These measures, which have become a pattern in the health-care system in Canada, are an attack on the whole working-class movement. If the wealthy rulers of Canada get away with this assault, they will target other groups of workers. The British Columbia government is already threatening to take similar measures against teachers, who will begin contract negotiations in the fall.

From the standpoint of working people, what jeopardizes the health-care system is not the struggle by nurses and hospital workers for better conditions, but rather the federal cuts in health-care funds, staff reductions, and hospital closings implemented by the provincial governments in the 1990s. Since the mid-1960s, when Medicare was established, the federal government's share of public health-care funding has fallen from 50 percent to 13 percent, with the difference being shouldered by provincial governments.

Today all this translates into inhuman working conditions for overworked nurses and hospital workers, and a significant deterioration of services for patients--fewer available beds, overcrowded emergency rooms, and long waiting lists for more and more medical procedures.

Working people and their unions should join the ongoing fight by health-care workers and nurses. Their fight for improved working conditions, wages, and union rights is also part of the struggle for decent health-care services for all. The solidarity offered by striking workers at Purdy's Chocolate in Vancouver, who have joined demonstrations and rallies organized by the nurses and hospital workers, sets a good example.
 
 
Related article:
Canada health-care strikers resist government attack on unions  
 
 
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