The United Conservative Party (UCP) government in Alberta is out of
control, characterized by irrationality, chaos, revenge-seeking and
total disregard for the people's well-being. The Premier, his Minister
of Health and the Chief Medical Officer of Health disappeared for a
month while the fourth wave surged.
The government refuses to take responsibility for falsely declaring
the pandemic over, removing all health measures to contain COVID-19,
and telling Albertans not to worry, that they would have the best
summer ever. Instead the government is blaming those who followed its
advice and failed to get a first or second vaccination. As always, the
cards played are division, diversion and deception. The
irresponsible actions of a small number of ideologically-driven people
who harass patients and health care workers are being used to suggest
that all actions, which would include the picket lines of the workers
themselves, should not be permitted outside hospitals. According to
this, problems are solved through police powers, not by providing them
with viable solutions as decided by the people concerned.
Throughout
the pandemic, workers have refused to be overwhelmed by feelings of
helplessness in the face of a government which refuses to act to
safeguard the people. Now more than ever is the time to uphold the
stand that Our Security Lies in the Defence of the Rights of All! This
is the time to once again take the lead, as workers have
done throughout the pandemic.
Albertans have gone all out to take up social responsibility --
Protect Our Province (@POPAlberta) brings together doctors, scientists,
ICU nurses, teachers and advocates for education and others and
provides regular podcasts which give a wide range of information and
advocacy for Albertans.
Support Our Students (SOS) took up responsibility to keep everyone
informed about school outbreaks when the government failed to do so.
More than 430,000 Albertans visited the tracker a total of four million
times. SOS continues to organize to make schools safe at a time the
Kenney government has abandoned even the responsibility for
contact tracing in schools and does not report cases until at least 10
per cent of kids are affected. As well as putting forward comprehensive
measures for schools, the site is a valuable resource for sharing the
initiatives people are taking to protect our students.
Workers are refusing to submit to arbitrary measures in many forms.
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) has forced the Alberta
government to back off its unreasonable return to worksite demand.
Provincial government workers who have been working at home can now
continue to do so. All the health care unions are
standing firm against the demands for wage rollbacks and attacks on
wages and working conditions and fighting to end privatization and
solve the problems of understaffing.
Unions are indicating that if and when the government implements the
outstanding sections of Bill 32, the UCP's omnibus anti-worker
legislation passed in July 2020, they will not comply. These provisions
require unions to seek approval from each and every union member for
what are called "political activities and other causes" to be defined
as whatever the government says they are.
Canadians stand with the health care workers. They are taking
initiatives within their collectives to work out together what they can
do to make their workplaces and communities safer. Do not permit the
government to use the situation to impose more arbitrary police powers
on the workers!
Our Security Lies in the Fight for the Rights of All!
This article was published in
Voluem [volume] Number [issue] - September 15, 2021 - No. 83
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08833.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
