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March 18, 2020
Workers
Nationwide Organize to Uphold the Rights of All
All Out
to Activate All Working People
to Make Sure the COVID-19 Crisis
Is Resolved in Their Favour
• Time for Workers to Act
For Your Information
• Strict Comprehensive Measures Urgently Recommended to Contain COVID-19 and Protect the Population
Mobilizing the Human Factor/Social Consciousness in the Fight Against the COVID-19 Pandemic -- Workers Speak Up
• New Brunswick Public
Sector Workers Take Action
• Vancouver and District Labour Council Outlines Emergency Action Needed
for Working People and Families
• Ontario Health Care
Workers Demand Protective Gear
• Public Transit Workers
in Toronto and Mississauga Demand Protective Gear
• Todd Parsons,
President, Union of Northern Workers (UNW),
Northwest Territories
• Simon
Lévesque, Head of Health and Safety, FTQ-Construction, Quebec
Opinion on a Matter of Serious Concern
• National Emergency Announced in Quebec Brings to Light What Is
Missing
- Pierre Soublière
Workers Nationwide Organize
to Uphold the Rights of All
Workers' Forum salutes all of Canada's working
people whose contribution makes life possible, especially
under the conditions of all out mobilization to contain the
coronavirus COVID-19. The immediate aim is to flatten the
curve so that lives are saved and the health care system is
not overwhelmed.
A big challenge faced by workers -- particularly in health care
but also other services -- is how to deal with the consequences
of the neo-liberal wrecking that has been going on to
undermine the capacity of the health system to adequately care
for all those needing it, and protect the workers from harm
with proper personal protective equipment (PPE) for all who
need it, and through working conditions that provide for
safety for patients and workers and proper provision of care
in every respect in hospitals, clinics, long-term care homes
and other facilities. It is to be expected that governments at
all levels which have been carrying out the wrecking and
privatizing to pay the rich will now only act as the situation
requires if the workers raise the claims which they must and
keep the initiative in their own hands about how things should
be organized and operated, instructing their unions about what
is needed and so on.
The Workers' Centre of CPC(M-L) has received inspiring
stories of workers in all spheres of the economy mobilizing
their co-workers to make sure the rights of all are upheld.
The first story came in from women workers at a large grocery
chain who took action to instill calm in the people at the
store who were being caught up in panic buying. They took
charge of the situation and everyone was served in an orderly
manner. Client after client thanked the women profusely for
not only establishing calm but showing that the workers have a
very important role in setting how the current crisis plays
out.
 The
workers
cannot merely demand that governments uphold
their rights but must take action to make sure both their rights and
the rights of all are defended, no matter whether or not authorities
show good faith. Working people are taking action in all sectors, first
and foremost the health care sector as well as to sort out how parents,
teachers
and families will make sure children of parents who are not able to
stay home are looked after. In Ontario, the government announced the
closure of not only schools but also all licensed day care centres
without explaining what measures it is putting in place to make sure
people who have to go to work are not left to fend for themselves. It
shows
that it is up to the working people to take collective action to take
matters in hand in a manner that is advantageous to them. There are
many ways to make sure governments accede to the demands of the workers
Today, March 18, Prime Minister Trudeau announced economic
measures the government is taking. Workers' Forum
calls on workers' organizations and collectives as well as individuals
to rely on themselves to understand what these measures mean for them
and make sure the demands put forward by unions and district
labour councils are fulfilled adequately and not lost through deferrals
and other ways which force everyone to fend for themselves just to
access what they should be receiving as a matter of right. The demands
of unions include the following:
- Paid sick
leave for all workers, including paid leave for all workers who are
quarantined, or required to self-isolate;
- An immediate moratorium on all evictions;
- An immediate moratorium on rent and mortgage payments for workers
quarantined or required to self-isolate in relation to COVID-19; and
- Removal of the waiting period for workers accessing Employment
Insurance as a result of COVID-19-related layoffs, and extension of EI
benefits for those who are unemployed and have exhausted their
benefits, and for those who do not qualify for EI because of lack of
hours.
Also, remuneration for all workers including contract
and self-employed people laid off or otherwise deprived of income
during this crisis. It is also clear that a national supply chain
should be activated on a permanent basis. Such a thing will go a long
way to humanizing the natural and social environment and mitigating the
financial crisis which is expected as a consequence of the emergency
measures.
Workers' Forum calls on all its readers to be in
constant touch with family members across the country, co-workers and
organizations in their neighbourhoods to look after the homeless, the
elderly and those in need. All kinds of initiatives are being taken
such as posting information in lobbies of apartment buildings or
elevators and bulletin boards at workplaces, on social media and
keeping lines of communication open in other ways. Even at places of
work social distancing should be facilitated and practiced wherever
possible along with hygiene measures.
Crises reveal what a people are made of. Canada
can
establish its own internal supply chain and there is no need for empty
shelves and never a cause for hoarding or panic -- usually caused by
private interests that seek to profit from the situation. The spread of
coronaviruses does not mean that the working peoples of all countries
cannot
establish their own programs to make sure the situation is brought
under control and exercise control over the situation. Making
governments accountable to them is a matter of practical stands to make
sure the crisis is resolved in favour of the people.
In this issue, Workers' Forum
is bringing to your attention the statement of the Communist Party of
Canada (Marxist-Leninist), "Strict Comprehensive Measures Urgently
Recommended to Contain the Disease and Protect the Population"
excerpted below.
Humanity's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic
requires
that workers play their leading role in making sure that necessary
measures are implemented to contain the disease and protect the
population and that no one is left to fend for themselves.
Recent weeks have shown definite features of the
workers' response.
Workers and their unions have declared that
fighting the
pandemic is the movement's top priority and unions across the country
have postponed conventions, labour negotiations and strike votes that
were scheduled to take place in the coming weeks and months so as to
concentrate efforts on facing the pandemic.
Workers broadly support the strict comprehensive
measures that the World Health Organization (WHO) has advised to
contain COVID-19 and to protect the
population, including quarantine, testing, contact tracing, social
distancing, and direct population/community mobilization. Workers are
advocating that
governments at every level in Canada must take full responsibility for
implementing the WHO's recommendations responsibly.
 In taking up
their own responsibility, workers are
paying particular attention to the plight of the front-line workers in
the health care system and in all public services, including in public
transportation, so that they remain healthy and able to keep looking
after the people. The issue of these workers being provided with
adequate personal
protective equipment (PPE) is a critical one, as is the issue of taking
time off work if one suspects having been infected with the virus,
without being penalized financially or otherwise. The issue of PPE is
also becoming a major issue in areas of the private sector such as big
retail trade chains, which people shop at in their thousands,
especially to
buy goods that are needed in the conditions of the pandemic.
Workers are tackling the issue of sustaining workers'
livelihood, in conditions where it is affected by their being
quarantined, or without work because of the closure of institutions
that employ people, or cancellation of cultural and other events for
which people are employed on a casual basis and so on.
In this, workers consider that these are all working
people that must be defended and looked after, whatever the specific
conditions they find themselves in, based on the trials and
tribulations of this economy and the neo-liberal wrecking decisions
which have prevailed for more than 20 years, over which the people are
doing their utmost to establish control.
Whether they are migrant workers, unemployed
workers or
workers in the gig economy and so-called self-employed workers,
unionized workers or non unionized workers, or seniors, ways and means
have to be found to make sure that their livelihood is sustained by the
governments and the ruling elite. Everything has to be reviewed in a
creative way to defend and affirm the human quality of all. Already,
news is coming from Quebec that self-employed workers in the cultural
events industry are organizing themselves in an organization that will,
among other things, take up the issue of their livelihood while
cultural events have basically all been cancelled for an undetermined
period.
Press conference at Queen's Park, organized by health care
professionals represented by the Decent Work and Health Network, March
12, 2020, calls for measures to
protect all workers.
This is the time to organize, to make sure that
information
is obtained and distributed as events and announcements of programs by
various levels of governments are happening very quickly, and to make
sure that workers speak out on the claims that need to be made to
humanize the situation by looking after the well-being of all.
Workers' Forum is opening its
pages to this fight
against the pandemic and the concerns, demands and initiatives that
workers are taking to face the pandemic. In this issue of Workers'
Forum, readers will find a series of interviews and
statements from workers and unions on this.
For Your Information
The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised
strict
comprehensive measures to contain the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19)
and to protect the population, including quarantine, testing, contact
tracing, social distancing, and direct population/community
mobilization.
On March 11, the WHO assessed that COVID-19 can be
characterized as a pandemic. A pandemic is when a new disease for which
people do not have immunity spreads around the world beyond
expectations. One distinction is that the spread of the disease in
various regions is no longer attributed to travellers only. It is the
first time that a
pandemic is caused by a coronavirus. The WHO also says that it is the
first pandemic "that can be controlled."
The WHO estimates the current mortality rate to be
about
3.4 per cent. In the U.S. it is estimated to be about five per cent.
Even if the mortality rate were one per cent, it would still be ten
times higher than that of the normal seasonal influenza. Reports also
indicate a marked discrepancy between officially diagnosed cases and
actual cases.
The time it takes for patients to get tested and other factors,
including the extremely low rate of testing in the U.S., result in a
gap between the reported number of cases and the real number. One can
expect 10 to 100 times the reported number. This means there are
already tens of thousands of cases in North America, if not more.
Strict, Socially Responsible Measures Needed
Globalization, including just-in-time delivery of
goods,
services and even human beings, has brought the world together in an
unprecedented socialized way. Even though some countries have yet to
see any cases of the disease, we are all in this together as one
humanity with a common interest to contain the coronavirus and protect
the
population. The governments at every level must take full
responsibility for implementing the WHO's recommendations responsibly.[1]
All those who are working at home must continue to be paid in a normal
manner. All those laid off as a result of the shutdown of workplaces
must be compensated.
Governments have been encouraging privatization, and contracting out
and casualization of most work, especially in the service sector, and
now they must guarantee that all contract workers and the self-employed
receive remuneration during this special period. The workers who work
in the so-called gig economy, including where private interests
use software apps to favour their narrow interests and workers are
expected to be available on demand to do one gig at a time, must also
receive compensation during this special period if they too must stay
in quarantine or be subjected to more restrictive conditions of
isolation.
The modern reality and condition of a socialized
economy and life demand that national governments must fulfill their
social responsibility to contain this virus using the public health
measures recommended by the WHO, given the lack of medical
countermeasures at this time. They must put the full weight of the
economy and all public and
private institutions behind the successful implementation and
protection of the population, making sure all those who need help
receive it.
Where There's a Will There's a Way!
 The adage "Where
there's a will there's a way"
applies
under the circumstances. Despite the decrepit state of many health care
facilities and dearth of beds and nursing and other personnel due to
the vicious anti-social offensive governments have been imposing on our
society to favour the rich, as in any crisis, facilities can be
commandeered
and equipped and qualified personnel can be hired and trained to deal
with the matter at hand, taking every precaution required to protect
everyone involved. It can be done and must be done!
Working people must unite in action at every
level and
determine how they can contribute to making quarantine, isolation and
the other strict measures required effective and to asserting the
claims they are entitled to make on governments at every level.
Quarantining is a very important first measure and people can inform
themselves of the
guidelines they must follow. If they require assistance, they must call
the public health care numbers they are provided with and describe
their symptoms and follow the instructions. Full testing and treatment
must be provided to everyone who needs it. By closing everything down
for the two-week incubation period and then assessing whether the
virus has been contained on the basis of verifiable results, and
pursuing the instructions of the WHO meticulously, Canada can do its
part to contain and mitigate this global pandemic.
As for the working people, they can play their
role by
speaking out to lay the claims on society and the governments in charge
that everyone is entitled to make. This includes compensation for the
period they are off work because of closures and measures to protect
those public service workers who do essential work in the health care
and
education sectors and in all aspects of social services, including home
care, long-term care and care for the youth, elderly and others in
distress. For those engaged in retail work related to the sale of
essential items such as food, medicines and necessary hygiene products,
in transportation or any other essential service, arrangements must be
made to
replace those workers who must quarantine themselves for whatever
reason, undergo isolation at home or be hospitalized, and to protect
those still on the job.
Nobody should be put in a situation of fending for
themselves to find a direction and the means to cope as families and
individuals during this pandemic. All social organizations --
especially unions, social clubs and associations of all kinds -- should
go into action to make sure their members are informed and looked after.
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)
has
called on its organizations across the country to inform themselves of
the situation of their members and supporters to make sure everyone is
taken care of and is informed, and to organize for the implementation
of prescribed protective measures where needed not only in the homes
and
neighbourhoods but also workplaces and educational institutions.
All individuals and collectives are called upon to
unite
in action to play their part and act responsibly under all conditions
and circumstances to humanize the social and natural environment, and
to give meaning and substance to the necessity of activating the human
factor/social consciousness and putting human beings in command of
their
condition. By taking conscious measures to make sure nobody is put in a
situation of having to fend for themselves, working Canadians will
proudly proclaim that this humanity is able to bring the problems
facing humankind under control and that they have played their part.
All Out to Adopt the
Measures Necessary to Contain COVID-19
and Protect the Population!
Hold Governments at Every Level Responsible
to Implement the
Recommended Public Health Measures Fully and Responsibly!
One Humanity,
One Struggle!
All Out to Defend the Rights of All!
Note
1.
According to the WHO, quarantine
refers to "the restriction of activities or separation of persons who
are not ill, but who may have been exposed to an infectious agent or
disease, with the objective of monitoring symptoms and early detection
of cases." It can be voluntary, which some refer
to as self-quarantine, or mandatory, depending on the circumstances.
Quarantine is different from isolation, which is "the separation of ill
or infected persons from others, so as to prevent the spread of
infection or contamination." Isolation means staying indoors and
completely avoiding contact with other people to the greatest extent
possible for
those who have tested positive for COVID-19, are waiting to be tested
or awaiting the results of their test. It is sometimes referred to as
self-isolation when individuals act to implement the necessary measures
on their own in their home or another place such as a hotel room when
traveling.
The National Health Authority of Canada indicates
that
when quarantine and isolation/self-isolation are undertaken at an
individual level, they are considered social distancing approaches,
along with such measures as avoiding crowding, school and workplace
measures and closures, public/mass gathering cancellations, etc. For
further details, click
here.
For interim WHO guidelines for quarantining in the
context of the containment of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), click
here.
Mobilizing the Human Factor/Social Consciousness in the Fight Against
the COVID-19 Pandemic -- Workers Speak Up
Workers and their organizations across the
country are taking
practical measures to mobilize themselves to flatten the curve of the
pandemic.
Ten CUPE Locals in New Brunswick, representing
15,000 public sector
workers, have collectively presented concrete measures to the
provincial
government to ensure their members are deployed in a conscious and
effective manner to fight the virus and assist the people.
The provincial government has announced the
shutdown of all
non-essential government services. Only public sector workers doing
critical work will remain on the job. The unions have presented and
collectively agreed to a plan to redeploy and reassign non-critical
public service employees to jobs that will assist the fight against the
pandemic.
Simon Ouellette, CUPE Communications
Representative, said the union
locals have agreed to suspend elements of language in the collective
agreement on the mobility of employees. This will ensure rapid response
and deployment of public sector employees for reassignment to other
work locations during this critical situation.
CUPE members from public sector parts I, II and IV
could be reassigned confirmed Ouellette. These include:
Part I
- Local 1190: General Labour and Trades
- Local 1251: Institutional Care and Services
- Local 1840: Court Stenographers
- Local 1418: Rehabilitation and Therapy and Recreation and Culture
Program Officers.
Part II
- Local 2745: Educational Support Staff
- Local 1253: NB Council of School District Unions
Part IV
- Local 5017: NB Community Colleges
- Local 5026: Collèges communautaires du N.-B.
- Local 963: NB Liquor Corporation
- Local 1866: Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission
Ouellette pointed out that union leaders are in
close contact with
their members in all areas of the public service. "[We] have vital,
practical and current information on what goes on at the front lines.
We are confident the government will see the importance of having us
participate in the response discussions. CUPE members are proud to
serve
the public and will lead by example in these tough times. Rest assured,
this crisis only increases our resolve to fight and win this battle."
The Vancouver and District Labour Council
Executive
Board recognizes the danger posed by the present COVID-19 pandemic. The
virus poses a serious risk to many in our workplaces and communities,
and we applaud all measures to flatten the curve of this pandemic and
prevent its further spread.
Cleaners aboard BC Ferries who are on the
front lines of protecting
ferry workers and passengers, win union recognition, March 15, 2020, in
the midst of the
pandemic.
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We recently announced our decision to cancel our
March
regular meeting in response to COVID-19. We are also cancelling all
meetings to be held in our office space until further notice. We will
continue to monitor the situation and assess the advisability of
hosting other planned events. As our next upcoming Labour Education
courses are
scheduled in May and June, we are not anticipating the cancellation of
these events at this time, however we will monitor the situation and
notify registrants of any changes closer to that time.
We also want to take a moment to recognize the
efforts
of all front-line workers, with a special thanks to medical personnel
and first responders who are on the front lines of addressing potential
cases of COVID-19 and protecting the well-being of patients and the
public.
But the pandemic poses a danger to more than our
health.
The financial well-being of working people is also at risk, exacerbated
by previously existing affordability and housing crises. Today untold
numbers of working people are at risk of not being able to put food on
their tables, pay their rents or mortgages, and other hardships with
potentially disastrous consequences.
 While the Federal
government announced $10 billion
in
aid available to businesses through the Business Development Bank of
Canada, direct aid to working people has yet to be seen. A few days
ago, we called upon the BC government, through the Minister of Labour,
to enact paid sick leave so that workers who are feeling unwell, or are
required to self-isolate, are protected. Action on this is critical to
ensuring that workers are not forced by economic necessity to attend
work while ill and put themselves and others at increased risk.
We are calling upon all levels of government to
cooperate in implementing an emergency program for workers, including:
- Paid sick
leave for all workers, including paid leave for all workers who are
quarantined, or required to self-isolate;
- An immediate moratorium on all evictions;
- An immediate moratorium on rent and mortgage payments for workers
quarantined or required to self-isolate in relation to COVID-19; and
- Removal of the waiting period
for workers accessing Employment Insurance as a result of
COVID-19-related layoffs.
We note that as this situation rapidly develops,
additional consequences continue to reveal themselves. Therefore, it
should be acknowledged that further actions may yet be needed from
government.
Robust, proactive measures aimed at containing the
spread of the virus and bold steps to protect the housing and economic
well-being of working people are both urgently needed to ensure the
best possible recovery from this pandemic. Now is the time for
government to act.
Ontario health care unions hold joint press conference, March 13, 2020.
The four major health care unions in Ontario point
out
that one of the best protections for Ontarians during the COVID-19
pandemic is to ensure that health care workers are healthy and provided
with all that they need to keep working. They call for honest, frank
collaboration from the Government of Ontario to make sure health care
workers
are provided with all the protection they need so that they can carry
out their duties to the population.
The four unions which represent more than
one-quarter of
a million health-care workers in Ontario are the Ontario Nurses'
Association (ONA), the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) of the
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Service Employees
International Union (SEIU) and the Ontario Public Service Employees
Union (OPSEU).
The workers' confidence lies in their ability to
be
active within the situation so that the claims they are entitled to
make are met without delay. A statement issued by the unions on March
13 puts the main emphasis on the demand of the front-line workers for
personal protective equipment (PPE). Supplies are not presently readily
available in a
number of workplaces. It goes without saying that appropriate
protective equipment and training instill confidence in heath care
workers who then help maintain a calm atmosphere in the population.
The unions bring to the attention of the public a
leaked
document that shows that the government is watering down guidelines
regarding the appropriate level of personal equipment for
front-line-health-care workers. They express deep concern about the
"laxed guidelines issued and scarce availability and appropriateness of
personal protective
equipment (PPE) for protection during the pandemic."
The four unions urge the government to follow the
precautionary principle, which means to err on the side of caution in
protecting workers. PPE for contact, droplet, and airborne transmission
must be provided to all front-line health care workers, the unions say.
They point out that how the virus is transmitted is not yet fully
understood. At
this time, medical and infectious disease organizations say that there
are a number of ways the virus may be transmitted, including droplets
-- transmission through sneezing or coughing; contact -- transmission
from an infected person by touch; or airborne -- small particles in
the air. If the transmission is airborne, front-line health care
workers
should all have N95 masks, which Ontario paramedics are wearing. The
N95 masks are the standard for protection against airborne particles.
Surgical masks do not protect health care workers against these
particles. They urge the Ontario government to stop being reluctant to
provide this protective equipment on grounds that the medical and
scientific community is not unanimous in agreeing that airborne
transmission is the way that the virus is spread. It must be
provided along with all other equipment they require, the unions say.
Many Ontario health care staff lived through the
Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002-2004 and have
learned many lessons about infection control and best practices. They
have solutions and want collaboration and frankness with government
during this difficult period.
Graphic posted by Canadian nurses.
Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 113, which
represents around 12,000 public transit workers in Toronto and York
Region is calling on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) to increase
health precaution measures for workers in the wake of the coronavirus
(COVID-19) outbreak, including allowing workers to protect themselves
by
wearing masks on the job. The union is calling upon the TTC to worry
less about public perception and focus on public protection. If TTC
workers feel that it is in their health interests to wear a mask on the
job, ATU Local 113 will fully support them, says the local. As things
currently stand, TTC and Metrolinx employees are not allowed to
wear masks on the job. (Metrolinx is the provincial agency charged with
regional transportation planning in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton
Area.) Metrolinx executives are claiming that masks create the
impression amongst customers that the risk is higher than it actually
is and may deter people from adopting other essential measures such as
hand hygiene practices.
 "Transit workers
have the right to protect their
health
in the same way countless TTC riders do by wearing masks on subways,
streetcars and buses," said the union in a statement dated March 6. The
union is asking why, if there is no health hazard, the TTC is giving
staff responsible for disinfecting vehicles protective gear and why the
TTC
asked its Wheel-Trans employees to wear masks on the job. It points out
that if COVID-19 is hazardous for these workers, it is hazardous for
all.
Workers organized in ATU Local 1572 in Mississauga
are
also demanding that their transit drivers be allowed to wear masks and
gloves when they are at work. Workers' Forum
recently talked with Local President Jack Jackson, who made the
following comments:
"Our workers feel that they are exposed, just as
they
are on the front lines. A lot of our membership has sick and elderly
people in their lives and they want to ensure that they do not bring
anything home. We have actually had the Ministry of Labour in three
times to try and address some of our concerns, and so far this has not
worked to
our benefit. We continue to push for masks and gloves in the workplace."
Jackson spoke about obtaining a quarantine process
for
workers as another major concern of theirs and of the union. "The
employer has no plan or protocol in place to remove from the workplace
those who may have been exposed, or anything of that kind. We're asking
for protocols and measures to be developed and as of yet, there are
none. What the employer is doing is to just carry on saying that
they're going to rely on the Region of Peel or Health Canada.
Essentially, if the government does not mandate our employer to do
something, they're just going to keep the status quo. This is a
problem," he said.
"For example we had a gentleman who was diagnosed
with
COVID-19. He rode our buses. We thought that the most logical thing to
do was to immediately remove those people from service, those whose
buses he was on, as well as anyone who did maintenance on the bus or
who cleaned it. We thought that they should be removed, because
you're talking here about a small number, in case any of them had been
exposed, so that we're not putting the public or co-workers at further
risk. Because it's a 14-day incubation period, someone may look fine
for seven or even 10 days and then suddenly get the symptoms and by
then it's too late, people have been exposed."
"There are a lot of concerns obviously at any
transit
authority, or at any workplace, but those are probably our most
pressing concerns," he added. "We recognize that these are tough
times, but I do believe that this is a time where you err on the side
of caution to protect everyone."
There's still a lot of uncertainty for UNW
members
regarding COVID-19. We've been working with many of our employers to
ensure that policies are put in place to protect workers. In
particular, we've done this with our largest employers, such as the
Government of the Northwest Territories, the Northwest Territories
Power Corporation
and the Ekati Diamond Mine. Coronavirus has been with us now for
several weeks, however [the situation] is evolving daily. The
Government of the Northwest Territories has been in regular contact
with us to address how this affects not just public services, but also
the public at large.
Here in the Northwest Territories, we're a very
small
community with limited resources. A lot of health care support comes
from Alberta or Ottawa. Many of our residents, when they are
experiencing severe medical issues, get treatment outside of the
Northwest Territories. In the territories there is limited ability to
treat patients with severe
respiratory illnesses. They do have respirators here although they are
limited, and we are trying to better understand that situation with our
employer. We are concerned about the health and safety of front-line
workers. We have asked the employer to ensure that the appropriate
personal protective equipment is in place and readily available for
front-line workers. It's very important to have easy access to it in
the health care field, and in all government services on a regular
daily basis. We have to make sure that front-line workers are given the
opportunity to have personal protective equipment while performing
their duties.
We also have protective language in our larger
collective agreements such as the one with the Government of the
Northwest Territories, that ensures that if there is a situation like
this, employees have access to paid leave. It's important that not only
our members, but also the general public is looked after. We're in a
difficult situation and
we're working with the government to provide public services that
residents can rely on.
The problem of the spread of COVID-19 should not
be
trivialized. There are measures in place, but, as is usually the case,
it seems that the construction industry is being left out.
 We have a lot of
questions. For a long time we've been
saying that the issue of occupational hygiene in construction has been
neglected. We have been fighting for years for adequate sanitary
conditions. We received new regulations in 2016 that we are fighting to
enforce. The regulations are very specific on the issue of washrooms.
We are the
only workplace in Quebec where we are obliged to specify that washrooms
must be heated, ventilated, that there must be a flush toilet, warm
water, soap, toilet paper, a trash can -- otherwise we will get
nothing. Still there are employers who do not comply with the
regulations. In addition, the regulations do not cover construction
sites of 24
workers or less. There is no provision in these cases for the employer
to be obliged to provide soap and water for the workers to wash their
hands. The primary measure to prevent the virus from spreading is hand
washing. And such sites constitute the vast majority of sites in
Quebec. We are stepping up our work so that all construction sites have
access to adequate toilets.
There are serious problems on big sites too. For
example, sugar shacks have closed because people must not eat
side-by-side, but on large construction sites workers eat in
construction trailers and they eat side-by-side. The separation of one
metre is not respected. The measures are declared inapplicable in
construction and that is what we are
fighting against. We are asking, for example, that there be suitable
dining spaces that can accommodate workers while maintaining the
necessary distance between them.
One problem we are facing right now is that as
soon as
there is a worker who coughs, they want to fire him. There are workers
who smoke and who have been coughing for a long time. We are faced with
a situation in which either no action is taken or we have measures like
these where workers are attacked if they have a particular condition.
Even today, a supervisor told a worker to leave the site because he was
coughing.
We demand that everything the government asks of
citizens and in the workplace also be applied to construction sites. In
addition, it is necessary to follow the evolution of the situation with
regard to the disease, and if we have to eventually reorganize the
work, which involves a slowdown in production, we must prepare for it.
You have to
plan things right away.
Opinion on a Matter of Serious Concern
- Pierre Soublière -
Given all the daily problems in the health care sector including
the dire working conditions of health workers such as the cutbacks in
staff and compulsory overtime, it comes to mind that health workers are
already working under conditions of a national emergency. Those
difficult conditions have direct repercussions on the quality of care
for patients.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, health officials are already calling
on retired nurses to work at the 811 health line because of a lack of
staff and call overload. Despite this call-up of retirees to fill a
gap, some public officials insist the health system is ready to face a
crisis and all the people need to do is practice social distancing,
"self-isolate"
and work from home, and the health system will take care of the rest.
The
devil of all announcements is in the details. This does not take into
account the concrete problems in the health sector from years of
cutbacks or the direct experience of the people and their particular
circumstances in terms of age, disability, family, day care measures,
available emergency funds, living quarters or work situation. The
possibility of working from home is all well and good when possible but
a large majority of workers cannot. The same is true for many forced to
fend for themselves in isolation. For quarantine to be effective, it
has to be organized collectively where the needs of all are met.
One thing is a real concern: when governments call on
people to act responsibly, can they be taken seriously? Governments at
all levels have been engaged in an anti-social offensive for decades
using hollow excuses such as the deficits must be cut and the state
debts must be paid before anything positive can be done.
 In the face of the socially irresponsible actions of the ruling
elite in control, everyone should take note that acting responsibly is
what the working class does year in year out when it produces what is
needed and provides the services the people and society require to
exist. When working people put forward demands to improve their own
conditions, their own health and security and that of the entire
society, they are acting responsibly because it improves the social
conditions for everyone.
Governments do not need to tell the working people to
act
responsibly; on the contrary, they should look in the mirror and assess
the socially irresponsible actions they have been engaged in for the
last 30 years.
This pandemic highlights the necessity to renew the political
process so that in "normal" times as well as in times of national
emergency, the needs, preoccupations, suggestions and views of all
members of society and their collectives become integral to the
decision-making process. And not in perfunctory ways, such as phoney
consultations
but in practical ways with new forms and actual democratic institutions
where the active conscious participation of individuals and their
collectives in decision-making is organized.
Today, decision-making is concentrated in the hands of the few who
invariably serve the narrow private interests of the wealthy oligarchs
they represent. The times are crying out for something different where
the members of society and their collectives, and foremost those who
are on the front lines as workers, represent themselves in government
in practical ways and forms that they develop and which allow them to
have direct control over the events that affect their lives.
(To access articles
individually click on the black headline.)
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