LifeLabs workers, and some patients and community members, went on strike in Prince George today

By Tommy Osborne

LifeLabs Strike

“That’s just inhuman:” LifeLabs workers protest in Prince George

Apr 3, 2025 | 5:47 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – As part of a series of rotating strikes across the province, LifeLabs workers in Prince George went on strike today demanding better wages from American employer Quest Diagnostics.

“We’ve been at the bargaining table for more than a year and without a contract for more than a year and bargaining stalled. The two sides are very far apart, and the company’s not willing to come back with a better offer. We’ve been through several rounds of mediation and essential service negotiations, and here we are,” said Mandy De Fields, the Bargaining Committee Chairperson and a LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Technologist.

According to De Fields, the root of the issue is wages. She says Lifelabs workers are paid notably less than public sector employees who do the same work. For example, laboratory assistants earn $4 an hour less compared to public employees, and her job of medical laboratory technologist is 12.5% behind in wages compared to public.

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“With so much lower starting wage, we can’t get new employees. And then with the working conditions the way they are, the seasoned experienced workers leave for better paying jobs. So that sets up a situation where workload then becomes the next biggest issue that we need to solve,” De Fields said.

“There is an exorbitant amount of forced overtime on the daily all over the province, work that people don’t want to be doing, to keep up with the rather arbitrary productivity standards that the employer has set,” she continued.

While wages are the primary concern, and De Fields and the other striking employees hope to see what they call fair pay, the fact it leads into extra overtime work due to staffing challenges has been a huge concern.

“We have workers that skip meal breaks and delay, or miss, going to the washroom even. That’s just inhuman, it really is, not to mention dangerous. And with these sort of overwork conditions, we’re rapidly becoming patients ourselves,” she said.

Negotiations for better wages begun prior to Quest Diagnostics purchasing LifeLabs, as negotiations started in April 2024 and the sale was finalized in August 2024, but De Fields says since Quest Diagnostics bought LifeLabs the discussions have gotten worse.

“The reality is they want to make profit for their shareholders, rather than pay Canadian workers and workers here in British Columbia, right here in Prince George. They should be paid a respectable wage and allow them a decent level of affordability in this economy,” De Fields said.

“Do you really want people doing your vital medical work that are overworked, overtired, hanging by a thread? That’s where we’re at,” she continued.

It wasn’t just LifeLabs workers and the BC General Employees Union at the protest today, as several community members and patients also came to show their support.

“I wanted to come because I’m very disappointed that an American company was allowed to buy into our health care system. It should be Canadian, British Columbian,” said David Halikowski, a LifeLabs patient.

While LifeLabs remains open, De Fields says if you want to show your support it would be better to go to a separate location. She adds from what she’s heard from people both online and in-person, patients that have gone to other places have experienced better and quicker care.

CKPG News reached out to Quest Diagnostics for comment, but did not hear back.

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