NEGOTIATIONS
Contract talks: what are we asking for?

Looking for information on our demands related to retirement, pay increases, regional disparities, or any other issue raised by the APTS in province-wide contract talks? Our factsheets are now available for download on the Négo website.

SOCIO-POLITICAL ACTION
Your take on eldercare

The Health and Welfare Commissioner, Joanne Castonguay, would like to know what you think about the care provided to seniors during the first wave of COVID-19. As healthcare workers, you have been on the front line of this crisis and can provide invaluable input as the time comes to take stock of what happened. The APTS believes that we need an in-depth assessment of the crisis and encourages you to speak out in answer the Commissioner’s call. The survey is available to be completed online and is completely confidential.

The APTS has also submitted an opinion to the Québec Ombudsperson as part of her investigation into the management of the COVID-19 crisis in CHSLDs. Discover our eight recommendations (in French).

International labour solidarity

The APTS is a member of the executive committee of CISO (Centre international de solidarité ouvrière). Some of CISO’s key actions, carried out with little fanfare, were presented at the organization’s general meeting on October 5:

• an analysis of Québec’s major food distributors, developed to help prevent and act against forced labour throughout their supply chains
   
• a letter-writing campaign in solidarity with education trade unions in Haiti, to denounce punitive and repressive measures taken against union leaders
   
• a series of union training programs abroad

LABOUR RELATIONS
Employer is rebuked for not providing accommodation

Thanks to a challenge brilliantly orchestrated by the APTS, an employer was forced to reinstate an employee who had been dismissed, and to pay her the full amount of her wages for the previous two years. As a consequence of incidents in her personal life, the employee had experienced after-effects that generated functional limitations. Despite the APTS’s repeated requests for an assessment of all the positions included in her job title, the employer refused to engage in a genuine process of accommodation, choosing instead to end the employment relationship. The arbitrator noted that the employer’s lack of flexibility was at odds with the position taken by the Supreme Court: that the skills, abilities and potential contribution of a disabled person who is able to work must be respected insofar as possible, failing which there is discrimination.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
Protecting our psychological health

The APTS is launching its yearly prevention campaign with the slogan Protecting our psychological health – it’s our right. In today’s context, employers are expected not only to enhance the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), but also to adopt preventive measures to limit psychosocial risks at work.

A brochure will be available on the APTS website as of Wednesday, October 21, to explain your employer’s obligations in terms of psychological health and suggest measures to be implemented.

CNESST or disability insurance?

Against the backdrop of COVID-19, the APTS notes the increasing frequency of health problems – whether physical or psychological – among its members. Unfortunately, many people do not think of filing a claim with the CNESST (Québec’s Labour Standards, Pay Equity, Occupational Health and Safety Commission), even when their health problem is directly related to their work. To learn how to file this kind of claim, read advice from one of our experts in BlueAPTS.