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Workers Take Responsibility for Working Conditions During Pandemic Upcoming Day of Mourning and COVID -19
As we approach April 28, the National Day of Mourning for workers killed on the job, an even more sombre cloud will hang over us at this year's ceremony as we remember all workers killed in the past year.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, added to this year's list will be the frontline workers who have put their lives on the line to make sure society does not come to a complete standstill. While doctors, nurses, EMS workers, firefighters and police are who we think of as the first line of defence, bus drivers, taxi drivers, truck drivers, personal support workers, social workers and people who work with the homeless are all potential victims to the COVID-19 virus. Even our grocery store workers or the person giving you your morning cup of coffee are also at risk of contracting the virus. There are many other unsung heroes too numerous to mention but they will not be forgotten as we gather on April 28 to remember those who have fallen during this time of crisis. We have heard our politicians tell us that we are at war with this pandemic yet our frontline soldiers have been inadequately armed to fight this enemy. Many of us stay at home praying it does not visit us or a loved one while some selfishly think it isn't about them. This will be a hard lesson to learn if it does visit someone who didn't take it seriously. This pandemic has shown many cracks in our infrastructure and how fragile our economic system is. Many of our important publicly-run systems have in the course of their privatization been neglected or deregulated by the profit motive that now drives them, to our own peril. The underfunding of our health care system has never been more apparent than it is now. A strong health care system that is driven by compassion and not greed or profit should be the goal of all governments as we hopefully get through this pandemic. Now as we try to home school our children, it dawns on us how important teachers are and the need for a strong public education system. How will having 29 students in a class room look post pandemic? The lack of resources for parents to even begin to implement home schooling has been exposed as well.
What will happen after we solve this pandemic? Do we return to life as usual and forget about the sacrifices made, as politicians return to their partisan ideologies? We the workers and people of society need to hold these politicians to account and force them to listen to us in this post-pandemic world whenever that day arrives. Unfortunately I feel we will all return to our partisan corners and begin fighting once again as to who has the best ideology and way forward. We cannot let this happen and all political parties need to rethink society as a whole and not just for the few. The workers' compensation system should be revamped and made to adhere to it's 100-year-old agreement whereby injured workers gave up their right to sue their employer when injured on the job in exchange for compensation that lasts as long as the injury. I ask what Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) has done for injured workers during this pandemic? They certainly made sure employers were taken care of while they ignored our pleas for help.
That is why the current WSIB should be renamed the Workers' Compensation Board, a name that reflects its true purpose. As well, it should remain as a publicly run system to insure it fulfills this important mandate of caring for injured workers. The workers who will have given the ultimate sacrifice should not be forgotten on this National Day of Mourning, April 28, or any worker for that matter, for we are all soldiers of industry and without our labour society will crumble. That has never been more apparent than during this crisis. Let those in power think about society as a collective and that we are all in it together and, as we come out the other side of this crisis, let us all work towards a society that includes the Rights of All. (Photos: WF, OFL, ONA)
This article was published in   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
The
everyday workers who are living in a gig economy, barely able to earn a
living wage, are the ones cleaning hospitals or banks. The foreign
workers who come to our country to pick our fruit and work the farms
that feed us suddenly are important. Yet they are not appreciated
enough to be given a living wage. "Profit first, workers second"
seems to be the motto of the neo-liberal ideology.
Many
workers will be affected by the COVID-19 and will need to file a claim
for compensation because they were exposed. The families of workers
killed by the COVID-19 virus should also be compensated and taken care
of by our compensation system.