Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew strongly criticized Dynacare after the company ordered striking medical workers back to their jobs following government intervention. The strike involved 350 lab technicians and technologists who walked off the job for a day, halting thousands of medical tests across 22 locations in Manitoba. Kinew blamed Dynacare for causing disruption and called on them to negotiate better wages with the union, suggesting possible de-privatization of lab testing services. The union argued that workers earn significantly less than their public-sector counterparts and rejected Dynacare’s proposal for arbitration as a resolution method.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-15,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew criticized Dynacare, calling it "sucks" multiple times on Wednesday. This came after 350 Dynacare lab technicians and technologists in the province went on a one-day strike, shutting down 22 Dynacare lab locations and halting thousands of medical tests across the province, including blood work, urinalysis, and prenatal checks. The NDP government, led by Kinew, intervened successfully at the Manitoba Labour Board to declare Dynacare’s work as vital to the health system, forcing workers back on Wednesday. In response, the premier urged Dynacare to return to bargaining with employees and provide better wages. This incident highlights growing tensions over private healthcare operations in Manitoba and raises questions about potential government action to de-privatize lab testing services.
Written for “Dynacare Strike Controversy” on 2026-09-17,
grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.45, but all 3 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 10572: attributed speech only · logged 2026-09-15
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, a day after his government intervened to end a medical workers strike, called out their employer and suggested he may de-privatize lab testing.
uncertain
he → intervene → testing
“Dynacare sucks.
asserted
Dynacare → suck → ?
Dynacare sucks,” Kinew repeated numerous times Wednesday when asked by reporters about the one-day walkout by 350 Dynacare lab technicians and technologists.
asserted
Kinew → suck → technicians
“The workers are frustrated.
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workers → frustrate → ?
Absolutely they’re frustrated (and) rightfully so,” the premier added.
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premier → ’re → ?
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, a day after his NDP government intervened to end a strike by medical workers, questioned their employer and suggested he may de-privatize lab testing.
uncertain
he → intervene → testing
The workers walked off the job Tuesday morning, shuttering 22 Dynacare lab locations across the province and stopping the collection of thousands of tests, including blood work, urinalysis and prenatal checks.
asserted
workers → walk → work
Hours later, Kinew’s government successfully argued to the Manitoba Labour Board that Dynacare work is vital to the health system.
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work → argue → system
By day’s end, the board ordered the workers back.
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board → order → workers
The union, the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, complied and the employees were back on the job Wednesday morning.
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employees → comply → job
The union and Dynacare didn’t have an essential workers agreement in place in case of a strike.
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union → have → strike
Kinew lambasted Dynacare for “making a mess of the situation” and said his government had no choice but to intervene, because it has a higher responsibility to keep the health system running.
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it → lambast → system
“Nobody should be using the results of a cancer test as leverage in a negotiation.
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Nobody → use → negotiation
Nobody,” the premier said.
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premier → say → ?
The strike centred around wages.
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strike → centre → wages
The union said its workers earn as much as 20 to 50 per cent less than counterparts in the public system.
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workers → say → system
Dynacare said in a statement that it shares Kinew’s commitment to maintaining reliable lab services and that’s why it’s pushing for a “sustainable” collective agreement.
“We acknowledge that this has been a difficult situation for patients and for the province, and we share the premier’s desire for a resolution,” the company said.
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company → say → resolution
It said it has offered a substantial pay increase and has proposed arbitration as the fastest path to a fair resolution.
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it → say → resolution
Union president Jason Linklater said workers are determined to close the wage gap and aren’t prepared to risk that in arbitration.
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workers → say → arbitration
He said the premier has the power to fix the problem, including by adding a wage agreement to the existing contract, and making more of the contract public.
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more → say → contract
Linklater said he wants to know why Kinew renewed the contract last year without better wage supports for workers and has now cut off the union’s ability to strike.
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Kinew → say → ability
“Government intervened; they totally took away the single piece of leverage,” he said.
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he → intervene → leverage
“There’s a whole bunch of anger right now, and people who feel betrayed.
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who → ’ → anger
But I have to remain hopeful that there’s still a solution.”
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I → have → ?
He pushed back on the province’s perspective that critical testing would be lost, noting that Shared Health had said essential services would be maintained through government labs.
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services → push → labs
Kinew said fault also lies with the former Progressive Conservative government for contracting out all non-hospital testing to Dynacare – a private operator.
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fault → say → Dynacare
He said his NDP government is considering de-privatizing the testing but acknowledged it’s a tall, very expensive decision.
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it → say → testing
“The PCs privatized this system,” Kinew said.
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Kinew → privatize → system
“Once you privatize something and it goes to the private sector, it becomes extraordinarily costly to bring it back into public hands.”
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it → privatize → hands
Asked for a response to Kinew, Progressive Conservative labour critic Josh Guenter, in a statement, said, “Under the NDP, we have seen wait times continue to go up across all sectors of our health-care system.
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times → ask → system
Guenter added, “We saw, once again, this premier – who ran on fixing health care – choosing conflict over care.”
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who → add → care
The Aporia
