Manitobans rely on nearly 350 laboratory technicians and technologists at Dynacare locations across Manitoba. Doctors count on them, too. Without the 15 million lab tests Dynacare professionals perform and process each year—half of all lab tests—patients would need to visit public hospitals and labs, causing significant backlogs and delays in getting their test results, and putting added pressure on hospital lab staff.
Dynacare members strike during one day of solidarity before being ordered back to work
At 6 a.m. on Tuesday, September 8, Dynacare members went on strike. Nearly 350 laboratory technicians and technologists, represented by the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP), walked off the job after Dynacare refused to close the massive wage gap at the heart of negotiations.
After one day of picketing, the Manitoba Labour Board, at the request of the Manitoba government, ordered Dynacare members back to work.
The Government of Manitoba backed a private, American-owned company that is exploiting frontline healthcare professionals, instead of supporting those severely underpaid workers. The Manitoba Labour Board is doing exactly what the government asked them to do: they are taking away our members’ right to fight for fairness. MAHCP will follow the Labour Board’s interim order and end the strike for now, but we are exploring our options to address the government’s interference and get our members the respect and equal wages they deserve.
A significant outcome of all of this is the profound erosion of trust in this NDP government. If government is willing to take away the rights of these laboratory professionals to save themselves money, then they will do the same to other Manitoba workers. Government had an opportunity to support frontline healthcare professionals but instead they threw them under the bus — they made a harmful choice.
– MAHCP President Jason Linklater
Strike action halted operations at all 22 of Dynacare’s laboratory and health services centres in Winnipeg, Brandon, and surrounding communities. Dynacare workers didn’t want that, but they were forced to fight for the fair wages and respect they deserve. Over months of bargaining, including mediation, and conciliation, Dynacare had every opportunity to close the gap and avert a strike. It chose not to. And now it’s got government on its side: not to protect its patients or people, but to protect its profits.
Dynacare lab professionals currently earn 20–50% less than their counterparts doing the same work in public labs. Dynacare’s parent company, a private, American, for-profit healthcare corporation, earned $1.2 billion in net profit last year alone.
The Manitoba government has interfered in bargaining and taken away our members’ right to strike, but the fight is not over. Thank you to all Manitobans who have signed our petitions to call on Dynacare to pay fair wages, and more recently, to demand that government support Dynacare workers.
Essential Service Agreements & government interference
In March 2026, Dynacare and MAHCP agreed that an essential services agreement (ESA) was not required. Dynacare has never considered its workers essential: not during the pandemic, not earlier this year in March when it consented that its workers weren’t to be deemed essential under the Manitoba Labour Relations Act, not since it became a monopoly in Manitoba.
Right before Labour Day, the Manitoba government began to interfere with job action. Hours after Dynacare members began to strike, the Manitoba Labour Board gave the government what it asked for and ordered striking workers to return to their underpaid jobs.
The government’s interference is shameful. It has taken away the only tool these underpaid healthcare professionals have to fight for fair wages against a giant, American-owned company. A government that claims to stand with healthcare workers should not trample on their charter-protected rights and back an American-owned company. The best way to prevent a strike is to make sure these publicly funded healthcare workers are paid the same as Shared Health laboratory professionals doing the same work in public hospitals and labs.
Manitoba Labour Board hearings
On October 1, the Manitoba Labour Board determined an essential component of Dynacare’s services exists. The Board’s decision overturned the signed consent between Dynacare and MAHCP from March 2026 — signed just seven months before the hearings — wherein the parties agreed that no essential services agreement was required. The Manitoba government had given itself broad legislative authority to break legal strikes, and successfully used it to stop laboratory professionals at Dynacare from fighting their giant, American-owned employer for equal wages.
Next, the parties will start discussions about what essential work functions exist and the number of employees needed to perform them.
“The Labour Board delivered exactly what Dynacare and the government wanted. It overturned the signed consent between MAHCP and Dynacare from March that no essential services agreement was needed, and that means that wages for Dynacare’s 350 publicly funded laboratory workers remain 20 to 50% behind public laboratories.
“Three years ago the NDP told healthcare workers they had been ‘overworked, underpaid and disregarded’ for too long, and that ‘help is on the way.’ Then government signed a new contract with Dynacare that froze funding and made no provisions for wage parity. 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. 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.”
– MAHCP President Jason Linklater
The fight continues
The Labour Board’s decision, and the actions of the Manitoba government that prompted it, are extremely disappointing. The Manitoba government took away workers’ rights to strike, undermined bargaining, and handed the advantage to itself and the employer it contracts out. In doing so, the Manitoba government has interfered with workers’ Charter-protected right to free and fair collective bargaining.
The unwavering solidarity that lab professionals showed on the picket lines was a milestone event in the history of bargaining with Dynacare.
MAHCP didn’t know if the strike was going to last hours or days, or if we’d even get to the picket lines before the government interfered, but every minute of that strike was meaningful. We sent powerful messages, not only to the employer, but to government as well. The Manitoba government and Dynacare need to know that they cannot intimidate, bully, or coerce lab professionals into accepting a poor agreement that does nothing to address the significant wage gap MAHCP came into bargaining to fix.
MAHCP will continue to challenge the actions of the Manitoba government.
Your advocacy in action: Call your MLA
You told Dynacare to pay its people and demanded the Manitoba government to stop interfering with workers’ right to strike.
Throughout September 2026, Manitobans (and allies across the globe!) sent Dynacare’s CEO, Chief Medical & Scientific Officer, Head of Human Resources, and Chief Financial Officer nearly 6,200 emails demanding that Dynacare avert a strike by offering lab professionals fair wages.
You then stepped up again to send more than 4,700 emails to the Manitoba government, telling them to stop interfering with workers’ right to strike, getting in front of:
- Wab Kinew, Manitoba Premier
- Malaya Marcelino, Minister of Labour and Immigration
- Uzoma Asagwara, Minister of Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care
- And nearly all (over 90%!) of Manitoba’s 57 MLAs
Thank you for fighting with us.
Now, it’s time for you to call your MLA and tell them to push government to fix the mess they created. A direct call from a constituent is one of the most powerful ways to get an elected representative’s attention. Your call shows that Manitobans are concerned, and we want our government to stand up for health care workers. Find your MLA‘s phone number here.
Here’s what you can say:
- I’m calling to ask my MLA to stand with Dynacare lab professionals in their fight for equal wages for equal work.
- The Manitoba government stopped the strike and took away lab professionals’ ability to fight for fair wages.
- I’m concerned the NDP government sided with a for-profit, American-owned healthcare corporation instead of underpaid frontline healthcare workers.
- Dynacare is fully funded by the Manitoba government, and equal wages must be included in that funding.
- Will my MLA raise this with the premier and support equal wages for Dynacare lab professionals?
Winnipeg Labour Council delegates stand with Dynacare workers
During a recent a Winnipeg Labour Council general meeting, delegates brought forward a motion in solidarity with Dynacare laboratory professionals to condemn the Manitoba government for interfering with bargaining and taking away these unionized workers’ right to fight for equal wages.
MAHCP President Jason Linklater and delegates from other unions spoke in strong support of the resolution, expressing deep frustration that an NDP government took the side of an American-owned company rather than backing frontline healthcare workers.
The motion passed unanimously. Winnipeg Labour Council delegates stand with Dynacare lab professionals in this fight!
“The government’s last-minute intervention effectively ended the Dynacare strike. Members feel shocked, dismayed, trapped and betrayed by a government they thought had their backs. If we don’t take a strong stand now and defend the right to strike, we’ll have no ability to fight back when this or a future government does it again, or worse.”
– MAHCP President Jason Linklater
Motion:
“BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Winnipeg Labour Council condemns the NDP Provincial Government’s interference in the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals’ (MAHCP) ability to engage in free and fair collective bargaining and their ability to exercise their right to strike.”
Media releases: Dynacare strike
Catching up on why Dynacare members are preparing to strike? Read our media releases below:
- MAHCP Issues Strike Deadline to Dynacare: September 8, 2026
- Dynacare Bargaining at an Impasse and Stalled by Government Interference
- Manitoba Government Interferes in Dynacare Bargaining
- Previous Dynacare Contract Disclosed; Includes $11.7 million Provincial Funding Increase
- Equal Wages for Dynacare Workers Would Cost $6 million in 2026/27
Sending a message: Info picket
Thank you to the 200+ people who joined us during an info picket on September 2, 2026 to make noise outside Dynacare’s main processing laboratory!
An info picket is a lawful, public demonstration where allies and union members gather — on non-work time such as lunch breaks — to raise awareness about contract disputes or workplace issues. An info picket is not a strike, it’s a display of solidarity, and we rallied around Dynacare lab professionals!
IAM Union solidarity with MAHCP members at Dynacare
Thank you IAM Union for your message of solidarity with MAHCP members at Dynacare!