Picket lines are up at several LifeLabs locations in B.C. as unionized workers begin strike action.
Workers unionized with the B.C. General Employees Union (BCGEU) kicked off job action on Sunday with a one-day strike rally in Burnaby.
The union is pushing for higher wages, stronger benefits and solutions to understaffing.
LifeLabs has been designated an essential service so it will continue to operate but rotating closures will begin starting on Thursday.
The company is encouraging people to check its website to learn which locations are open.
LifeLabs serves more than 7.1 million patients in B.C. every year at 129 collection centres running hundreds of thousands of diagnostic tests each day, according to the company.
“Our members took a 98 per cent strike vote,” Paul Finch, president of the BCGEU, told Global News.
“Obviously the key issues, we’re far apart on compensation…. We want parity with what the public sector workers doing the same work get as well as scheduling, which is incredibly important. Anyone who has been to a LifeLabs in the last few years knows that scheduling is a key thing here.”
