‘Dynacare sucks’: Manitoba premier calls out company as striking employees ordered back to work

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, a day after his government intervened to end a medical workers strike, called out their employer and suggested he may de-privatize lab testing.

“Dynacare sucks. Dynacare sucks,” Kinew repeated numerous times Wednesday when asked by reporters about the one-day walkout by 350 Dynacare lab technicians and technologists.

“The workers are frustrated. Absolutely they’re frustrated (and) rightfully so,” the premier added.

“Dynacare, get back to the (bargaining) table and give these people a raise.”

The workers walked off the job Tuesday morning, shuttering 22 Dynacare lab locations across the province and stopping the collection of thousands of tests, including blood work, urinalysis and prenatal checks.

Hours later, Kinew’s government successfully argued to the Manitoba Labour Board that the Dynacare work was vital to the health system. By day’s end, the board ordered the workers back.

The union, the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, complied and the employees were back on the job Wednesday morning.

The union and Dynacare didn’t have an essential workers agreement in place in case of a strike.

Kinew lambasted Dynacare for “making a mess of the situation” and said his government had no choice but to intervene, because it has a higher responsibility to keep the health system running.

“Nobody should be using the results of a cancer test as leverage in a negotiation. Nobody,” the premier said.

The strike centred around wages. The union said its workers earn as much as 20 to 50 per cent less than counterparts in the public system.

Dynacare said in a statement that it shares Kinew’s commitment to maintaining reliable lab services and that’s why it’s pushing for a “sustainable” collective agreement.

“We acknowledge that this has been a difficult situation for patients and for the province, and we share the premier’s desire for a resolution,” the company said.

It said it has offered a substantial pay increase and has proposed arbitration as the fastest path to a fair resolution. 

Kinew said fault also lies with the former Progressive Conservative government contracting out to Dynacare — a private operator — all non-hospital medical testing.

He said his NDP government is considering de-privatizing the testing but acknowledged it’s a tall, very expensive decision.

“The PCs privatized this system,” Kinew said. “Once you privatize something and it goes to the private sector, it becomes extraordinarily costly to bring it back into public hands.”

Union president Jason Linklater said Kinew still has the power to fix the situation.

“The premier could make this right today if he wanted to. Instead, he’s running for cover and making excuses,” Linklater said.

“We need him to step up and make sure his contract with Dynacare includes protections and equal wages for these front-line health-care professionals that he and all Manitobans depend on.” 

The union has said if Kinew’s government will sacrifice its members’ bargaining rights, all workers should be leery.