The LifeLabs strike has ended after 10 weeks, with the union accepting the recommendations of a government-appointed mediator in May.
About 1,200 LifeLabs workers across B.C. took part in rotating strikes, including picketing at a different location in Kamloops each day.
Workers sought improved staffing and working conditions and wages on par with those doing the same work in the public sector.
The strike also called into question the use of a private for-profit American company in B.C.’s public health-care system.
Back in April, BCGEU president Paul Finch said Quest, the American company that owns LifeLabs, is “eroding wages and working conditions for members who deliver critical services.”
Mediator Mark Brown was appointed by the provincial government in April to help the two parties reach a settlement. Ultimately, the two failed to reach an agreement and the two parties decided to accept recommendations made by a mediator. Brown delivered those recommendations in May and those working are now doing so under the new collective agreement.
Bargaining committee chair Mandy De Fields characterized the agreement as “the best possible deal from a very difficult employer.”
In the end, workers won wage increases between 11.3 and 20 percent over three years, bringing them up to par in the second year with their public sector counterparts. Other changes, to workload and overtime, were also made in favour of workers.
“We thank Mark Brown for his work in helping to reach a resolution, however Quest and LifeLabs’ inability to reach an agreement at the bargaining table clearly reflects their prioritization of profit over the well-being of workers and patients. This underscores the need to transition B.C.’s diagnostic services into the public system,” Finch said.
Finch pointed to a report commissioned by the B.C. government in the 1990s, which raised questions about private delivery of diagnostic services, noting high costs and a lack of oversight around quality and access.
“It’s time to revisit this report, and for government to commission a new study into B.C.’s health system to assess health care delivery from an economic perspective, as well as what’s in the best interest of patients and workers,” Finch said.