Laboratory workers at Dynacare in Winnipeg and Brandon are on the brink of a strike due to heavy workloads and stagnant wages, according to their union. The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals announced that 99.7% of laboratory technicians and technologists voted in favor of strike action this week, with 87% of the nearly 350 Dynacare employees participating in the vote.
The workers have been without a contract since the previous one expired on April 1. They are stationed at Dynacare’s 22 laboratory and health services facilities in and around Winnipeg and Brandon, including the main lab on King Edward Street in Winnipeg. Together, these workers conducted more than 15 million lab tests in the 2024-25 fiscal year.
President of MAHCP, Jason Linklater, highlighted that despite an increase in workloads, the employees’ salaries have remained stagnant. Current wages for lab professionals at Dynacare lag behind those of Shared Health employees who perform similar specialized tasks by 20 to 50%. This wage gap varies based on job classification and years of service.
Linklater described the lab workers as “unified and angry,” emphasizing the challenges of recruitment and retention when compensation significantly trails the public system. The collective agreement between Dynacare and MAHCP ended on March 31, with negotiations for a new agreement beginning in February. However, no tentative agreement has been reached since mediation commenced in July, and no further bargaining or mediation dates have been scheduled.
The union has the authority to issue strike notice but has refrained from setting a deadline to prevent disruptions to lab services in the province. Linklater stated that strike notice would be given if bargaining dates are not arranged to progress negotiations. The union aims to urge Dynacare to return to the negotiating table and reach an agreement with lab professionals across the province.
Dynacare holds a monopoly on non-hospital testing in Manitoba after acquiring competitor Unicity Labs in 2017, becoming the province’s sole private outpatient provider for laboratory services. It is a subsidiary of Labcorp, an American corporation that has seen its profits more than double in the last two years, increasing from $418 million in 2023 to $876 million in 2025, as reported by the union.