VOLUME 15 No. 2 | FEBRUARY 3, 2025

Fed up waiting for premiums!

APTS members are fed up waiting for their premiums to be paid. It’s been four months and no movement, thanks to Santé Québec! APTS delegates, who met at the General Council in Drummondville on January 23rd, made that fact known with a highly visible demonstration over Autoroute 20, banner in hands. Here’s the video.

Christian Dubé is playing word games

Last Thursday, Christian Dubé said it was never his intent to cut $1.5 billion on March 31, 2025, but rather to return to an “acceptable level of spending.” For the APTS president, this seeming about-face falls seriously short of the mark.

Robert Comeau isn’t that easily duped and called for the government to “completely withdraw its demands for budget cuts [and guarantee] stable, predictable financing to meet the needs of Quebecers. It must stop imposing financial decisions that harm service users and employees and that threaten essential care and services.”

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Photo : La Presse

Prescription drug insurance: a major change

As of February 1, drugs prescribed for weight loss are no longer covered by group insurance. These include Wegovy, Contrav and Saxenda.

Anyone who currently has an authorization for reimbursement for one of these drugs is entitled to a three-month grace period. The insurer will send a confirmation about this soon.

Ozempic isn’t affected by this change, since it has been approved by Health Canada for treating diabetes, for which it’s still covered.

The APTS in consultations about the future home care policy

On February 11, the APTS will take part in consultations about the future provincial policy on home care. It will use the forum to denounce the disastrous effects of recent cuts, both for services to system users and for your conditions of work and practice.

The list is long: oppressive administrative strangleholds (delays, procedures, etc.), work overload, unacceptable disregard for the clinical judgement of our members, the dehumanization of care, not to mention the incursion of the private sector and its harmful effects on care for system users.

The APTS’s brief will be made public the same day it is presented.

Carmant and Hill meet with APTS via Teams

Last week, the minister responsible for social services, Lionel Carmant, and the provincial director of youth protection, Lesley Hill, took part in discussions with members of the APTS’s Youth Centres Consultation Committee.

The discussion focused on budget cuts, the challenges facing youth services, the organization of work and recognizing the vital role of youth workers.

Both offered assurances that they are allies and will do whatever they can to solve problems in the application of premiums to be paid to APTS members. It’s a commitment we’ll be keeping a close eye on.

Mobilizing: the key to success

Have you met with your manager to talk about your work overload, to no avail? It’s time to take the next step: mobilizing!

Solidarity between colleagues is the key for re-establishing the balance of power with your employer when workload becomes problematic on your team.

As a group, there are ways to take action with the support of your local union team. Find out what they are in the APTS’s 7th factsheet published as part of its information campaign on workload.

Consult the factsheet

 

Lunch conference: racism in health and social services

To mark Black History Month, the APTS invites you to an online conference (in French) on February 27 (from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.) with Alexandra Pierre, feminist and anti-racism activist, who will talk about racism in the health and social services system.

Invited to speak by the APTS’s provincial committee on cultural diversity, Ms. Pierre is the first Black woman to chair the Ligue des droits et libertés. She is also the author of the book Empreinte de résistance: filiations et récits de femmes autochtones, noires et racisées.

Don’t wait! Reserve your spot today.

Reserve
 

EPP: witnesses wanted

Have you witnessed directives that will promote the expansion of professional practices (EPP)? Has your employer approached you about this issue?

Have you noticed practices on the ground that resemble expanding professional practices and that seem to be on their way to being officially implemented?

If so, please send us your observations through our website by clicking the button below.

I'm a witness
 

A call... from the APTS?

Did you miss a call from the APTS? No need to panic. It was really us! Operators have started a phone campaign to hear what you have to say about mobilization. You may be contacted (or recontacted if we missed you) in the coming year. We look forward to speaking with you! 

Your predictions for 2025

According to our last quiz, the $1.5 billion in cuts to health and social services will set the tone for union news in 2025. Here are your predictions in order (rounded to the nearest percentage):

  1. $1.5 billion in cuts (70%)
  2. announcements in the next budget for health and social services (10%)
  3. work on the new structure for the APTS (8%)
  4. the new public sector negotiation process (7%)
  5. the fight for unpaid premiums (6%)

Budget cuts won hands down. But option 4 could seriously muddy the waters… Stay tuned.

Take our quiz

To counteract Meta’s decision to block the publication on Facebook of news originating with Canadian media, the APTS is now providing a summary of its media interventions
(in French) on its website at aptsq.com/media2025. You can go to this page to directly access articles and interviews related to your union.