VOLUME 11 No. 13 | JUNE 29, 2021

ORGANIZATION OF WORK AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES
Residences with continuous assistance (RAC): mission, realities and issues

RAC educators have expert knowledge that could truly work wonders in helping service users adjust or achieve rehabilitation. Unfortunately, their knowledge and skills remain undervalued and misunderstood. We invite you to discover the role played by these dedicated workers, and their daily experiences within a system that is too often disconnected from people’s actual needs.

Solutions do exist, and the APTS has consistently addressed decision-making bodies to demand that they be put into practice. The advisory committee on rehabilitation centres for clients with intellectual disabilities or autism spectrum disorders (CRDITSA) will be examining specific problems in these residences, and upcoming articles in BleuAPTS will report on the committee’s work.

LABOUR RELATIONS
Employees must be compensated when employers demand medical examinations

Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (LSST) and the collective agreement, any employee required by the employer to submit to an examination, treatment or immunization must be compensated for time and travel expenses. This was confirmed in a ruling handed down by arbitrator Andrée St-Georges for the town of Gatineau on June 11.

The APTS is pleased with the ruling, which fully aligns with the position it has been defending and which is particularly relevant in a pandemic situation. Over the next few months, the APTS will be defending several cases of this type before an arbitrator.

SOCIO-POLITICAL ACTION
Let's deconfine democracy!

The APTS has joined over 60 signatories of a statement from the Ligue des droits et libertés demanding the end of the state of emergency in Québec.

The APTS does not question the need to manage and contain the pandemic, and recognizes that some measures are appropriate. However, it argues that measures to fight the pandemic ought not to be conflated with a health emergency.

You too can join the campaign by sharing visuals on social media and by sending an email to Premier Legault. Materials to carry out these actions are available on the Ligue website (in French).

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The APTS has a beehive!

The APTS has joined forces with a vocational school, the CIMME (Centre intégré de mécanique, de métallurgie et d’électricité), to put a hive for honey bees on the school roof. Already, our little friends are hard at work looking for nectar and pollen! We’re involved in this project because we want to take a concrete step for the environment. Bees are responsible for pollinating approximately one third of what we eat.

Follow our bees at maruche.alveole.buzz/apts and learn more about bees’ importance for the planet from Alvéole, the organization providing maintenance for our urban beekeeping initiative.

FEMINIST ACTION
Debunking myths about abortion

It’s time to set the record straight. “Your choice is the right one” is a campaign to raise awareness about abortion as a right and to provide information on how you can exercise it. The campaign website makes it easy for people who need to terminate a pregnancy to find the resources they need. “Your choice is the right one” provides simple, clear and accurate facts, correcting wrong information and removing taboos about abortion. The campaign serves to counter the disinformation spread by anti-abortion pregnancy centres.