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National Day of Mourning -- April 28 The Fight for Lives Is the Fight for Rights!
This year, it is being marked in very difficult conditions. The difficulties facing the working people are not just because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its increased spread as a result of more virulent variants. The difficulties caused by the pandemic are made all the more serious because of the irresponsibility of governments who do not hold big business interests or themselves responsible for safety measures, especially at the places of work. A main front of action in the past year has been holding big employers to account, including when they are the governments themselves, for not adequately protecting workers. In this regard, one aspect that is of particular concern and deserves attention is the mental health problems that have become acute as a result of everyone being forced to fend for themselves and work out on their own what's what and what to do or not to do. Abuse has also increased tremendously, especially against women, minority, Indigenous and migrant workers. When they are abused, as when injured workers and retired workers are abused, all workers are abused. There can be no security when everyone's lives depend on the mercy of governments who do not represent their interests and they are not permitted to organize and speak effectively in their own name.
Governments are also using the urgency of the moment to dismantle existing occupational health and safety regimes. They have concentrated into the hands of government ministers more arbitrary police powers to make and break regulations and rule by degree. The ensuing incoherence and crisis of confidence in government causes widespread insecurity and harm to the mental health of the population and to the fabric of the society itself. The extensive neo-liberal restructuring of the state is being carried out under the hoax of necessity to deal with the extraordinary circumstances, whether responding to COVID-19 or re-starting the economy. The aim of the rich and their governments is not to protect the population but to concentrate more power in their own hands under the wretched belief that this enhances their competitive edge. All of it further disempowers the workers and people who have no say in the decisions which affect their lives. On April 28, let us go all out to find ways to affirm and express the right of all Canadian working people to healthy and safe working conditions, to adequate compensation as a matter of right when they are injured or made ill, and to the right to themselves collectively establish working conditions that are safe, for their own sake and for the sake of the society.
Across the country, workers and their families are going through a difficult time. Their fight is a practical fight to resolve the crisis in favour of the working people not the rich. On this occasion, the Workers' Centre of CPC(M-L) joins the workers across the land to mourn the loss of all those who have passed away as a result of COVID-19 or any illness or injury sustained at work. We join the demand for proper compensation regimes in opposition to the anti-social offensive and all measures to dismantle them. Mourn the Dead! Fight for the Living! Workers' Centre,
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
The National Day of
Mourning is held every
year to commemorate workers who have been killed on the job and demand
that those who have been injured or suffer illness due to
workplace-related hazards and conditions get compensation and
treatment as befits a human person at standards agreed upon by the
working
class.
Governments
cater to the interests of big business and even enrich them while
others suffer. This has been revealed time and again in the past year
as a result of their response to the pandemic and the pandemic
conditions themselves. Workers keep producing and delivering goods and
services and must be compensated as a right when
they fall ill or have to work extended hours or irregular shifts or
require child care or help with the care of a family member. The
violation of collective agreements and all kinds of abuses are taking
place, backed by laws which claim such abuses are warranted. Workers
are defamed as troublemakers and criminalized for standing up for
their
rights. It is unconscionable to accuse workers of being selfish,
especially as it comes from those who enjoy positions of privilege and
power and do not live the same lives as those who bear the brunt of
their attacks.
