Some Winnipeggers frustrated with long wait times at Dynacare locations

Living with diabetes, Larry Krieger says booking a blood work appointment at Dynacare is a headache. Before that, it was a matter of a week. Then it went up to two weeks, and now we're at three weeks. Yeah, that's been like that for the last three appointments. He relies on Dynacare and gets his blood drawn frequently by the same worker. She's a really nice gal that works here, and she's been working here for quite a while, and she's worked too hard, and she's stressed out, and she was just telling me that they won't hire people they want to work overtime. Sharon Semenuk says people have the choice of booking an appointment weeks in advance or doing a walk-in and waiting several hours. The wait was like over a month to get in, so you might as well just come here and sit, but come early. I kind of just feel bad for the employees. It's crazy in there. It's very busy. I waited about two hours to get my blood drawn. Dynacare says it's aware of the delays and is facing staffing issues, particularly on the weekend. Dynacare workers, represented by the Manitoba Association of Healthcare Professionals, are in a contract dispute. About 350 lab technologists and technicians have been without a collective agreement since March. We haven't been to the table in quite some time. We're still waiting. In September, they went on a brief strike before the Manitoba Labor Board ordered them back to work. The board deemed the workers essential. Association Vice President Tanya Burnside says technicians can make more in public health, like hospitals. She thinks that's why the company doesn't have enough workers. People are going to the public system. Either they're transitioning out of Dynacare or they're just not going to Dynacare. I don't know how you can recruit when you have a competitor right across the street that'll pay you 50% more. In a statement to CBC News, Dynacare says despite the staffing pressures, it's working to restore normal wait times. Matt Humphrey, CBC News, Winnipeg.