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Reopening Quebec There Is No Return to a Normal in Which the Democratic Norms We Are Setting Are Not RespectedThe process to reopen Quebec has been announced and workers and their organizations are putting forward what they need, as frontline and essential workers have been doing since the beginning of the pandemic. They are demanding that their needs in terms of protective measures and equipment be met, that they actively participate in the decision-making and they are stating that they do not intend to go back to the conditions which prevailed before the pandemic.
In preparation for the reopening, several committees were set up at the government's request and their recommendations were to have been put forward at the beginning of May. But Premier Legault announced that he is going to consult his "caucus" as well as the "three opposition leaders who in turn will consult their members of the National Assembly" and that was that. In this period of social distancing, perhaps we should take a few steps back from these institutions that are said to be representative, yet which turn their backs on us at such critical times to continue taking decisions behind closed doors and, somehow, expect to impress us by "consulting opposition leaders." Let's take a moment to think about all the times we have put forward and stood by our demands to better our working conditions as well as the services we provide, whether against cutbacks in health care, education and social services or against the neo-liberal, anti-social offensive. Inevitably, no matter how obviously just and necessary our demands, governments and media go into a frenzy. The same old refrains -- "unions are corporatist," "the workers are taking the population hostage," "the economy is going to collapse" -- are dished out and everything is done to isolate workers and make sure that nothing comes of their demands. Often times, laws are passed which even prohibit any form of collective action.
The initiative is therefore in our hands. In a matter of weeks, the crucial role we play in society has become crystal clear. Those who have been working and fighting for years, may not even have realized it themselves, until now. We see the gigantic social responsibility we have, a noble one, one which is so great that it is perhaps even difficult at this time to perceive it in all its magnitude. But we will, as long as during this period and beyond, we stick to our stand that no decisions can be taken without workers participating in the decision-making process! No return to a normal in which the new democratic norms we are setting are not respected!
This article was published in   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
Referring to the
Quebec government's plan to open elementary
schools and daycares as of May 14 in regions other
than Montreal,
the president of a teachers' union in the
Outaouais stated:
"Yesterday's schools are not those which will open
in May." She
added: "The plan must not be elaborated without
having consulted
teachers, without them having seen the plan and
improved it. The
more we are listened to, the better the reopening
will be."
Similarly, the president of the school staff union
stated: "We do
not seem to be considered in this debate, but in
the end, it is
our people who will be running the daycares, the
administrative
services and school maintenance."
Now a deadly
virus and the life and death struggle being waged
against it to protect the whole of society has
brought to the
fore in an undeniable way that the working
conditions of teachers
are, in fact, the learning conditions of students;
and the
working conditions of health care workers are, in
fact, the
conditions for the well-being of the population.
The same can be
said not only of all public sector workers but of
workers of all
sectors of the economy, and that workers are
essential to the
functioning of their communities and society as a
whole.
Governments are acting in the old way towards
workers in spite of
what the times are revealing. This is in large
part due to the
fact that, within the realm of their authority,
they do not share
the same conditions as those who do the work.