Susan Antosh isn’t booking any holidays this spring.Instead, the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) president will be spending her days preparing for negotiations with the province’s 7,700-member nurses’ union and three of the province’s major health-care unions representing 25,000 workers.“Four of the major contracts are completed at the end of March 2008 — that is the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Saskatchewan Employees International Union and the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union,” Antosh said.Recruitment and retention issues will be key during this round of talks, particularly at the SUN table, and the economic adjustments are always part of what SAHO has to deal with as well, she said.“We do have to consider the cost because ultimately the taxpayer needs to consider the cost (because they foot the bill).“Pretty well all of the funding for health services comes from the government so that has to be a consideration,” Antosh said.“But we also have some significant recruitment and retention issues and some language issues that we need to deal with.“So negotiating a settlement is delicate balance between meeting the needs of the workers and the employers and living within the finances that are available.” Read more