Dynacare workers provide essential services in Manitoba that must be maintained during a strike or lockout, the provincial labour board has ruled.
In a decision released Thursday, the Manitoba Labour Board said services provided by the lab workers — specimen collection, lab testing and results reporting — are core services that must be maintained in the event of a strike or lockout.
The decision comes after lab technicians and technologists with the private company, represented by the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, briefly went on strike on Sept. 8.
The Manitoba Labour Board issued an interim order sending them back to work later the same day.
About 350 lab technologists and technicians — who work at Dynacare's 22 lab and health services centres in and around Winnipeg and Brandon, as well as its main lab on King Edward Street in Winnipeg — have been without a collective agreement since March 31.
The labour board hearing — requested by provincial Labour Minister Malaya Marcelino on Sept. 1, a week before the brief strike — was intended to determine whether Dynacare workers provide an "essential service."
During the hearing, which began Sept. 10, the Dynacare workers' union said a broad interpretation of that definition could set a bad precedent.
Representatives for the province argued a stoppage of any length would lead to "catastrophic consequences" to the health-care system.
Dynacare workers perform about 40 per cent of all lab testing in Manitoba, the hearing was told.
The company and the union had entered an agreement in March that deemed the workers non-essential, since lab services are also offered by public sector providers.
But under provincial legislation passed in 2024, the labour minister can intervene at any time if they disagree.
The core issue in the labour dispute is wage disparity, according to the union, which says Dynacare staff earn 20 to 50 per cent less than counterparts doing the same work in public labs.
The labour board's Thursday decision said it is appointing representatives to facilitate discussions between Dynacare and the union to develop the terms of an essential services agreement.
Work on that agreement will involve determining the specific staffing levels needed to ensure essential services can be provided during a labour disruption, Dynacare told CBC News in a statement Thursday, following the board's decision.
In its decision, the board ordered the disclosure of documents that show staffing levels and vacancy rates at all of Dynacare's local health service centres, including the main laboratory on King Edward Street in Winnipeg, over the last six months.
The board also ordered the disclosure of any internal modelling Dynacare has developed for staffing levels in the event of a strike.
Dynacare modelling predicts a work stoppage — even one that still allowed for reduced staffing levels — would lead to significant backlogs at its collection sites, according to an affidavit from Dynacare chief medical and scientific officer Dr. Jenisa Naidoo filed with the labour board.
Staffing levels at 90 per cent would lead to a backlog of about 2,000 patients per week, while staffing levels at 80 per cent would result in a backlog of about 2,200 patients per week, she said.
Without an essential services agreement, Dynacare anticipated a backlog of about 34,000 patients per week, according to Naidoo.
A work stoppage would pose a particular risk for cancer diagnoses and treatment, chronic kidney disease and dialysis monitoring, and cardiac and stroke patients, as well as prenatal screening and medication monitoring, she said.
The board's decision does not address the underlying wage dispute that led to the strike, but Dynacare said in its statement the company is committed to reaching a "fair and sustainable" agreement with the union.
Dynacare has had a monopoly on private lab services in Manitoba since 2017, when the company bought out Unicity Labs under the then Progressive Conservative government.
The current NDP government extended the contract with Dynacare for five years in 2025.
In an emailed statement, Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals president Jason Linklater said the labour board's decision delivered "exactly what Dynacare and the government wanted," overturning the March agreement that deemed the workers non-essential.
Dynacare won't be able to properly staff its labs until the wage dispute is resolved, Linklater said, urging the province to "step up, fix their own contract with Dynacare," and ensure equal wages for lab workers.
Negotiations on a new collective agreement have been stalled since before the strike, after Dynacare presented a "best and final" offer that was "nowhere close" to addressing the wage dispute, the union's statement said.
Dynacare has not returned to the bargaining table, and the union now doesn't expect them to since the province intervened in the company's favour, it said.
"I do not think these workers will ever forget that the NDP government abandoned them," Linklater told CBC in an interview.
The province is reviewing the board's decision, a spokesperson said in a statement to CBC News, but maintains its stance that Dynacare must "get back to the table and give their workers a fair deal."
