| November 5, 2020 -
No. 75 Workers
Defend Their Rights and Public Health Care Broad
Support for Alberta
Hospital Workers - Peggy
Morton -
November
5 Actions in Support of Hospital Workers
 
November 2, 2020. Calgary rally at McDougall Centre, in support of
hospital workers. CALENDAR
OF EVENTS
|
|
• Unions
Speak Out in Defence of Striking Workers
Status for All Day
of Action
• Fighting
for the Living -- Honouring the Dead
Workers in the Heat of the
Fight to Curb COVID-19
• Protecting Quebec Workers in the Face of
Increasing Workplace
Outbreaks -
Interview, Ann Gingras
• Alberta Frontline Workers' Petition for
Access to N95 Masks
Workers
Defend Their Rights and Public Health Care -
Peggy Morton - 
October
31, 2020. Seniors and Social Workers for Social Justice supporting
hospital workers. The walkouts October 26 at
hospitals and health care centres by members of the Alberta Union of
Provincial Employees have been met with a tremendous wave of support
right across the province. The demands of the workers to stop the
11,000 layoffs the United Conservative Party (UCP) government has
announced, and to reverse and stop further privatization, are receiving
widespread support, while the UCP government's attacks on the workers
are being met with utter contempt. Many people are also calling on
Alberta Health Services to cease and desist from its threats to punish
the workers. In criminalizing the workers, Finance
Minister Travis Toews stated, "Going forward we expect that all unions
respect the bargaining process and stop putting Albertans' safety at
risk. [...] We will not tolerate illegal strike activity." He also said
the workers and the union would "be held accountable" for the strike.
This is the height of hypocrisy and shows the shamelessness of
the UCP government which rips up contracts, passes one bill after
another to attack workers rights, and announces 11,000 layoffs to hand
over critical public services to private interests.  The response to
the UCP government's attempt to blame the workers who are defending the
right to health care was swift. How dare the government suggest that
they are the ones who are concerned about public safety, people have
responded. How dare they accuse our health care workers, our heroes! It
is the government that must be held accountable! Health care workers
show their concern for their patients every day through their deeds, by
putting their health and lives on the line. They are the ones who work
tirelessly to try and keep the health care system functioning despite
all the destruction caused by decades of neo-liberal wrecking.
Many people are also speaking out to thank health care workers
for their courage, and alerting everyone to the grave dangers, chaos
and destruction which the UCP is hell-bent on carrying out. Every day
since October 27, seniors have organized information pickets in front
of the Foothills Hospital in Calgary. On October 31 they were joined by
Social Workers for Social Justice. The unions and associations of
faculty and staff in post-secondary education are organizing
information pickets in Edmonton and Athabasca on November 5. Pickets
are also being organized for 6:15 am on the same day in Edmonton and
Calgary to greet the first shift as they come to work. Many
organizations have issued statements of support; people are speaking
out on social media and in neighbourhood forums, signing petitions,
writing their MLAs, writing letters to the editor, and taking a stand
in many other ways. An important aspect of this
growing resistance is that people are speaking in their own name and
activating their peers, fellow workers, active and retired, and
organizations. An important conclusion is that the workers must rely on
their own thinking and their own organization, discussing and summing
up what their actions have accomplished and going to the next, keeping
the initiative in their own hands.
 
Many unions
expressed their solidarity with striking Alberta hospital workers, who
walked out to demand the United Conservative Party (UCP) government
withdraw the 11,000 layoffs it announced, and joined the workers on the
picket lines. Workers'
Forum is providing excerpts from some of the messages of
support. Alberta Teachers' Association
"When the government and Alberta Health Services decided to
cut 11,000 jobs -- in the middle of a pandemic -- they left these
workers with no other choice. These heroes, at their own personal risk,
have been standing up for us and fighting the pandemic head-on, and
they deserve support and encouragement instead of disrespect and the
threats of job losses. We stand with them," said Jason Schilling,
President of the Alberta Teachers' Association. He also encouraged
teachers to visit the picket lines. Canadian
Union of Postal Workers
"The Canadian
Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) stands in solidarity with striking
health care workers and against the anti-labour government of Jason
Kenney and its bid to deeply slash jobs, erode working conditions, and
trample union rights. In the midst of the worst pandemic in a century,
health workers have tirelessly provided the care needed to the Alberta
population. The Kenney government's plans to eliminate 11,000 unionized
health care positions, outsourcing them to the private sector, will
have the opposite effect, leaving Albertans more vulnerable, and
crippling an already fragile economy," the statement from CUPW said.
"CUPW calls on the labour movement to stand firm against
neo-liberal bullying and anti-union governments and continue to mount a
robust and coordinated response in the face of such threats."
Canadian Union of Public Employees "CUPE
is in full support of Alberta health care workers who are protesting
their loss of jobs at the hands of the Kenney government. The people
who work in health care are the heroes of the pandemic. They risk their
own health to keep the rest of us safe. These workers are being
attacked by Jason Kenney who wants to fire them, and then rehire some
of them into lower paying jobs after stripping them of their pension
plan. "Alberta Health care workers have been
through this before. Previous conservative governments have tried this
routine only to admit it caused too much chaos and disruption. And that
was when there wasn't a pandemic. Jason Kenney needs to stand down.
Jason Kenney needs to cancel his plan to fire 11,000 health care
workers. Click
here to tell Jason Kenney to protect these workers!"
Health Sciences Association of Alberta
"HSAA supports AUPE workers who are standing up against
Kenney's health care cuts that were heartlessly announced in the midst
of this pandemic," said Mike Parker, President of the Health Sciences
Association of Alberta. "Health care workers have
been working tirelessly to keep Albertans safe and they have been
rewarded with threats to their jobs by a government that is hell-bent
on ripping apart our public health care system. The blame for any
disruption to patient care that may occur today needs to land squarely
at the feet of Jason Kenney and the UCP," Parker added.
United Nurses of Alberta
Many nurses
joined the picket lines during their breaks, and United Nurses of
Alberta (UNA) issued a statement saying, "UNA supports the health care
workers who are defending the principle of public health care and
opposing the efforts of the Kenney government to undermine the public
health care system and destroy thousands of jobs. UNA members will not
do the work of other union members. [...] "The
Government of Alberta has created this crisis in the midst of a global
pandemic when it should be supporting health care workers who are
risking their lives to keep Albertans safe," the UNA said.
Unifor
Unifor issued a statement
giving its full support to the striking hospital workers. "In his brief
time in office, Jason Kenney has criminalized dissent, imported the
worst of American labour law, and made devastating cutbacks to public
services during a pandemic. He must be stopped," said Gavin McGarrigle,
Unifor Western Regional Director. "Unifor stands in solidarity with all
of the health care workers standing up for their jobs and for public
services." United Food and Commercial Workers
Union Local 401
"Frontline hospital
workers are taking action in protest against injustice and massive cuts
to public health care that will impact all Albertans. As Alberta's
union for food workers, the struggle of frontline health care workers
during this pandemic is a struggle with which we empathize and
understand. "The right of workers to strike and
withdraw labour in protest is the essential ingredient of a democratic
society, and workers have always found ways of confronting injustice in
the ways that they find most effective. "It has
been reported that striking workers are calling for job security
against the outsourcing of their jobs to the private sector, addressing
short-staffing issues, stopping the privatization of Alberta's public
health care system, and no retaliation for taking a stand in defence of
public health care. Their demands are about protecting the public
interest during the pandemic, and once again, we see workers
courageously leading the charge," UFCW Local 401 President Thomas Hesse
said. 
Status for All Day
of Action 
November 1, 2020. Picket at Toronto office of the Minister of
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Día de los Muertos,
or "Day of the Dead," is celebrated throughout Mexico and Latin
America. It is a celebration of life and death. It was marked this year
across Canada with gatherings, pickets and rallies to honour migrant
workers who have died of COVID-19 while working in Canada, and to
celebrate the struggle to affirm that all human beings have rights,
under the slogan Status
for All! Actions were held in many
cities across Canada, including Halifax, Sherbrooke, Montreal, Toronto,
Niagara, Sudbury and Vancouver. The day of action was coordinated by
the Migrant Rights Network. In Toronto, more than
100 people gathered at Dufferin Park after dusk to remember and
celebrate the lives of migrant workers in Canada and around the world
who have died from COVID-19. A tent was erected with photographs of
those remembered by friends and family. Earlier in
the day a picket, organized by the Workers' Centre of CPC(M-L), was
held in front of the constituency office of Marco Mendicino, the
federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, reiterating
the demand of Status for All. In
Montreal, people rallied outside Radio-Canada to highlight the
invisibility of the struggle of migrant workers for their rights in the
so-called mainstream media. In Niagara region a roadside memorial was
held for Zenaida, a 33-year-old migrant farm worker, a single mother
from Mexico, who was killed in a hit-and-run last year, after which
people rallied at a local Liberal MP's office and an ofrenda (altar) was
built for migrant workers. In Sudbury people gathered at Bell Park.
Between
50,000 and 60,000 migrant workers come to Canada every year under the
Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program and it is estimated that about
1,300 tested positive for COVID-19. Many have died and still these
workers are denied health care, access to emergency income supports,
decent working and living conditions. On October
28, migrant care worker organizations released a report documenting the
experiences of  hundreds of
migrant domestic workers during COVID-19. The report, "Behind Closed
Doors: Exposing Migrant Care Worker Exploitation During COVID-19," can
be read here.
At the launch, Caregivers Action Centre leader Karen Savitra
said: "We should be given permanent residency upon arrival, along with
our families, so that there is no complication for anything. They
allowed us to come to Canada, we worked here, now we want fairness."
Migrant workers are an integral part of the Canadian working
class. The entire system of migrant and temporary worker programs
created by the Canadian state is designed to provide the agri-business
monopolies with cheap labour. It is an assault on the rights of the
most vulnerable, and on the rights of the working class as a whole.
Montreal,QC  
Toronto, ON
 
Peel Region, ON
Niagara, ON
 
Leamington, ON
  
Vancouver, BC
Workers
in the Heat of the Fight to Curb COVID-19
- Interview, Ann Gingras - 
Ann Gingras is President of the
Central Council of the Quebec City--Chaudière-Appalaches
Region of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN), which
represents approximately 45,000 members in all sectors including
health, education, construction, public services, trade and
manufacturing. Workers' Forum: The
National Public Health Institute of Quebec reports that there is
increasing spread of COVID-19 in workplaces in Quebec. Are you
experiencing this in your region? Ann
Gingras: Yes we are. During the first wave, we
were basically spared. We had very few cases in the Quebec City region
and even less in Chaudière-Appalaches, but we are being hit
by the second wave. We see it through community transmission, which
also means in workplaces, like health care, obviously, but now also in
the private sector. There was an outbreak at the Davie shipyard, and an
unprecedented outbreak at the Olymel slaughterhouse in
Vallée-Jonction.  Fortunately,
there are workplaces that have set up a bubble operation, or that have
reviewed the organization of work stations. But as far as the unions
are concerned, it is a daily struggle to ensure that personal
protective equipment is available in sufficient quantities and that
safety standards are met.
WF:
What is the work of the Central Council to curb the spread of COVID-19?
AG: First of all, we
provide a vast amount of information and support to union executives at
the local level. For example, in the spring, we had
to do a lot of work, with all the policies announced at the level of
the Quebec government or the federal government, in terms of monetary
supports for those impacted by the pandemic. Just to untangle all the
information and create a readable document that is available to our
members was quite a job. We had to update it almost every week because
policies were changing or being added. It was necessary to reach out to
as many people as possible so that they could use existing services,
especially in the hospitality sector where people are unemployed and
where the future of many hotels is threatened, as well as in the
restaurant sector, which is hit very hard. As far
as protective equipment is concerned, during the first wave, especially
in the health sector, managers of the health institutions were not
ready. There was not enough personal protective equipment. There was
quite a rush at the beginning to get the necessary equipment and in
sufficient quantity. During this second wave, the protective equipment
situation still has to be monitored. One must always make sure that
there is no shortage, in the health sector and in general in workplaces.
There have been many reports to the Labour Standards, Pay
Equity and Workplace Health and Safety Board (CNEEST) either about
health standards that were not respected or personal protective
equipment that was missing. I must say that CNEEST is reticent in terms
of the notices it can issue to companies or establishments. It may send
an inspector to come and inspect the premises, but it is very rare that
it takes action against an employer. As far as we are concerned,
people's health is not something that is negotiable. With
the reopening of the schools in September, the unions had to be
vigilant. One of our major concerns is the support staff. The teachers
are extremely important, but the support staff are very important too.
For example, we had to make sure that school bus drivers were
protected. School bus drivers are often older and therefore more at
risk. Ways had to be found to ensure that they were protected while
they were managing what was happening on their buses. There
is also a need to ensure that support staff in school service centres
(former school boards) are protected. I'm thinking particularly of the
educators in the daycare services in schools. They are exhausted. There
is a wave of resignations. The government has very little concern for
these people. The concept of the classroom bubble doesn't hold up in
childcare. They are looking after children who come from different
bubbles. We need to minimize the groups, have fewer children per
educator. It is being reduced to a question of cost. Yes, there are
costs, but what about the social cost we are paying with the number of
people leaving the system or getting sick? The educators tell us that
they are being turned into police, spending their day telling children
what they can't do. They are not able to play their role as educators.
Also, there is the way that the Ministry of Families is
managing the issue of home childcare providers. It's havoc for these
women. These are women who take care of children at home. The added
health requirements have lengthened their work day, with the
disinfection of their homes at the end of the day, for example. They
are underpaid, especially with the added hours. In the region, there
are 200 women who have left the daycare system. As
far as teachers are concerned, they have had to reorganize and learn
how to give online courses. They have to control a course that is given
online. They are not computer technicians. They are college teachers.
They have to fight for resources, for example, to reduce the number of
student in a course. There are institutions that have taken advantage
of the situation to enlarge the classes. For example, at Laval
University, lecturers normally teach groups of 100 students. They are
now giving courses to 300. The university says it's an online course so
the lecturer is able to take more students. Teachers don't just have to
teach the material, they also have to answer students' questions.
Institutions should not take advantage of the situation to put such a
burden on the teacher as they have done. WF:
Do you want to add anything in conclusion? AG:
It is important during this pandemic that we are able to implement the
instructions issued by public health so as to express our social
solidarity. But obeying public health instructions does not mean that
we should stop demanding our rights and respect in our workplaces. One
cannot be traded for the other. We always thought
that the concept of workers as being disposable was something of the
past, that we had overcome this way of seeing things. Unfortunately,
for many workers things have come full circle with the pandemic.
This is posing a real challenge to us during this second wave.
A health care aide working in a long-term care home in Edmonton has
started a petition calling on the Alberta government to mandate the use
of N95 masks where health care workers deem them appropriate based on a
point of care assessment.  One long-term
care worker explains: "With the numbers of health care workers
contracting COVID-19 on the job rising, maybe we need to consider that
surgical masks are NOT enough when dealing with COVID-19 patients and
residents. Perhaps when distance cannot be maintained we need to go
with a higher level of protection."
A joint
communication issued by Alberta Health Services (AHS), Alberta Union of
Provincial Employees, Covenant Health, Health Sciences Association of
Alberta, and United Nurses of Alberta in March 2020 is intended to
provide clarity on the approach to the provision of personal protective
equipment (PPE) in Alberta. The communication
states: "A point-of-care risk assessment (PCRA) must be performed
before every patient interaction. The PCRA should include the frequency
and probability of routine or emergent AGMP [aerosol-generating medical
procedures] being required. If a health care worker determines on
reasonable grounds that specific PPE is required, they shall have
access to the appropriate PPE based on their PCRA, and this will not be
unreasonably denied by their employer, or they shall be deployed to
another area. AHS has determined that requests from
long-term care workers for N95 respirators are "not reasonable." It has
not budged from this position despite the terrible number of
preventable deaths of seniors, the death of workers across the country
who gave their lives to care for the residents and patients, and the
rapid spread which has taken place in one facility after another. AHS
even removed N95 masks from sites where the operator had provided them.
What is unreasonable is this refusal to protect residents and staff in
long-term care and seniors' homes. The long-term
care worker, who contracted COVID-19, has started a petition calling on
the Kenney government to provide access to N95 masks for all health
care workers dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Petition The petition reads: Allow Health Care Workers Dealing
with COVID-19 Outbreaks in Alberta access to N95s Working
in Long Term Care as a Health Care Aide in Alberta I am on the
frontlines of the COVID-19 Pandemic. I actually
caught COVID-19 during an outbreak at work. More and more health care
workers are testing positive while following the proper protocols for
PPE for droplet precautions, which are gowns, surgical masks, face
shield or goggles and gloves. This has proved not to be enough to
protect us. We are supposed to be allowed to do a Point of Risk
Assessment and if we feel the need for N95 masks they should be
provided. AHS is denying frontline workers their
right to protect themselves by claiming that surgical masks are enough.
It has become clear that since we cannot maintain distance
from our residents, and we are following the guidelines AHS put out and
we still catch COVID-19, that the precautions need to change. We need
the highest level of protection. The highest level
of respiratory protection is supposed to be used when the long term
effects of exposure are unknown. There is still so much we do not know
about how COVID-19 works. Other areas are starting
to change their views on how COVID-19 is transmitted. Ontario has just
amended their ministerial order to allow the worker to decide if they
need N95s to deal with a COVID positive resident. The CDC in the U.S.
now says that there is evidence of airborne transmission. In
order for us to protect/care for your loved ones we need to be
protected. Let us protect ourselves. Share
the petition with your friends and co-workers! To sign the petition, click
here.
(To
access articles individually click on the black headline.) PDF
PREVIOUS
ISSUES | HOME
Website:
www.cpcml.ca Email: office@cpcml.ca |
