CTF calls for review of human resources practices and collective agreements

Backgrounder

REGINA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is calling on the Saskatchewan government to conduct a review of human resources practices after surveying the amount of sick days taken by government and crown corporation employees.

The CTF obtained the average number of sick days taken by employees through Freedom of Information. The survey included most major crowns, government departments and ten of the province's twelve health authorities.

Of the twelve government departments surveyed eight have seen increases in absenteeism since 2000/01. Saskatchewan Environment saw an increase of 39 percent - going from an average 6.9 sick days per FTE to 9.6 last year. Culture, Youth and Recreation recorded a 37 per cent increase, while absenteeism at Highways and Transportation increased by 25 per cent. Justice was the only department that saw a net decrease in absenteeism (24 per cent).

Government-wide absenteeism increased by 10 per cent and cost taxpayers $18 million in 2004/05.

Absenteeism at Sasktel has increased by 23 per cent over the past five years, SaskPower's increased by 1.3 per cent and SaskEnergy's declined by 4.5 per cent. Crown Investments Corporation, the holding company for the major crowns saw absenteeism increase by 61 percent.

Most health authorities saw significant increases in absenteeism. The data for health authorities was separated by unions. For example, absenteeism for Saskatchewan Union of Nurses members in the Regina Qu'Appelle region increased by 5 per cent, while members of the Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan (social workers, lab technicians, etc) saw a 19 per cent increase in absenteeism.

"It's clear that we have an absenteeism problem in Saskatchewan that's costing taxpayers millions each year," said CTF Saskatchewan director David MacLean. "If we reduced absenteeism in government departments by 20 per cent we could save taxpayers $3.6 million a year - and that doesn't include crowns or health authorities."

A report released by Statistics Canada earlier this year says the average Canadian private sector worker takes 15 per cent fewer sick days than a Saskatchewan public sector worker. Saskatchewan public sector workers take 83 per cent more sick days than Canadian construction workers. The report concludes that unionized workers or those under a collective agreement miss 80 per cent more workdays than non-unionized employees.