Last week, employees at Westman Regional Laboratory in Brandon voted to reject the last contract offer from Diagnostic Services Manitoba (DSM) and have voted in favour of strike action. An Essential Services Agreement must now be negotiated with their employer, which should happen this week. Terms of the collective agreement stipulate employees must then give DSM two weeks notice prior to establishing picket lines and going on strike.
“Employees at Westman Lab have seen their workloads escalate, and they’ve been met at the bargaining table with offers of wage freezes and other penalties while similar workers in this field across the country have seen improvements,” said MGEU President Lois Wales. “We were already having trouble retaining these professionals. This contract would only make that problem worse.”
Despite the increasing workload, there has been no corresponding increase in staffing levels. The accumulated overtime across departments underlines the need for additional positions across the facility.
“More and more is being asked of the employees, and we routinely hear of concerns that the pressure on limited staff is going to lead to issues or errors in the future,” said Wales. “We think we need to look seriously at increasing staffing levels, but we also need to look at compensation as part of this to ensure we keep the committed, trained staff we have in place.”
Westman Lab is the reference laboratory for 77 medical facilities across the province, including most of the health care service providers in rural Manitoba, the Brandon Regional Health Authority, as well as some facilities in Winnipeg. A disruption in service will cause delays in the delivery of test results and the possible cancellation of some surgeries.
For more information, contact MGEU Special Projects Officer John Baert at 982-6438 or toll-free outside Winnipeg at 1-866-982-6438.