News
The APTS unveils its demands for better conditions of work and practice
November 02, 2022
Montréal, November 2, 2022 – The APTS (Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux) has entered a new stage in the bargaining talks that are now beginning at the sectoral table. The union has unveiled demands recently tabled with the CPNSSS (the management bargaining committee for the health and social services sector) on matters involving its members’ conditions of work and practice.
“At the heart of our demands is a desire to improve our working conditions by giving professionals and technicians in health and social services more time and greater recognition,” says 1st APTS vice-president Josée Fréchette. “Time, first of all, to let them breathe and to reduce the work overload that’s putting so much pressure on our public system. And then recognition, in the form of premiums that are better adapted to the reality of our job titles, full compensation for all overtime, and better measures to support professional development.”
Specific APTS demands include a fifth week of vacation leave; better evening-shift, night-shift and weekend premiums; changes to overtime rules; and increased allowances for travel and meals. Full details of sectoral demands are available on the APTS website.
Making sure Quebecers are provided with accessible, high-quality services
“The health and social services system is facing major challenges in ensuring that Quebecers are provided with accessible, high-quality services,” says Fréchette. “We need to review working conditions to attract new employees and to preserve the valuable expertise developed in our public system. Those are the main concerns identified during the consultations carried out over the summer in APTS general assemblies. We want our public system to become what it used to be – a place where people want to work. And to demonstrate that it truly wants to be an employer of choice, the government needs to respond favourably to our proposals.”
The demands of the Front commun, to which the APTS belongs along with the CSN, the CSQ and the FTQ, were tabled in Québec City on October 28. These demands involve matters such as pay, retirement, parental rights, regional disparities and group insurance.