The Crucial Fight to Curb the Pandemic

Workers Continue to Speak Out

September 15, 2020. Nurses' rally at Quebec National Assembly:
"We are the ones keeping the system afloat." (FIQ)

In this issue, Workers' Forum continues to report on the stands and actions taken by workers in the crucial fight to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, with examples from Quebec. Governments in Canada continue to implement plans to deal with the pandemic that negate workers' voices and refuse to implement the solutions put forward by frontline workers. Legislation in Alberta and Ontario and Ministerial Orders in Quebec show that one of the main features of government actions is the legalization of the denial of workers' rights so as to benefit the rich. The Kenney government in Alberta keeps piling one anti-labour law on top of another, going so far as to dismantle post-war labour programs such as occupational health and safety right in the midst of the crisis. In the main, the Ontario and Quebec governments are resorting to ministerial orders through which they give themselves the power to cancel negotiated agreements with workers and change their working conditions at will, in particular targeting health care and social services workers. Other governments are passing similar legislation and emergency regulations.

In the face of the drastic increase of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, governments go back and forth, begging the people to be "responsible," then threatening them with fines and other police interventions if they claim people are not. Blaming the people for problems and issuing threats show that a public authority that takes any responsibility for the people no longer exists as can be seen in the damages governments have done to health care and social services, rendering the system unable to face crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments refuse to mobilize workers and all the people for collective action to protect themselves and society and overcome the pandemic. Their outlook and practice of muzzling the human productive force, which keeps the country producing and delivering the services during the crisis and is protecting the people, aggravates the crisis. 

This huge pressure on the workers and society is being met with firm resistance. Workers are taking initiatives, putting forward proposals and demands and striving through organized actions and media, including Workers' Forum, to create public opinion so that full safety protection is provided to all and solutions to the pandemic crisis are worked out that benefit the people.

At this time, families across the country are discussing how to avoid mass gatherings during the holiday season while keeping close links with all and looking after those who are alone.

The situation is difficult but not impossible. Workers' efforts and initiatives in defending their rights and the rights of all, holding governments and the narrow private interests that are directly controlling governance to account are developing the fight to contain COVID-19 and opening a path for a human-centred economic and political alternative.

The pages of Workers' Forum are at the disposal of those involved in this critical fight.

This article was published in

Number 83 - December 10, 2020

Article Link:
The Crucial Fight to Curb the Pandemic: Workers Continue to Speak Out

    

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