Dynacare workers avert strike, ratify four-year deal

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This article was published 09/11/2022 (1068 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After voting with near unanimous support in favour of a strike mandate, Dynacare employees have ratified a new contract with their employer, successfully avoiding a strike and ensuring Manitoba’s medical testing will continue uninterrupted.

Under the new contract, workers will see a 9.6 per cent wage increase over four years, the Manitoba Association of Healthcare Professionals said in a Wednesday morning news release.

Dynacare’s private laboratories in Brandon and Winnipeg employ more than 300 people who are responsible for the bulk of medical testing performed outside of hospitals.

The MAHCP is the union representing the workers, who’d been without a contract since April 1, despite negotiations with Dynacare beginning in February.

In mid-September, frustrated staff voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate.

At the time, Doctors Manitoba described the services Dynacare staff perform — such as blood and urine analysis — as essential to diagnosing and treating ill Manitobans, warning a strike would bear significant, negative impacts on health care.

Negotiations between the parties broke down in October, and in a last-ditch effort to avoid a strike, the MAHCP agreed to mediation, the release said.

The ensuing talks resulted in the ratified deal.

“Our members needed Dynacare to prioritize wages, especially after working through a pandemic and frozen wages over the past few years,” said MAHCP president Jason Linklater.

Staff at Dynacare were among the many Manitobans impacted by Bill 28, a controversial wage-freeze legislation passed by the Progressive Conservative government (led by then-premier Brian Pallister) but never given royal assent.

In 2020, a Court of King’s Bench judge struck down the legislation in a challenge brought forth by a group of Manitoba labour organizations. In 2021, the government won an appeal of the court decision.

“While we believe this is the best deal they could get from the employer, it still doesn’t come anywhere near keeping up with the rate of inflation or other jurisdictions. They deserve better,” Linklater said.

Although the MAHCP is not entirely satisfied, the majority of members approved the deal, it said.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca