The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.28           August 16, 1999 
 
 
Support Quebec Nurses' Fight  
The Quebec nurses are back to work. Their 23-day strike ended when union officials capitulated at a time when the nurses' determination, their fighting spirit on the picket lines, and the support from other working people in the streets and in the plants were at their highest point.

Nothing has been settled, though. The nurses are back to work without any contract and with heavy fines on their back. The work load, bad working conditions, and low wages that spurred the strike remain. The rulers' attacks against all basic social services will continue. But the attempt by the Quebec government and the big-business media to convince the nurses and their supporters of the need to sacrifice the social programs and services working people fought for and won in the past for their profit drive has been inflicted a serious blow.

The fight in Quebec, and the wave of strikes by nurses in other provinces, is part of the increased working-class resistance that has been unfolding across Canada this year against the capitalist rulers' assault on the public health system. Their struggle confirms once again that with the growing working-class resistance worldwide, conditions are improving for the historic struggle to transform our unions from the dues collecting agencies of the entrenched, privileged officialdom they have become, into organizations that fight to defend the interests of workers and farmers and all those who feel the boot of capitalist exploitation and oppression. By defying the rulers' unjust laws, mobilizing on the picket lines, reaching out to other workers, and using all the space that existed in their union to decide democratically their tactics, the Quebec nurses pointed toward the kind of union we need to resist the onslaught of the capitalist rulers.

The Quebec nurses' lower wages and working conditions are an expression of the national oppression of the Quebecois. By opposing the cuts in social programs imposed by the government of the Parti Quebecois, the nurses and their supporters were the true defenders of Quebec's national rights. The experience and confidence gained over decades by workers in Quebec in their fight against national oppression helped give this struggle its particularly explosive character.

At the same time, their determination to fight was spurred by similar labor struggles earlier this year, especially the successful 10-day strike by the Saskatchewan nurses. These struggles help working-class fighters across Canada to link together in a common fight for our rights and overcome the national divisions imposed on our class by the rulers.

The nurses' fights in Canada this year - in Newfoundland, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia - also reflect the deepening confidence and militancy of workers who are women today.

Now is the time for all working-class fighters in Canada and our unions to demand the Quebec government lift every single sanction imposed on the nurses and their union.

Only by defending the social programs and services, which the working class conquered in past battles, will we be able to reinforce our unity as a class and our unions. This fight poses the need for the labor movement to decisively break with the arguments of the capitalist rulers that all Canadians - or Quebecois - have no choice than to cut social services because of the deepening economic crisis.

Our unions need a political perspective independent of the capitalist parties, a course of action that starts with human needs. This requires an intransigent defense of the universality of all social services and programs against the capitalists' search for profits and active solidarity with all those involved in that struggle.

 
 
 
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