These negotiations are vital!

On the provincial APTS executive committee, MĂ©lanie Bernier is our national bargaining and pay equity co-officer. In the current public-sector contract talks with the Treasury Board, she’s right there in the thick of the discussions.

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Same old recipe for economic recovery

Quebecers have made countless sacrifices to limit the pandemic’s impact. They have accepted significant restrictions on their freedom, placing their faith in government and following its directives. After all the soul-searching and questioning that this exceptional situation has evoked, and all the observations and conclusions calling for sweeping changes in the way we do things, the government’s uninspired proposal to get us out of the crisis is deeply dismaying.

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Labs: what the pandemic can teach us

The health crisis has forced significant changes in the organization of work in labs – changes that are calling into question the very core of the OPTILAB system. Before we all go back to normal and press the restart button, shouldn’t we at least take the time to think about these issues?

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Working in youth centres: spotlight on an exceptional profession

On May 26, the APTS gave a moving presentation at the public hearings held by the special commission on children’s rights and youth protection.1 To mark the occasion, we decided to highlight youth protection workers and the challenges they face. We spoke to Natacha Pelchat, a youth worker at a rehabilitation centre and the APTS provincial representative in Laval.

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The dark side of free trade

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the extent to which Québec depends on overseas manufacturing plants to supply even the simplest of products, like masks. With protectionism on the rise in many countries, have we been relying too heavily on globalization and free trade?

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Rethinking work in the time of COVID-19

On March 13, every aspect of our lives changed overnight. Our professional life and family/work balance were turned upside down, with our social life put on hold. Having to contend with a radical reorganization of our work is now a daily challenge. Could we dare to hope for positive changes that will endure?

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Withdrawing services and professional practice: what you need to know

Some APTS members have been reassigned to work in CHSLDs and have had to withdraw their services from their regular clientele. This raises a number of issues in relation to professional practice. The current health and social emergency and the need to bring down terrifying death rates in care homes for older people are aggravating the structural disorganization of our health and social service system.

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Heart to Heart

In May 2020, a highly respected American medical journal published the findings of a study showing that implanting a recycled cardiac device is not associated with higher risk of infection than implanting a new one. Behind this article is a surprising story involving an APTS member.

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Can you protect yourself from work-related stress?

“Take care of yourself” – we’ve heard that a lot over the past months. Easy enough to say, but not so easy to do. In this particularly stressful period for people working in health care and social services, we asked Manon Truchon, professor of psychology at Laval University, to talk to us about the field she specializes in: stress in the workplace.

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Psychological distress: who’ll take care of personnel in essential services?

Last March, Health and Social Services Minister Danielle McCann took strict measures to curb the pandemic. However noble the government’s intentions, its actions may come at a steep cost. By modifying the collective agreements of public-sector employees in health and social service facilities, the government upped the powers of managers to offset labour shortages that had been rampant in these facilities for far too long. Managers were given carte-blanche, with practically no safeguards to prevent them from taking shortcuts when implementing such measures in the bureaucratic behemoths that are now our integrated centres (CISSS and CIUSSS).

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