Dynacare inches closer to strike action

The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP) hosted an informational picket on Wednesday after taking exception to what they call interference in bargaining by the provincial government.

Minister of Labour and Immigration Malaya Marcelino aske the Manitoba Labour Board to figure out if an essential services agreement was necessary.

Dynacare and MAHCP had agreed in March that Dynacare services are not considered essential under the Labour Relations Act and do not need to continue during a strike.

“These severely underpaid laboratory technicians and technologists thought the Manitoba government had their backs,” said Jason Linklater, MAHCP president. “Instead, the NDP is siding with a private, American-owned company over the rights and interests of Manitoba workers by interfering in bargaining and threatening their Charter-protected right to strike.”

If a tentative deal isn’t reached by Sept. 8 at 6 a.m. the Dynacare strike will begin, with seven full-time employees in Steinbach being impacted.

The union says Dynacare’s final offer, presented Aug. 25, does not meaningfully address the 20 to 50 percent wage gap with public sector laboratory workers that has grown since 2017.

The union says they don’t consider it likely that Dynacare will come back to the table prior to a strike thanks to provincial intervention.

“Why would the government step in, at this late stage, when Dynacare agreed long ago that their services did not meet the criteria of essential services?” asked Linklater. “The government has a contract with Dynacare; why weren’t service continuity and fair wages for laboratory professionals addressed in that contract?”

A prepared statement issued on Marcelino’s behalf said the Manitoba government’s fundamental responsibility is to ensure the provision of essential health care services. “This is why we have asked the independent labour board to review this matter. We encourage Dynacare to return to the bargaining table.”

The application to the labour board includes affidavits from doctors saying that a Dynacare strike could have a negative impact on the health of Manitobans. Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said that community-based laboratory testing is a key entry point to Manitoba’s public health system. “A disruption in community-based testing, even briefly, can have a significant negative impact on Manitoba’s public health testing and response system.”

An affidavit from Dynacare’s chief medical and scientific officer, Dr. Jenisa Naidoo, said “hospital-based testing is not able to absorb outpatient testing ordinarily performed by Dynacare in the event of a strike.”

Her affidavit described the tens of thousands of tests performed daily at Dynacare’s laboratory on King Edward Street. The tests support the detection and management of a variety of medical conditions, including kidney disease, diabetes, infection, sepsis, leukemia, anemia, bleeding disorders, thyroid and liver disease, cardiovascular risk, and cancer, it said.

Shared Health’s chief operating officer for diagnostics, Dr. Abdulrazaq Sokoro, said in his affidavit that hospital-based lab testing facilities operated by Shared Health operate at 100 percent capacity.

“In the event of a work stoppage, Shared Health hospital-based testing facilities cannot accommodate outpatients who would otherwise have utilized Dynacare’s services,” Sokoro said.

– With Winnipeg Free Press files