen long years, enough is enough.

Media enquires:
Nathaniel Cole
n.cole@sfl.sk.ca

Johb - who represents nearly 100,000 workers from over thirty private and public sector unions - further highlights the three priorities for workers this budget:

On fixing wait times
Whether it's a doctor's office, an emergency room, surgery & diagnostics, or elder care, skyrocketing wait times are both hurting people and hurting the economy. Scott Moe has pushed healthcare workers out of the profession, and scared more from even entering the profession altogether.

On ending education chaos
Securing a deal with teachers will improve education and build a skilled workforce for the future. Instead of pinky-promising class size commitments, Scott Moe needs to either get back to the bargaining table or agree to binding arbitration.

On raising wages
With the lowest minimum wage in the country, Saskatchewan workers are struggling to make ends meet, never mind start a family or buy a home. Scott Moe could jump-start the economy with wages that keep up with inflation and prevent young people from packing up for Alberta or Ontario.

Today, Scott Moe takes another step towards suspending Charter rights by introducing his unprecedented Notwithstanding Clause law.

Scott Moe using the Notwithstanding Clause to suspend Charter rights is dangerous and desperate. It is a threat to all worker rights, and all Charter rights.

Scott Moe has lost public support on this issue, and has sparked a broad coalition of people to fight back against his heavy-handed overreaction. Saskatchewan people will do whatever it takes to stop him.

Scott Moe has no idea what he started.

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These are results from an automated phone survey (IVR) fielded to landline and cell (RDD) numbers from September 12th to 13th, 2023, conducted by Strategic Communications, and resulting in a sample size of 638 adult Prince Albert residents. The data is statistically weighted to match the composition of Prince Albert by nested gender and age as per most recently available Census data. The margin of error for a sample of this size is +/- 3.8%, 19 times out of 20.

I am very proud of the queer leadership at the Federation in senior elected and staff roles. However, far too many queer and trans people are still not represented in leadership within the labour movement and in our communities. I commit to the continued work necessary to ensure these spaces are safe and supportive for all 2SLGBTQIA+ workers.

I will not stand idly by as hate-filled extremists erode the hard-fought progress of queer and trans Saskatchewanians. The time to act is now.

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Through the disappointing spring session, Johb noted that the increasing solidarity among working people keeps her optimistic. Her personal highlight was participating in the largest demonstration in Saskatchewan in over a decade – the ‘Make Noise for Education’ rally organized by the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation.

Johb was also pleased to see how the Opposition NDP held the Sask. Party’s feet to the fire. “I won’t forget how Carla Beck stood her ground when defending Steelworkers in the Legislature – even if it meant getting kicked out of the chamber.”

“The spring session will not be remembered for what was achieved in the Legislature, but how Scott Moe’s incompetence brought working people together,” said Johb.