3 -year deal reached a hard work dispute between Lifalab and 1,200 placing employees
The Union, which represented the British Columbia’s main outpatient lab services provider and about 1,200 striking workers, has reached an agreement through binding recommendations from a mediator, ending the strike of about 10 weeks.
Both Lifelabs and BC General Employees Union said that they reached a three -year collective bargaining agreement after receiving recommendations from mediated Mark Brown, and would be effective by 31 March 2027.
Workers were taking jobs in BC since February, walking temporary closed at various laboratory places.
Lifelbs said in a statement on Wednesday, “We appreciate the cooperation and partnership of BCGU in this process.” “Lifelabs has a long history of partnership with BCGEU, and we are ready to continue the strong, collaborative relations made over time.”
The Sangh said in its statement that the deal includes an increase in wages of about 11.3 percent to 20 percent in the three -year tenure of the agreement, which pays “equity” with public sector wages in the second year of the deal.
The agreement also included “significant changes to address and addressing overtime issues”, and the Sangh stated that Lifalabes had removed the sick-paying concessions that workers wanted from workers.
Union Bairing Committee Chairman Mandy de Fields said in a statement that the members were “strong” during the strike proceedings for a lifetime “fight for a fair deal and permanent services”.
“During the mediation in late April, we decided that accepting the arbitration’s proposal would give us the best possible deal from a very difficult employer,” said D Fields.
Lifelabs did not release details on the agreement in its reactions.
The Sangh had said in February that the workers took up job action due to the standard of living to increase wages and benefits due to the standard of living, as well as “the bad work situation arising out of old wise wise.”
Workers are on strike in one of the country’s largest lab diagnostic providers. As is the report of Sohrab Sandhu, the Sangh says the lifetime employees are without contracts for almost a year, and the job action comes after months of unsuccessful conversation.
The two sides were without a contract since April 2024 and the Sangh voted in November to authorize the job action.
The controversy has also brought up the American ownership of the lifestyle, an open letter in April by a public health advocacy group, which urges the premiere David EB to end its contract with a US-based Quest Diagnostics from the province, which bought life for $ 1.35 billion last year.
The BC Health alliance letter states that keeping out the outpatient lab services under a public system will reduce the waiting time, save money and improve the work and level of service.
BCGEU president Paul Finch raised the same concerns in the announcement of the new agreement.
Finch said in his statement, “We thank Mark Brown for his work for helping him reach a resolution.” “However, the inability of Quest and Lifelbs to reach an agreement on the bargaining table clearly reflects their priority of profit on the good of workers and patients.
“It outlines the need to convert BC clinical services into a public system.”
Finch stated that the Sangh is calling the province to conduct a new study on health care in BC, “to assess health care distribution from an economic point of view” to understand whether the model will work best for both patients and workers.
