Workers
Step Up the Fight to
Curb COVID-19 Workers' Demands Must Be Met!
November
2, 2020. Rally for health care workers
at McDougall Centre in Calgary. As the second wave
of infection spreads across the
country, workers in every sector and their organizations are putting
forward demands and taking actions to curb the pandemic. The articles
in this issue of Workers' Forum provide clear
examples showing that the stands of the workers in Canada and Quebec
are based on
learning lessons from the first wave and are crucial to develop
guidelines that must be implemented now to avert the ravages of the
infection. Health care workers in long-term care homes and health care
facilities across the country are fighting to make sure that there is
not a repeat of the devastation of the first wave in long-term care
homes. Conclusions of the SARS Commission of
Inquiry in
2006, confirmed by the experience from the first wave of the pandemic,
bring to the fore the necessity of implementing the precautionary
principle which calls for the highest level of protection for health
care workers. Based on science and their experience workers are
demanding the proper
personal protective equipment include N95 masks which must be provided
to all workers who need them according to the determination of the
workers themselves. Instead of establishing
guidelines at this crucial
time, in collaboration with workers and meeting their needs for proper
conditions to carry out their duties and protect the people,
governments at all levels are dismissing workers' demands and instead
invoking "emergency measures" as an excuse to violate collective
agreements and pass
legislation on behalf of private interests to attack the basic rights
of the workers. The workers are fighting back and
we are seeing
actions across the country including petitions, strikes, sit-ins,
blocking bridges and many other forms of resistance by the workers who
say that they have no choice but to alert the whole society that what
is at stake is the future of a modern, public health care system which
is capable of ensuring
the well-being of the people.
This article was published in
Number 77 - November 12, 2020
Article Link:
Workers
Step Up the Fight to
Curb COVID-19: Workers' Demands Must Be Met!
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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