President's Letter
Dear Members,
I am pleased to inform you that last week, after being without a contract since 2018, our colleagues in laboratory medicine voted yes to a new agreement with Alberta Precision Laboratories, effective April 1, 2022. This agreement has been a long time coming and represents the hard work and dedication of both negotiating teams. Voting on the proposed agreement opened on January 10 and closed on January 31, with 71.1% of eligible voters casting a ballot. Of those voting, 80.8% voted “yes” and 19.2% voted “no”.
We all know that without laboratory services, our system would grind to a halt, so I want to thank our lab colleagues who have continued to work so hard behind the scenes – even in times of massive instability – to keep our system functioning. Although it took almost two years for the negotiating teams to achieve an agreement, the AMA did not give up. We were there for our lab medicine colleagues every step of the way. We insisted on a fair and due process following the dissolution of DynaLife and subsequent integration with APL.
As with all negotiations, we didn’t get everything we wanted, but there are some very good provisions that will finally bring some much-needed stability to the lab services environment. This agreement will help address some of the immediate and longer-term challenges in lab medicine, including workforce retention and recruitment. Ultimately, we hope that through this new arrangement we will continue to see improvements in the provision of laboratory services for all Albertans.
Regards,
Paul Parks
President, Alberta Medical Association