HEALTH CARE REFORM (PLAN SANTÉ)
Dubé reform: health care unions sharply critical of a bill that will increase centralization and pander to the private sector

On June 8, as the parliamentary session drew to a close, all of the unions involved in health and social services gathered in front of the National Assembly to send the message to the Quebec government that in its current form, Bill 15 – the key vector of the Dubé reform – is not the reform that Québec needs. Described by political analysts as "the biggest centralization operation in [Quebec's] health care history" and a veritable Trojan horse for the private sector, the reform signals a worrisome acceleration in the loss of democratic power held by citizens and employees within the public health and social services system.

“The private sector is taking up funding and human resources that should be made available to the public system,” said the spokespersons for the inter-union coalition. “This bill should not promote commoditized health care, or allocate resources to fund and enrich the private sector. [The bill] is going to fail unless working conditions on the ground are substantially improved. If the health minister wants to work with us this summer to improve his bill, we’re available.”

For more information, see the joint press release as well as the brief (in French) submitted by the APTS to the Commission de la santé et des services sociaux during the consultations.

PROVINCIAL CONTRACT TALKS
Bad-faith bargaining and interference: APTS takes the government to court

The APTS has announced legal action against the Legault government to defend workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively. The union asserts that the management side is bargaining in bad faith and has interfered in union activities by unilaterally imposing a bonus that applies only to certain youth protection workers − right in the middle of contract talks − to cover the cost of belonging to a professional order. The government is essentially restricting its offer to the youth protection assessment and referral sector, while all areas of health and social services are facing difficulties attracting and retaining workers.

“After we refused this inequitable offer, the health and social services ministry (MSSS) short-circuited employees’ right to negotiate their working conditions. We are taking legal action to protect the right to organize and freely engage in fair and equitable collective bargaining,” declared Robert Comeau, president of the APTS.

For more information, see our press release.

ORGANIZATION OF WORK AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES
Shortage of mental health workers

The government has announced that it will offer a $25,000 scholarship to psychology students who commit to working specifically in the public health and social services system for two years at the end of their studies. Given the labour shortage facing the health and social services system, the APTS welcomes this first step. However, our organization expects the government to do much more to improve the attraction and retention of all mental health workers, if it is to have a positive influence on services offered by the public sector. We are continuing to analyze the government's work plan and report on training for mental health professionals (both in French).

SOCIO-POLITICAL ACTION
Fact or fiction: does raising wages contribute to inflation?

A research paper (in French) published by IRIS, the Institut de recherche et d'informations socioéconomiques, shows that wage increases have no significant impact on inflation. The paper describes how inflation over the past two years can be largely attributed to significant increases in corporate profits and how wages for all Québec workers rose by an average of almost 6% in 2022 to keep up with inflation. Further proof that the Front commun's demands for wage catch-up and protection against inflation are justified!

RESEARCH | Attitudes towards the adoption of a child by LGBTQ+ people

Two social work researchers at the Université du Québec en Outaouais are looking for youth protection workers to participate in a collaborative research project with the LGBT+ Family Coalition. Their objective is to document the attitudes of psychosocial and legal professionals towards child adoption by people from the sexual diversity and gender plurality communities. To contribute to knowledge building in this field, the APTS warmly invites you to respond to their anonymous survey (in French) by June 30, 2023.

For more information, visit the Canada Research Chair in Third-Party Reproduction and Family Tie’s webpage describing the research project.

LABOUR RELATIONS
Postponing your vacation

Summer is finally just around the corner. Every year, some people are unable to enjoy their summer vacation as planned because of illness, accident, or professional or other injury. If you’re in that situation, Article 11 of your local provisions generally sets out the terms for postponing your vacation to a later date. Often, this clause will say that you must tell your employer you need to postpone your vacation before its scheduled starting date. Be sure to take a look at this clause if you want to keep your vacation time when you go back to work. We advise you to check the terms for postponing your vacation if that’s what you intend to do, so that you’ll preserve your vacation time when you return to work. If you have any questions, contact your local team.

A biomedical engineer obtains recognition for qualifications acquired
in his country of origin

When the CISSS de la Montérégie-Ouest refused to give a biomedical engineer a salary echelon reflecting the experience he had acquired in Romania, the APTS filed a grievance on March 2, 2020, on his behalf, demanding recognition of all of his years of experience in his country of origin. The arbitrator Richard Bertrand acceded to this request, in accordance with article 35 of the APTS collective agreement. Through this case, the APTS was able to demonstrate that the lack of a professional order to supervise the engineering profession in Romania did not invalidate the qualifications acquired by the plaintiff through years of practice in his country of origin.

To learn more, see the article in our news section describing this successful case.

COMMUNICATIONS
Seeking photos!

We’re looking for photos of our members who are working under any of the following job titles:

• Braille technician
• Criminologist
• Dispensing optician
• Ethics advisor
• Medical electrophysiology technologist
• Medical imaging technologist
• Medical records archivist
• Radiation oncology technologist
• Social aide
• Specialized independent sonographer
• or any other job title.

Selected photos will be published in a visual montage for the week or day celebrating your profession, on the APTS website and social media. If you’re interested, send one or two passport-type photos clearly showing your face, or a photo of yourself at work, to info@aptsq.com. Be sure to indicate your job title and your workplace (CISSS-CIUSSS).

We won’t be able to publish all the photos we receive, but we’ll keep them on file for future use.

Thanks in advance, and feel free to share our request with your colleagues.