Unions’ big lie to Quebec health care workers battling the pandemic: “The government will protect you”
"The palpable anger of health care workers is bound up with growing opposition among all sections of the working class,... But far from channelling this combative sentiment into a working class counteroffensive after decades of capitalist austerity, the unions are doing all they can to stifle and politically neuter it." Image: Engin Akyurt / Pixabay By Richard Dufour Nurses at the Cité-de-la-Santé Hospital in Laval, Montreal’s largest suburb, staged a sit-in Friday, July 31. They were protesting dire working conditions—including chronic understaffing and forced overtime—that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The sit-in was part of a growing series of demonstrations and work stoppages that have taken place at health care institutions in Quebec and throughout Canada in recent months. . Like their counterparts in the United States and internationally, these workers have been impelled to act by unsafe working conditions, in particular the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE). The palpable anger of health care workers is bound up with growing opposition among all sections of the working class to the ruling elite’s disastrous response to the health emergency and the economic fallout from the pandemic. But far from channelling this combative sentiment into a working class counteroffensive after decades of capitalist austerity, the unions are doing all they can to stifle and politically neuter it. Read the full article
