Workers at DynaLIFE medical labs are asking the private healthcare company for fair wages and though the union says it does not want a strike, job action is possible.
Mike Parker, president of the Union of Healthcare Professionals, says he believes the so-far failed negotiations could lead to an employee lockout. “They don’t want to go on strike, they want a deal—they want a fair deal and that is what we are asking for,” he says.
When the province contracted DynaLIFE to do community lab services, workers were transferred to the company from Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL) with an existing contract and Parker says this has led to a two-tier wage system.
“We have got folks that are doing the exact same work and one group is making almost ten per cent more than the other,” he says. “These folks have taken almost seven years of zero per cent increases, zero so what they are asking for is fairness.”
Parker says the union has made it clear workers will not settle for equalizing wages at the low end, but the employees currently making less need to be brought up to the same pay as their colleagues who transitioned from APL.
The labour dispute affects more than just workers, according to Parker — he says it contributes to long wait times for lab services and trouble recruiting new employees.
“What they want to do is reduce the wages of those who are doing the work, well that’s not going to help recruitment — we have nobody who is coming out of school, we have 200 vacancies currently in DynaLIFE,” he says. “There are waitlists that are now exceeding six weeks, ten weeks for people to get in and to get some of their tests done in Southern Alberta, absolutely atrocious.”
DynaLIFE did not provide an interview, but in a written statement says it “values its employees and continues to be engaged in the bargaining process.”
“As part of these negotiations, wages, term, and pension are under discussion as there are differences in these provisions between existing DynaLIFE employees and the employees DynaLIFE acquired from APL as part of the transition of community lab services from APL to DynaLIFE,” the statement says.
The two parties will negotiate an essential services agreement to ensure Albertans can get necessary lab work done in the case of a lockout or strike.