(Montreal) One of the major public sector unions has just filed a complaint of bad faith bargaining and obstruction of its union activities against the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
It is the APTS (Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services), which represents 65,000 members, which has just filed this complaint with the Administrative Labor Tribunal.
At the heart of the dispute is Quebec’s desire to pay financial compensation for membership in a professional order, but only to certain employees who work in a youth center, and only in the assessment-guidance service. Workers in other youth center services would not benefit from this temporary amount of $900.
Québec thus wanted to contribute to reducing the waiting time in the processing of assessment-guidance files in youth protection services.
The APTS criticizes Quebec for having implemented this compensation unilaterally, when it was precisely a matter of negotiation for the renewal of the collective agreements.
The payment of an amount by Quebec to compensate for license fees to professional orders or associations is precisely part of the list of demands of the APTS, tabled last October, but for all of its members.
“Clearly, the Defendants are therefore imposing terms and conditions for the application of one of the working conditions which is currently under negotiation,” writes the union alliance in its petition.
“By thus refusing to negotiate and by unilaterally imposing these working conditions, the Defendants put the Plaintiff in check and prevent it from collectively negotiating on behalf of the employees” whom it represents, further argues the APTS in its motion.
The union alliance also argues that within the same youth center, some union members will receive this amount and others will not, which leads to “discriminatory, unfair and unreasonable working conditions”.
The APTS is therefore asking the Tribunal to declare that Quebec failed in its obligation to bargain in good faith and obstructed its union activities.
The Alliance is also asking him to order Quebec to pay him $15,000 in punitive damages.