LifeLabs workers agree to ratify contract
After 13 days on the picket line and over a year in bargaining, Barrie’s LifeLabs Local 389 workers voted to ratify their new collective agreement.
The workers fought against claw backs to their paid sick leave in exchange for a wage increase, stated an OPSEU press release Friday.
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“This employer tried to wait out LifeLabs workers and pit part-time and full-time staff against each other, but we showed them that if united, the workers will never be defeated,” said OPSEU/SEFPO president J.P. Hornick.
“They held the line until their needs were met. The employer may have deep pockets, but that’s no match for the collective power of organized workers.”
The majority of the workforce is female, including laboratory technicians and medical laboratory assistants who provide patient care and perform critical medical testing to ensure timely diagnosis.
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