MHC was proud to join a rally organized by the 1919 Workers Collective on September 20th and stand in solidarity with Dynacare workers. We support the right of all workers to fight for fair wages and working conditions.
Profit has no place in health care.
When we contract out our public services to for-profit companies like Dynacare, its patients and workers who pay the price.
The new five year contract with the government made with Dynacare last summer should never have been signed. The province has a responsibility to provide health care to all Manitobans, and we can’t do that without workers.
Without fair wages, we can’t recruit and retain the skilled laboratory professionals we need to keep our community labs running.
Community labs, like the rest of our health care system, should be fully public and focused on serving the public good, not earning profits.
This isn’t an unrealistic goal. Even in Alberta, disastrous attempts at privatizing their community labs have been reversed. They are now fully public.
We can make the same change here in Manitoba.
In the short term, the government must ensure fair wages at parity with those in the public system are guaranteed for Dynacare workers.
It’s about fairness and ensuring sustainable, high quality health care for all Manitobans.
It’ll cost $6M to get to wage parity for these workers. That’s a small price to pay, and it’s one we can’t afford not to pay.