Negotiations between union, employer 'definitely not moving forward' in LifeLabs strike: BCGEU rep
Nearly six weeks after workers went on strike, negotiations between LifeLabs and the union that represents about 1,200 of its workers aren't going well, according to a member of the union's bargaining committee.
Wendy Cummer, a medical laboratory technologist in Kamloops, B.C., and a B.C. General Employees Union (BCGEU) bargaining committee member said talks "are definitely not moving forward at this point."
"The sides are very far apart," she said. "We can't go back to our members with an offer if it doesn't give them what they need."
The strike began on Feb. 16, resulting in rotating closures at locations across the province and, in turn, forcing customers who need lab work to play a game of chance when they head to a LifeLabs location.
BCGEU bargaining committee chair Mandy De Fields said negotiations for better wages and changes to working conditions began in March 2024.
"It's been a long haul," she said.
The BCGEU represents about 1,200 workers at LifeLabs across the province, the union said.
Workers say they have been without a contract since April 1, 2024.
The BCGEU said LifeLabs workers are paid four to 16 per cent less than counterparts at hospitals and other companies. For example, De Fields said, lab assistants, the public-facing staff who help with specimen collection, start at $4/hr less than people doing the same job in the hospital.
In Kamloops, Cummer said, this means LifeLabs is often short-staffed after people leave for better paying jobs.
"They need pay and working conditions that allow us to hire and retain qualified people, not hire someone and then lose them in a few months when they realize the stress of working short all the time."
The union said people are skipping meal and washroom breaks and are working forced overtime as a result.
In an emailed statement to CBC News, LifeLabs confirmed negotiations are ongoing but would not comment on the status of those conversations. The company did not answer questions about the impact to customers but instead pointed to their online " location finder" designed to let people know which locations are open during the strike.
Last summer, LifeLabs was purchased by Quest Diagnostics, an American company, for approximately $1.35 billion Cdn.
Cummer, who has worked at LifeLabs in Kamloops for 33 years, said customers are also feeling the consequences of staffing shortages with increased wait times, lineups for walk-in appointments and long waits to get results.
"We are an essential service in British Columbia," she said. "We are fighting for ourselves and our patients."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
National Observer
a day ago
- National Observer
RFK Jr.'s firing of US immunization committee is worrisome Canadian scientists say
Canadian doctors and scientists say Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s firing of an immunization advisory committee south of the border is worrisome. On Monday, the US health and human services secretary — a longtime anti-vaccine advocate — said he will appoint new members to the scientific group that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about vaccination. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan, said Tuesday that the move will foster more false anti-vaccine beliefs, not only in the US but also in Canada. "It creates a culture in which anti-vaxx beliefs are more accepted and challenged a lot less. And also it creates an environment where there's an alternative to an evidence-based recommendation framework," she said. Even though Kennedy's new appointments will make vaccine recommendations specific to the United States, any disinformation could also feed vaccine hesitancy among Canadians, Rasmussen said. "We have a lot of the same anti-vaxx sentiment up here. Certainly this will at the very least empower (that)," she said. Rasmussen said current measles outbreaks in both countries show the consequences of disinformation that leads to parents not immunizing their children against preventable diseases. She said Canada could also experience some fallout if the new committee pulls back vaccination recommendations, because manufacturers may cut back on production and that could lead to shortages. "There's a lot of potential for really, really damaging vaccine access throughout the US and potentially around the world because the US market has a big impact on what vaccine manufacturers are actually going to make and manufacture," she said. "There's so many ways that this can end up really badly for vaccination in general. And it really causes me a lot of concern." Rasmussen said the firing of the advisory committee members is just the latest in a series of anti-public health actions Kennedy has taken. "It's a death by a thousand cuts," said Rasmussen, who is American and moved to Canada during the pandemic to work at the University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization. US President Donald Trump 's administration has already cut billions of dollars in research grants at the National Institutes of Health. In May, the administration cancelled a contract with mRNA vaccine manufacturer Moderna to develop a vaccine against potential pandemic influenza viruses, including H5N1 avian flu. "It just seems that there is a top-down approach that views mRNA vaccines in particular — vaccination in general, but mRNA vaccines in particular — with distrust and is trying to dismantle that particular avenue of medical research," said Dr. Jesse Papenburg, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Montreal Children's Hospital. Papenburg, who is a member of Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization but was not speaking on its behalf, said although the Moderna contract cancellation and the firing of the US vaccine advisory committee members are two separate actions, they're both concerning as Canada tries to prepare for potential human-to-human transmission of H5N1. "Both are potentially very dangerous when it comes to America's and the world's ability to respond to emerging infectious diseases for which vaccines could be a useful medical countermeasure," he said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.
Vancouver Sun
a day ago
- Vancouver Sun
B.C. experts sound the alarm over rising number of HIV cases
Canadians can spend money now to stop the spread of HIV, or face a much larger bill down the road, according to a leading Vancouver expert. The decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to cut back international medical aid makes investing in prevention even more vital, said Dr. Julio Montaner , executive-director and physician-in-chief at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. Worldwide, the savings could be in the billions of dollars over time, he said. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'We did the same calculation for British Columbia, and the conclusion is the same: You spend a little bit more now, but then the savings are tremendous, in this case even exponentially greater than anything we've ever seen.' Last week, Montaner, who also heads the HIV/AIDS program at St. Paul's Hospital and is the chair of AIDS research at UBC and St. Paul's Foundation, hosted HIV experts from across Canada to warn about the rising incidence of HIV in Canada, and the threat U.S. cuts to HIV programs pose. Montaner arrived in Vancouver in 1981 to do pulmonary research at UBC, about the same time the HIV/AIDS epidemic began. In those early days, patients were presenting primarily with a pneumococcal pneumonia, which is how Montaner got involved in HIV research. 'Patients would die from it, almost for sure,' he said. New drugs revolutionized the treatment for such patients to the point where 'that became a non-issue,' he said. With those results, he was approached by federal officials to work with new trial drugs, and by 1996 he had discovered that a combination of antiretroviral drugs could keep the disease at bay. 'It became the cornerstone of highly active antiretroviral therapy,' Montaner said. 'It was a miracle. 'People became well almost immediately. The amount of virus in their blood went down to nothing, their immunity recovered.' Despite groundbreaking work by the Canadian Treatment as Prevention group, or TasP, and a program known as HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, Canada is losing ground to HIV/AIDS, Montaner said. Saskatchewan and Manitoba have HIV diagnoses of almost 20 people per 100,000, six times B.C.'s rate of 3.3 per 100,000, based on 2023 statistics. B.C. in the mid-1990s had a rate almost as high as those two Prairie provinces do today, for the worst infection rate in Canada back then. But based on discussions with colleagues across Canada, the situation continues to deteriorate , Montaner said, with an expectation that HIV numbers were significantly higher in 2024, and higher yet again in 2025 even though the year is only half over. Globally, Montaner said, it is estimated American funding cuts will lead to another 6.6 million new HIV infections and an additional 4.2 million AIDS-related deaths between 2025 and 2029. That affects B.C., he said, because most new HIV cases in the province stem from interprovincial and international migration. 'HIV does not respect borders. We have seen an increase in the number of HIV cases in British Columbia, and more than two-thirds of those cases are cases that come into the province with HIV from other jurisdictions.' International rates of infant deaths and tuberculosis will be 'a total disaster,' he said. 'I don't kid you when I say that this is a crime against humanity, because if you withdraw services for people whose life depends on it, only one outcome is possible, and that is suffering and death. It's why he called last week's meeting, he said. 'There is a sense of apathy across the land that is actually totally unacceptable. … The fact is, nobody cares about HIV/AIDS. Why? Because it affects marginalized, personal minorities, immigrants, the poor, the Downtown Eastside.' The U.S. provided half of the funding to fight HIV worldwide. Canada alone can't make up that shortfall, but should double its funding and encourage other donor countries to do the same, he said. 'Because if we don't, we're going to end up paying for it with death, and not only death and disease in other countries. The instability it generates is going to create huge migratory problems for all of us, and we're already hearing it, because people are running away from the United States, coming to Canada, because they are either transgender or gay or minorities or HIV infected.' gordmcintyre@
Global News
a day ago
- Global News
Canadian scientists raise concerns over RFK Jr. firing U.S. vaccine panel
Canadian doctors and scientists say Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s firing of an immunization advisory committee south of the border is worrisome. On Monday, the U.S. health and human services secretary — a longtime anti-vaccine advocate — said he will appoint new members to the scientific group that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about vaccination. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan, said Tuesday that the move will foster more false anti-vaccine beliefs, not only in the U.S. but also in Canada. 'It creates a culture in which anti-vaxx beliefs are more accepted and challenged a lot less. And also it creates an environment where there's an alternative to an evidence-based recommendation framework,' she said. Even though Kennedy's new appointments will make vaccine recommendations specific to the United States, any disinformation could also feed vaccine hesitancy among Canadians, Rasmussen said. Story continues below advertisement 'We have a lot of the same anti-vaxx sentiment up here. Certainly this will at the very least empower (that),' she said. Rasmussen said current measles outbreaks in both countries show the consequences of disinformation that leads to parents not immunizing their children against preventable diseases. 13:02 Health Matters: Why June is a good month to check your kids vaccine status and other immunization questions She said Canada could also experience some fallout if the new committee pulls back vaccination recommendations, because manufacturers may cut back on production and that could lead to shortages. Get weekly health news Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'There's a lot of potential for really, really damaging vaccine access throughout the U.S. and potentially around the world because the U.S. market has a big impact on what vaccine manufacturers are actually going to make and manufacture,' she said. 'There's so many ways that this can end up really badly for vaccination in general. And it really causes me a lot of concern.' Story continues below advertisement Rasmussen said the firing of the advisory committee members is just the latest in a series of anti-public health actions Kennedy has taken. 'It's a death by a thousand cuts,' said Rasmussen, who is American and moved to Canada during the pandemic to work at the University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has already cut billions of dollars in research grants at the National Institutes of Health. In May, the administration cancelled a contract with mRNA vaccine manufacturer Moderna to develop a vaccine against potential pandemic influenza viruses, including H5N1 avian flu. 'It just seems that there is a top-down approach that views mRNA vaccines in particular — vaccination in general, but mRNA vaccines in particular — with distrust and is trying to dismantle that particular avenue of medical research,' said Dr. Jesse Papenburg, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Montreal Children's Hospital. Papenburg, who is a member of Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization but was not speaking on its behalf, said although the Moderna contract cancellation and the firing of the U.S. vaccine advisory committee members are two separate actions, they're both concerning as Canada tries to prepare for potential human-to-human transmission of H5N1. 'Both are potentially very dangerous when it comes to America's and the world's ability to respond to emerging infectious diseases for which vaccines could be a useful medical countermeasure,' he said. Story continues below advertisement — With files from The Associated Press
