Possibility of a new era

For many weeks now, the APTS has put a great deal of effort into communications and mobilization work to arrive at agreements with your employers on the local provisions of your collective agreement. If you haven’t yet done so, take a minute to visit the APTS website or Facebook page to read the press releases and find out more about the activities organized in our members’ institutions. Our local and provincial representatives are working hard to create a synergy that we’ve good reason to believe will help us achieve our goal: to ensure that your working conditions foster optimal professional practices and enhance personnel’s motivation, health and well-being. Employers need to understand that these are the conditions that guarantee access to good quality health care for everyone.

This is the message that the APTS wants to get through to the new government. As soon as the Coalition Avenir Québec team came to power, we contacted them to stress the importance of settling local negotiations in the interests of all parties. Danielle McCann, the new health minister succeeding Gaétan Barrette, has indicated that she wants a change in tone but her policies still need to be clarified. As the union representing professionals and technicians who are indispensable in ensuring that our health and social services institutions run smoothly, the APTS is prepared to wipe the slate clean and start afresh with the new government. But in return, we expect the government to give due consideration to our demands for reinvestment in the healthcare system and greater emphasis on interdisciplinary work.

Gaétan Barrette’s confrontational leadership style proved to be a total failure, in both political and administrative terms. Minister McCann should take note. It’s our bet that the “confrontation= failure” equation has been clearly demonstrated as we reach out to re-engage in a dialogue with our counterparts in government. To rebuild bridges, each side needs to take a step toward the other. The APTS has done so by offering to help find solutions to some of the many problems that the Liberal government either brushed aside or created on its own.