COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT Archives

2023 contract talks: how can we win?

26 October 2022 |

Excitement is in the air at the APTS. We’ll be tabling our demands and launching the next round of public-sector contract talks in just a few days, and our whole organization is mobilized to make sure we’re ready. We asked APTS president Robert Comeau and APTS 1^st vice-president Josée Fréchette, political officer responsible for national bargaining talks, to share their thoughts just before this key moment in our union life.

Gearing up for a hectic fall

13 September 2021 |

The APTS is set for a busy fall. With the fourth wave, professionals and technicians will once again come under excessive pressure, and our health and social services system will be forced to do a major juggling act just to maintain non-COVID-related care and services. As well, our union will be holding special general assemblies to present you with the government’s global offer that we received at the beginning of the summer.

Contract talks: where are we headed?

24 March 2021 |

Contract talks continue almost nine months after the end of our collective agreement. These negotiations were always going to be challenging, and COVID-19 made them even more complex. Between Zoom conferences and meetings at the Treasury Board, we caught two members of the APTS executive committee and asked them to tell us what’s happening. Emmanuel Breton is in charge of contract talks and Véronic Lapalme is in charge of mobilization.

Behind the scenes: contract talks with the government

22 March 2021 |

Since the beginning of 2020, the Legault government has made no concessions at the bargaining table. It is sticking to positions that would erode the working conditions of APTS members and potentially hasten the exodus of personnel to the private sector, further weakening the public system. What is behind this (unwise) government strategy?

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

12 June 2020 |

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).

Turbulence ahead in 2020

19 December 2019 |

At the 8^th APTS Convention held in Trois-Rivières, I had the privilege of being elected president of the APTS. It was a touching and humbling experience for me to accept this major challenge. As I take up my responsibilities, my values of teamwork and solidarity are front and centre, as is my commitment to work collaboratively with all the groups that form our union.

Possibility of a new era

20 November 2018 |

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.

Local bargaining: where are we at?

15 October 2018 |

At the time this article was written, the legally-set deadline for negotiating the local provisions of our collective agreement had passed in 16 of the 19 new APTS union certifications. Here’s an overview of the results so far in talks with employers in the health and social services sector and the prescribed steps for these talks.