PROVINCIAL CONTRACT TALKS
Collective agreement: a signature is expected very soon

Good news – over the weekend, your bargaining team was able to resolve the last remaining difficulties in the texts drafted by the employer party.

A final verification is now required to make sure all the articles are formulated as they should be. Your collective agreement should be signed within a few days.

Pay increases, and improved conditions of work and practice, will then quickly come into effect. Stay tuned for announcements on our social media!

ORGANIZATION OF WORK AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES
"An SOS from remote regions"

That’s the title of an APTS open letter to Minister Dubé that was recently published in La Presse, at a time when new rules on the use of outside workers in health and social services are pushing the Côte-Nord to the brink and threatening other Québec regions with the same fate.

Ending dependency on private agencies requires “a clear plan” to counteract the exodus from Québec’s regions, and this plan must include “substantial measures” to “bring workers to the region and make sure they stay,” said Robert Comeau, accompanied by APTS provincial representatives from Côte-Nord (Kevin Newbury), Abitibi-Témiscamingue (Carl Verreault) and Gaspésie (Jenny Tardif).

For more information (in French)

A joint statement focusing on solutions for labs

On May 21, the APTS published the Joint Statement on the Future of Medical Labs, signed by over twenty major partners involved in this crucial public service.

On the basis of this broad consensus, the APTS is asking the government to take the Joint Statement into account and follow up on the proposals and overall approach that it sets out.

Specifically, the APTS is asking the health and social services ministry to fully consider these proposed solutions in view of the upcoming meeting on June 17, at which the Ministry will finally report on the consultations it carried out itself last year with partners of the health and social services system, including some who have now signed the Joint Statement.

For more information

SOCIO-POLITICAL ACTION
Dubé reform: raising the alarm

Many activities will be taking place across Québec over the next few days as part of a province-wide week of regional actions against the Dubé reform. This is an initiative of the Coalition Solidarité Santé, of which the APTS is a member.

Press conferences, rallies, distribution of tracts, banners, etc., will be used to systematically denounce the role of the private sector in health care. One goal, among others, is to help raise Quebecers’ awareness of the threats now looming over access to care and services.

A tract produced by the APTS (in French) will be widely distributed. Join the movement on the ground, or express your opposition to the Dubé reform on social media using the hashtag #anythingbuthealth.

For more information (in French)

Universal public insurance plan for precription drugs: we're almost there!

The APTS was one of nine civil society organizations filing a brief together in Ottawa on May 23 (in French). The coalition is demanding a genuinely universal and public prescription drug insurance regime at a time when Bill C-64 is being reviewed by a parliamentary committee.

According to the coalition, we’ve never been closer to getting a genuine public pharmacare regime. The coalition is fiercely critical of Québec’s hybrid public/private regime – a two-tier system that is “non-viable and discriminatory,” and that would be improved if it were complemented by Bill C-64.

For more information (in French)

Social work: gathering signatures

The recent summit on shaping the future of social work (Façonner le travail social de demain) led to a declaration of commitment (in French) that social workers and social work partners are now invited to endorse. The APTS was closely involved with the event and supports the declaration.

The declaration offers major insights into our society and embodies a number of collective commitments. The APTS encourages all social workers and social work technicians to sign it, as well as any APTS members employed in the psychosocial field who would like to support it as social work actors.

Sign the declaration

For the world to go on, dialogue is necessary

That’s the message that some forty civil society organizations, including the APTS, brought to the National Assembly on May 22. Their demand: that the government plan a genuine collective strategy for an energy, ecological and social transition that would benefit the people of Québec.

This broad coalition, united behind the slogan “Movement for the world to continue” (Mouvement pour la suite du monde), is also launching a call to action that will culminate throughout Québec on September 27, as people come together to demand concrete actions for an authentic social and environmental transition.

For more information (in French)

FEMINIST ACTION
Pro-choice demonstration in Québec City on June 1

Come and demonstrate against a major anti-choice rally organized in Québec City on June 1 by an organization that seems to come from the dystopian future portrayed in The Handmaid’s Tale.

The counter-demonstration, organized by Québec’s family planning federation (FQPN), is intended to showcase the wide consensus that exists in Québec in favour of women’s freedom to choose whether or not they will carry a pregnancy to term, at a time when reproductive rights are under threat throughout the world.

The APTS will be part of the demonstration, and will charter buses leaving from Longueuil to take you there.

Reserve your seat

PAY EQUITY AND JOB EVALUATION
The government's shabby maneuvers

It’s hard to find anyone more stubborn than the Québec government in its approach to pay equity. Bad faith, avoidance, postponement, lack of genuine commitment to doing anything – they’re constantly throwing a spanner in the works. Every victory requires fierce combativity.

This is what becomes obvious when you read the latest issue of the newsletter published by our pay equity and job evaluation sector. It will give you the most recent news about this complex issue – and tell you, too, about the APTS’s unflinching determination to achieve gains for members who have been unfairly treated.

UNION ORGANIZING
They chose the APTS

The APTS family is happy to welcome occupational therapists and physiotherapy technologists from the Shriners Hospital for Children, located in Montréal.

Their request for certification was recently accepted by the administrative labour tribunal (TAT). Their spontaneous interest in the APTS, and their vote of confidence in us, bring credit to our union as a whole. Welcome to the APTS!