COVID-19 | Conference call with Minister McCann

May 08, 2020

The president of the APTS, Andrée Poirier, will be in a conference call today with the minister of health and social services, Danielle McCann, to denounce the exclusion of professional and technical employees from the bonuses announced by the Legault government yesterday. 

The union president also stressed that the ministry’s plan to substantially reduce the vacation time of already exhausted personnel could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

"Since the beginning of this crisis, our 56,000 members have felt left out of the measures to recognize the essential work of health and social services personnel. Yet they are present at every stage of the care continuum for patients with COVID-19, from answering their 8-1-1 calls to filing their medical records when they leave hospital. Sidelining this personnel the way the Legault government has done from the beginning is not only insulting, it also creates dissension within the teams, which has no place in this time of pandemic," declared Andrée Poirier.

Our 56,000 members are indispensable in this crisis, whether it be guiding members of the public who call the emergency health line, taking samples in test centres and analysing them in laboratories, conducting epidemiological investigations, administering medical imaging tests and electrocardiograms, monitoring the nutritional intake of hospitalized patients, ensuring physical rehabilitation after a stint in intensive care, ensuring proper upkeep of respirators and other machines, or maintaining services in CLSCs, in home care, in youth centres and other rehabilitation centres for clientele with intellectual disabilities/autism spectrum disorder, addiction issues, physical rehabilitation needs. The impact of any gap in the services they provide would be catastrophic.

"From the outset, our members have felt abandoned by the minister and the Legault government, and have not received any expression of gratitude or recognition. Now they’re at the end of their rope. Reducing their vacations will be the final straw. They are thinking of quitting to protect their mental health. And without these APTS members, there will be no more mental health services for the population, no more screening tests, no more epidemiological investigations, no more respirators that work properly, and so on. If the government sticks to this course of action that divides people rather than uniting them, it will only aggravate the crisis wracking Quebec," concluded the union president.

Andrée Poirier will be available to answer journalists' questions after the conference call with the health and social services minister.

The APTS

The APTS (Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux) represents 56,000 members whose role is indispensable in ensuring that health and social services institutions run smoothly. Our members offer a myriad of services to the population in all regions of Québec, including diagnostic services, rehabilitation, nutrition, psychosocial intervention, clinical support and prevention services.