Unionized health-care workers rallied at the Saskatchewan legislature on Monday. They say the government agency they work for isn't taking contract talks seriously. (Stefani Langenegger/CBC)

About 300 unionized health-care workers rallied at the Saskatchewan legislature in Regina on Monday to protest against the pace and substance of contract negotiations with the group representing health regions in the province.

About 24,000 workers from the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Saskatchewan Government Employees' Union and the Service Employees International Union West (SEIUW) have been on the job without a contract for more than a year.

They're accusing the Saskatchewan Association of Heath Organizations of not taking the negotiation process seriously, and said the current contract offer is insulting.

The unions represent a range of health-care workers, from kitchen and cleaning staff to licensed practical nurses.

The health regions' current offer is for most employees to receive a 9.25 per cent wage increase over four years. In a jointly issued statement on Sept. 22, the unions called the offer "insulting."

The unions said the offer pales in comparison with a deal registered nurses recently signed that included a 35 per cent increase over four years.

A union official told CBC reporter Geoff Leo that the health regions group thinks it has the upper hand in bargaining talks because of recently passed legislation limiting the right of some unionized workers to strike. Under Saskatchewan's essential-workers law, some health-care labourers are considered essential employees.

The unions accuse the Saskatchewan Association of Heath Organizations of declaring the vast majority of workers essential to avoid possible job action.

But CUPE has already received a strike mandate from its workers, and SEIUW is currently canvassing members across Saskatchewan about the possibility of holding a strike vote.