Coronavirus lab workers to end strike after Treasury agrees on pay raise, union says

Technicians at publicly funded coronavirus testing labs have agreed to end their strike after a week following talks with the Finance Ministry.

Around 2,000 laboratory workers at some 400 labs started an open-ended strike last Sunday morning amid a pay dispute with the Treasury.

The lab workers union says the sides have come to understandings, and that the deal will be finalized soon, and workers will get a pay raise.

Coronavirus testing continued amid the labor action, but only those who tested positive were being reported so that epidemiological surveys could be carried out.

Lab technicians have said they are paid a fraction of what workers doing the same job at private clinics get, creating an unfair disparity that also makes it hard to attract or keep workers, leading to them being overworked.