BC Health Coalition backs striking LifeLabs workers in job action

Striking LifeLabs workers are taking to the streets in Victoria on Wednesday in front of the B.C. Legislature.

Starting at 10 a.m., workers are demanding that the province stop giving public health dollars to the now United States-owned company.

To help build momentum for Wednesday’s job action, the BC Health Coalition and the BC General Employees’ Union, the union that represents striking Lifelabs workers, issued an open letter urging Premier David Eby to cancel the contract with Quest Diagnostics.

Quest Diagnostics bought LifeLabs in 2024 for $1.35 billion.

The letter reminds Eby of a directive that his office issued just last week in which he promised to review all government bodies’ connections to U.S. firms amid the tariff dispute with the province’s southern neighbours.

Now in their eighth week of strike action, the 1,200 LifeLabs workers have been conducting rotating job action, leading to temporary closures of labs on various days.

All stakeholders — the LifeLabs workers, the patients who rely on their service, the union, and the BC Health Coalition — are demanding that the Legislature bring laboratory services into the public system. The open letter claims a public system would shorten wait times, save money, and improve working conditions and service delivery.

The job action features various speakers from the union as well as other supporters.