Hundreds of Dynacare medical lab workers strike over wage dispute in Manitoba

Staffers who carry out medical diagnostic tests across Manitoba went on strike Tuesday morning as the province simultaneously took steps to try to force them back to work.

“Dynacare! No care!” workers chanted as they hit the picket lines under overcast skies outside a Dynacare lab in the northern part of Winnipeg.

They wore blue and white vests bearing the words “MAHCP On Strike” and held signs saying “Honk in Support.” They were met with a chorus of blaring horns from passing cars and semi-trucks.

About 350 lab technicians and technologists with Dynacare hit the picket lines at 8 a.m.

Wages are the sticking point. The union says its workers earn as much as 20 to 50 per cent less than counterparts in the public system.

“People need to be on competitive rates of pay and to have benefits that sustain them,” said Jason Linklater, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals. “That is not happening here in Manitoba throughout health care.”

He added that if the strike is not successful, the broader industry will suffer: “You are going to see people leave these occupations permanently.”

Dynacare is a private company under contract to the province. In a statement, it confirmed its 22 labs were closed and said it remains committed to reaching a wage deal that’s fair to all.

“Every path to a resolution remains available,” said the company. “Our priority has been to protect access to laboratory services that 1.2 million Manitobans rely on each year.”

Dynacare is the primary collector of routine lab work, including blood samples, urinalysis and prenatal testing. Shared Health, the provincial health provider that does diagnostic testing for hospitals, has said it would extend hours and capacity to try to meet the shortfall.

Dynacare staffers are not designated essential workers, but Premier Wab Kinew’s government wants to change that.

Just hours after the workers walked out, government lawyers asked the Manitoba Labour Board to designate Dynacare lab services as essential and order employees to remain at work.

The government has warned of “catastrophic consequences” if the labour board doesn’t force Dynacare employees back.

Lawyer Keith LaBossiere, representing the province, said these are “exceptional circumstances,” as Dynacare is deeply integrated into the provincial health system and that any shutdown of services would result in immediate and accumulating effects on the health of Manitobans.

He noted Dynacare provides about half of blood sampling services and 40 per cent of lab testing.

In pushing for an interim back-to-work order, LaBossiere said the labour board doesn’t have to fully determine the extent Dynacare workers are essential but that the halt of services is enough of a health threat that they should be forced back to work for now.

The union pushed back on these arguments. “The sky is not falling,” lawyer Jacob Giesbrecht told the hearing.

He said the talk of a catastrophe is hyperbole and that the 82 Shared Health labs will make sure all critical testing gets done.

He said the government had months to challenge the joint company-union decision that Dynacare services aren’t essential. He said it’s not the labour board’s job to save the government now.

The staffers have been without a collective agreement since March 31. That same month, the union and Dynacare agreed an essential services agreement wasn’t necessary.

Linklater has criticized the province for interfering with contract negotiations.

“We should be bargaining and Dynacare is not bargaining with us,” he said. “There’s nothing stopping that from happening, and they are simply relying on government interference to prevent a deal from getting implemented.”

Dynacare has said it attempted to reach an essential services agreement earlier this year, but the union rejected every suggestion.

The company is the exclusive provider of community-based medical laboratory testing in the province. The company is based in Ontario but owned by an American parent company and has been providing services in Manitoba since 2017.