Striking workers at Manitoba’s private lab services operator Dynacare stand on the picket line in Winnipeg on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods)
The Manitoba Labour Board has ruled that an essential services agreement is required for Dynacare, overturning a March 2026 signed consent between the company and the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals that said none was needed.
The board found the new, much broader definition of essential services enacted in provincial legislation in 2024 applies.
MAHCP president Jason Linklater said the decision means wages for Dynacare’s 350 publicly funded laboratory workers remain 20 to 50 percent behind those at public labs.
“Manitobans and their doctors will wait longer for lab tests and results because the NDP government broke their promise and refused to stand up for these publicly funded, frontline healthcare workers,” Linklater said.
“Dynacare won’t be able to staff its labs until this wage inequity is resolved. Government should step up, fix their own contract with Dynacare, and ensure equal wages for all publicly funded laboratory professionals.”
Dynacare’s 23 locations in the province provide about half of blood sampling services and 40 percent of lab testing.
More than 350 workers went on strike in early September only to have the province secure an interim order from the labour board to send them back to work the next day.
— With files from The Canadian Press
