This text is part of the special section Unionism
The union active in the health network, with 65,000 members, signed an agreement in principle with the Legault government for its new collective agreement. Among the gains obtained, salary increases and better balance between professional and private life. Essential achievements, according to the president of the Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services (APTS), Robert Comeau, as the Dubé reform and the transition to the Santé Québec agency begin.
“We managed to obtain many measures for our professional technicians, in particular the reimbursement of 50% of their contributions to their professional order, it is historic,” Mr. Comeau. In addition to salary increases of 17.4% over five years, bonuses for living environments as well as for so-called unfavorable shifts (night shifts, for example) have been revised upwards. “The fifth week of vacation will also be given after 19 years of service instead of 25 years,” adds the president. All of these are gains that “bring a little air” into the public health network, according to him.
And air was needed in this love-sick sector, where many lawyers, psychologists, medical imaging technicians, nutritionists, educators and even social workers have to juggle often difficult working conditions. Nearly 75% of members have signed up to this agreement in principle, the texts of which should be put on paper and signed by April. “We have taken a very important step with the government, but now that does not solve the problem of staff shortages,” underlines Robert Comeau.
Attracting young people, the crux of the matter
“How do we attract young people from high school to work in the public health network, we have difficulty filling our cohorts, and this is a problem that we will still see in three to five years , but there is certainly a change to be made,” believes the president of the union. This is now where the APTS wants to put its efforts. “The government must carry out intensive recruitment. We have not resolved the work overload and for that, it takes people and a plan,” he recalls. In particular, he hopes to see concrete actions to fight against private agencies, which gobble up significant revenue that could be put elsewhere, according to him. “The private sector makes it possible to fill working hours, and it is essential now because we lack people, but you should know that it costs a lot of money which we could use to create additional means to attract people. world, particularly in the regions,” he points out. The Legault government has given itself until 2026 to eliminate the use of private agencies. Mr. Comeau believes that to “wean ourselves off” these agencies, improving working conditions, with more flexible hours and better salaries, will certainly help.
He also wants to focus on a positive message to send to potential future recruits. “We managed to get overtime to be paid at double rate and, above all, self-management of schedules will be something of interest for those who want to better reconcile professional and private life,” he thinks. A team of employees with the same job title will thus be able to manage their own working hours. “The network was so rigid with shifts. Now, people will be able to choose their schedules more or less according to their personal life organization and by talking to each other,” he explains.
The challenges of the Dubé reform
Robert Comeau recognizes it, Minister Dubé’s reform “causes a lot of concern for network workers”. The latter provides for the creation of Santé Québec, a new state corporation which will become the sole employer of 330,000 employees of the public health and social services network. The aim is in particular to reduce bureaucracy and increase network efficiency. The challenges ahead are great, but the reform will above all shake up the union environment, recalls Mr. Comeau. Of the current 136 negotiating tables, only six national tables will remain. “It is above all to see how we are going to organize work relations locally. This is the third centralization that we have experienced in 20 years and each time we succeed in moving the decision-making centers further away even though we know that we have to arrange services at the local and regional level, because it is not not everywhere the same,” he regrets.
Implementing all of this will not be easy, recognizes the president of the union. However, he wants to be positive. “There will be a raiding campaign, probably in 2025, for people to choose the union that represents them during the next negotiations, in 2028. For the moment, we are still discussing with the minister’s office, it’s a big blur,” he admits. In the meantime, he is savoring this small victory, a new collective agreement which will, he hopes, restore motivation to the troops. “Now we are going to take care of our world and we are going to help people in the changes to come,” he promises, before adding, in the same breath, “I can’t wait to say something other than things are going badly “.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.