Dynacare employees in Winnipeg and Brandon are on the brink of a potential strike due to heavy workloads and stagnant wages, according to their union. The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals revealed that 99.7% of laboratory technicians and technologists voted in favor of strike action this week, with 87% of the approximately 350 Dynacare workers participating in the vote. Since their previous contract expired on April 1, the employees have been without a new agreement.

These workers are based across Dynacare’s 22 lab and health services centers in and around Winnipeg and Brandon, including the main lab on King Edward Street in Winnipeg. In the fiscal year 2024-25, they collectively conducted over 15 million lab tests. Despite an increase in their workloads, their compensation has remained stagnant, stated MAHCP president Jason Linklater.

Linklater highlighted that current wages for Dynacare lab professionals lag behind those of Shared Health employees by 20 to 50%, varying based on job classification and tenure. The recent vote results indicate that the workers are “unified and angry,” as per Linklater in an interview with CBC News. He emphasized the challenges of recruitment and retention when salaries significantly trail those in the public sector, along with lesser benefits.

Negotiations between Dynacare and MAHCP for a new collective agreement commenced in February after the previous agreement expired on March 31. Despite entering mediation in July, the parties have not reached a tentative agreement. Further bargaining and mediation dates are pending scheduling, according to the union. The union has not set a strike notice deadline yet, aiming to prevent disruptions to lab services in the province while urging Dynacare to return to the negotiating table. Dynacare holds a monopoly on non-hospital testing in Manitoba following its acquisition of competitor Unicity Labs in 2017, becoming the sole private outpatient lab services provider in the province. The union also noted that Dynacare, a Labcorp subsidiary, has seen its profits more than double from $418 million in 2023 to $876 million in 2025.