Email and Zoom visuals

Show your support for our provincial bargaining team as contract talks with the Québec government enter a crucial phase. We have two backgrounds for Zoom meetings and a signature for your emails on the theme “Ma négo, c’est vital!”. Download them on the negoapts.com website. They're COVID-compliant!

Gazoduq: No thanks!

Grass-roots and environmental organizations have been campaigning against GNL Québec for over two years. This latest megaproject in the oil and gas sector is a threat to both climate and whales. If it is carried out, it will generate more than 50 million tons of CO₂ a year for 25 years, causing more pollution than 10 million cars.

The Legault government will be making a decision by the end of January. We need to make it understand that social acceptability for this project is non-existent in Québec! Over 100,000 people have already signed the petition against GNL Québec. Add your name to help us increase this number and send a clear message!
 

PAY EQUITY
Pay Equity and Salary Relativity newsletter

A new edition of the Pay Equity and Salary Relativity  newsletter is online in the members-only section of the APTS website. The newsletter provides an update on the latest developments since the previous issue, published this time last year. An index allows you to locate articles relevant to your job title.

FEMINIST ACTION
Support women's demands

Over the past months, the pandemic has demonstrated once again the inequalities experienced by women and vulnerable groups. The Québec Co-ordinating Committee for the World March of Women (CQMMF) invites you to support demands related to poverty, violence against women, climate justice, Indigenous women, and migrant, immigrant and racialized women by participating in a campaign on the theme UNIES TOUTES ENSEMBLE, NOUS REVENDIQUONS! (United, we make our demands!) Support the struggle for a feminist world based on equality, freedom and justice by adding your name or the name of your APTS local executive (or both) to the CQMMF page. The APTS has already endorsed this campaign.

ORGANIZATION OF WORK AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES
Labs swing into action

APTS members employed in labs welcomed CAQ MNAs as they came into the National Assembly on December 10. The APTS members were there to denounce the unfair treatment meted out to them since the beginning of the health emergency. To represent Québec’s 103 labs, 103 scrawny and stunted fir trees, representing the Forest of the Unloved, were set up around the building. See our press release and the TVA news story.

Meanwhile, in several Québec regions, lab teams have been meeting the challenge to #ImposeTaPause (TakeYourBreak). This is the only legal way for them to protect their physical and mental health and keep on providing Quebecers with high quality services. All lab teams are invited to follow their example.

Refusal to grant COVID premiums

The CAQ and Minister Dubé are still refusing to acknowledge the contribution of APTS members to the fight against COVID-19, despite the fact that medical labs, medical imaging, medical electrophysiology and radiation oncology are core hospital activities. MNAs Joël Arseneau (PQ), Marie Montpetit (PLQ), Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois (QS), Guy Ouellette (independent) and Catherine Fournier (independent) were informed of this injustice by the APTS, and the Forest of the Unloved helped raise their awareness. On Thursday, they introduced a motion in the National Assembly supporting these workers – and it was rejected by the CAQ. This is unacceptable! We’re increasing the pressure, and specific actions will be deployed early in 2021.

LABOUR RELATIONS
Compensation for working on Christmas and New Year's Day

The health and social services system provides continuous service throughout the holiday season, which means that a number of you have to work on December 25 or January 1. To make up for this inconvenience, the collective agreement says that if you work on one of those days, you will be paid at the time-and-a-half rate and will benefit from compensatory leave. For instance, if your usual hourly rate is $30, you will be paid $45. Talk to your local team to find out about local terms and conditions.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
Information on the proposed legislative reform

Since Bill 59 was tabled, a number of organizations, including the APTS, have been analyzing the scope of its amendments to the Act respecting occupational health and safety (LSST) and the Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases (LATMP). This sweeping reform will have a major impact on programs to prevent employment injuries in Québec and provide reparations when they occur.

uttam (Union des travailleuses et travailleurs accidentés ou malades) has produced a number of thematic information bulletins (in French) describing the impact of the reform on prevention mechanisms, the eligibility of occupational diseases, rehabilitation measures prior to medical consolidation, and the powers of the Bureau d’évaluation médicale.

UNION LIFE
A gift for you

While the government still hasn’t recognized your true worth, the APTS knows there’s one thing you deserve for sure: an opportunity to relax and have fun. Join us at 7 p.m. on Thursday, December 17, for a smart comedy show with Adib Alkhalidey and his friends. After an excruciating year, ninety minutes of light-hearted fun will hardly be too much. We’ll send you an email with a link that will be active until 7 p.m. on Sunday.

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