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Trois-Rivières – As bargaining talks continue for the renewal of public-sector collective agreements, Robert Comeau, president of the APTS (Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux), was reelected for the 2023-2025 term by close to 800 delegates. Robert Comeau has been serving the APTS as president for over two years with great dedication.

“I want to say how grateful I am to APTS delegates for placing their trust in me,” said Comeau. “It’s an immense honour and privilege to advocate on behalf of professionals and technicians in health and social services. We’ll be fighting together over the next two years to achieve better working conditions, but also to preserve the accessibility and the universal and public nature of our public services as they go through a period of great upheaval.”

The APTS president is a medical imaging technologist who started working for the Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Trois-Rivières in 1992. In 2004, he was elected as a political liaison officer within the newly created APTS. After joining the provincial executive committee in 2010, he took on various responsibilities including provincial contract talks, training, and union organizing, and was elected president in 2021. His experience has given him a wide-ranging perspective on issues in the health and social services system and the labour movement, while keeping him in touch with realities experienced by members working in public institutions.

Robert Comeau will be supported by a dynamic and diverse team reflecting the missions and occupations that make up the APTS. The new provincial executive committee will work to achieve better working conditions in the health and social services system and to draw attention to the challenges faced by professionals and technicians on the ground.

APTS executive committee 2023-2025

Robert Comeau, president

Josée Fréchette, 1st vice-president

Émilie Charbonneau, 2nd vice-president

Sandra Etienne, 3rd vice-president

Joël Bélanger, 4th vice-president

Pascale Leclair-Gingras, 5th vice-president

Caroline Marquis, secretary

Sébastien Pitre, treasurer

Priorities for the 2023-2025 term

On the eve of its 20th anniversary, the APTS intends to fully assume its role as a key agent of social change. To do so, it will follow the principles of the political platform voted at the 2021 Convention: taking care of ourselves, taking care of our community, taking care of the environment and mobilizing to prevent its degradation.

Contract talks for the renewal of public-sector collective agreements will be an immediate priority for the new executive committee. The 2023 Convention took place at a feverish moment, with 420,000 Front commun members having carried out a first day of strike action on November 6 and three other strike days to take place on November 21, 22, and 23 unless an agreement is reached before then. APTS members are determined to obtain conditions reflecting the value of the services they provide for Quebecers, and will act in solidarity alongside their partners from the CSN, CSQ and FTQ.

Minister Christian Dubé’s reform of the health and social services system will also be a major issue on which the APTS will focus its work and representations over the next years. While claiming to make the system more “efficient,” the government is centralizing its management in the hands of a single employer and is opening the door to an even greater privatization of services. The APTS will continue to fight for an accessible, high-quality, and entirely public system until Bill 15 is adopted and subsequently as the Santé Québec agency is set up.

Another major task for the APTS as the main labour organization representing professionals and technicians in the public system is to ensure that the more than 108 job titles it represents are rightly understood and valued. These occupations, too often overlooked, are a key component of services provided to Quebecers, and the APTS team will work to ensure that both Quebecers and government decision-makers are aware of them and recognize their importance.

The APTS

The APTS (Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux) represents more than 65,000 members who play a key role in ensuring that health and social services institutions run smoothly. Our members provide a wide range of services for all Quebecers, including diagnostic, rehabilitation, nutrition, psychosocial intervention, clinical support, and prevention services.