PLAN SANTÉ
Bill 15: unions lay the basis for dialogue

Parliamentary consultations will soon begin for Bill 15, the cornerstone of Minister Dubé’s plan to reform the health and social service system. At this point, all the unions involved in the system are asking the government to protect its public character, avoiding the temptation to increase the private sector’s access to health care as a market. Bill 15 is disturbing from this point of view.

“The private sector is taking up funding and human resources that should be made available to the public system, yet it offers only services that are profitable, and takes every opportunity to increase prices as required by its profit-making imperative,” said union leaders in a statement of principles sent to Minister Dubé. “There is no room for commoditized health care, nor do we have the resources to pay for private-sector profits.”

The inter-union coalition also launched a petition on the National Assembly website to defend the public character of our health and social service system. We urge you to sign it and share it with people around you.

I’m signing

For more information, see the joint press release.

PROVINCIAL CONTRACT TALKS
Sectoral matters: to get better working conditions, it's time to step up the pace at the bargaining table

A major course change is needed to bring about significant improvements in your working conditions and conditions of practice. However, the government's most recent offers don’t rise to the challenges our members face in the field. Unions share many of the government's stated aims in these contract talks, especially that of improving access to health care and social services. But it isn’t enough for the government to say that it wants the public system to once more become an employer of choice: it has to propose more fundamental changes if it truly intends to address the critical staffing shortage in the public health and social service system.

Unions also stress that the work is progressing far too slowly and they want to pick up the pace at the bargaining table. At this moment, all bargaining committees are ready to press forward with contract talks.

For more information, see our press release.

PAY EQUITY AND SALARY RELATIVITY
CNESST is sending notices of decisions

Members who have maintained their individual complaints under the 2010 pay equity audit are currently receiving notices of decisions that will be handed down by the CNESST (the Québec Commission on standards, equity, and occupational health and safety) as a result of the Commission’s investigation of their complaints. If this is your situation, see our website for information about what you need to do at this stage of the investigation.

Five new job titles in the List of job titles

The List of job titles, job descriptions and salary rates and scales in the health and social services system now includes five new job titles for candidates for professions belonging to OTIMROEPMQ, the Québec professional order for medical imaging, radio-oncology and medical electrophysiology technologists. Candidates are people who have completed their studies and are now waiting to take an exam in order to receive a permit from their professional order.

Appendix 9 of the national provisions relating to “tandem” jobs will be updated, and the adjustment percentage for the five new job titles will be 91% of the salary scale for reference job titles.

BlueAPTS
Can we afford a strong health and social service system?

When it comes to investing in public services, the political class is quick to dish up the same old phony pragmatism: there’s no money in the coffers (apart from the occasional band-aid measure) and money doesn’t grow on trees. In the first article in our series “Can we afford a strong health and social service system?”, we assess the first of these claims by looking at Québec’s current financial situation as outlined in the 2023-2024 budget. In the second article, we consider the second claim, and we identify revenue sources that would enable the Québec government to increase its leeway by no less than $14 billion – enough to put the health and social service system back on its feet, and do much more.

Have you read the previous articles in our series A strong union for a strong public system? If not, you can find them on BlueAPTS.

SOCIAL SECURITY
WEBINAR: Making sense of the RREGOP and other pension benefits (in English)

Whether you’re at the beginning of your career or just about to retire, this webinar will give you the tools you need to optimize your participation in your pension plan.

The webinar will take place on May 9 at 5:30 p.m. (in English).

I’ll be there

* Sessions last about two hours.

** Union leave time cannot be granted for this type of meeting.

A session in French will also be scheduled in May and will be announced in the Fil@pts.

If you have a question, write to us at retraite.assurance@aptsq.com.

ORGANIZATION OF WORK AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES
The bill on health and social services information is now law

Bill 3, the Act respecting health and social services information and amending various legislative provisions, recently became law. The APTS had worked with medical archivists for several months in order to submit a brief, to which the Commission referred several times when the bill was reviewed clause by clause. Two APTS recommendations, one of which dealt with access to information by employees who are not members of a professional order, led to amendments to the bill. However, several other recommendations were ignored, and the APTS remains with a number of concerns including the issue of professional secrecy.

Solidarity with speech-language pathology students!

At a time when our health and education systems are experiencing a severe shortage of speech-language pathologists, people working towards a master’s degree in speech-language pathology are currently not eligible for a Perspective Québec scholarship. Since October 2022, students have been trying to reach the minister for higher education to explain their demands, but she has remained completely silent despite several reminders. The speech-language pathology students have now taken the initiative of publishing a petition on the National Assembly website to add their master’s degree to the list of programs eligible for support. We warmly recommend that you sign the petition!

SOCIO-POLITICAL ACTION
Taking action on Earth Day

Various actions will take place throughout Québec for Earth Day on Saturday, April 22. The APTS invites you to participate in Sherbrooke, Montréal, Joliette, Québec City, Chicoutimi, Rouyn-Noranda, Rimouski and Trois-Rivières. Participants will be demanding an acceleration of the struggle against climate change, massive reinvestment in social programs and public services, and an inclusive and fair transition. See this Facebook page for more details.