Wildcat! – Fightback Newsletter
Last week's healthcare wildcat strikes are the first shots fired by the working class against the UCP
The Alberta working class is has begin firing back against the UCP’s ruthless attacks on public healthcare. Unionized workers at 50 different job sites walked off the job on Monday, Oct. 26. These strikes were “wildcats” which means they happened spontaneously and without the go-ahead of the Union, showing the endless stores of anger and frustration present in hospitals. Wildcats are a powerful tool because they hit employers before they get a head start at dismantling the strike. The strikes were in response to the UCP’s promise to lay off 11,000 healthcare support workers and privatize services they provide. The UCP is trying to frame these strikes as a threat to public health, but without workers stopping these cuts, many more will die in waiting rooms and two hour ambulance rides.
The strikes lasted around a day, but they sent the Kenney government a message loud and clear: workers in this province will fight the privatization and destruction of healthcare jobs during a pandemic. They are doing fighting for the lives of all Albertans. The alternative is more deaths at the negligent hands of the UCP.
In international news, Polish courts ignited a mass movement in defense of women’s rights after making abortion illegal in all but name. The Nigerian masses also recently took to the streets in a massive outcry against repression from state sponsored violence.
It has also been an eventful month for us at Fightback. Last week, we joined the AUPE picket lines in solidarity, and this month we hosted the remaining events of our online Canadian Marxist University. If you missed it, you can get caught up with the recordings on our YouTube channel. You can also listen to them on our podcast.
Last Thursday’s Marxist University event saw comrades from all over the world join us to discuss The Indigenous Struggle and Marxism. The event coincided with the publication of our long-awaited pamphlet, Indigenous Struggle and the Fight For Socialism: Revolution Not Reconciliation. This is essential reading for anyone wishing to fight for Indigenous rights and emancipation.
Finally, our comrades in the United States are hosting an online Marxist school on the weekend after the US election. Join us on the weekend of November 14–15 to discuss the election, climate change, the struggle against femicides in Mexico, and more. Let’s bring as many Canadians as possible and make this event a smashing success!
Now for this month’s highlights in the struggle for Socialism.
Wildcat strikes in Alberta: First shots fired by workers against UCP
SOCIALIST FIGHTBACK EDMONTON ★ OCT 27, 2020
The UCP is moving to create a public-private healthcare system, and its most recent attack is the laying off of 11,000 public health workers. In response, AUPE workers across the province stood up and walked off the job in a wave of wildcat strikes. But these workers were not only fighting to save their jobs, they were fighting for the health and safety of the whole province. This wave of privatization is only the beginning. As we explain, only organized and mass action from the unions can defeat the cuts.
Interview with an AUPE worker on the wildcat strikes
LAINE SHELDON-HOULE ★ NOV 2, 2020
In this interview, an anonymous AUPE worker describes the strain healthcare workers face from the pandemic, what privatization will mean for patients, and what the UCP’s announcement of the 11,000 layoffs did to the workers’ mood inside the hospitals. They describe the experience of walking out with hundreds of others to defend public healthcare, and they give us some vital thoughts on what needs to be done to build on the energy of these wildcat strikes and take the struggle to the next level.
Jason Kenney attacks the disabled
MARCUS KATRYNIUK ★ OCT 26, 2020
Seventy thousand Albertans rely on disability income through the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program. But now the UCP is aiming to “reexamine” the criteria to qualify as "severely handicapped." No doubt, this will mean making it harder to qualify for AISH. They have also made claiming full CERB payments impossible if anyone in the household receives AISH. This is the latest in a long list of attacks by the UCP on our society's most vulnerable.
Crisis over fishing rights in Nova Scotia: What is the way out?
JULIEN ARSENEAU ★ OCT 19, 2020
The Mi’kmaq nation’s fishermen in Nova Scotia have suffered a wave of violent, racist attacks over explosive tensions in the lobster-fishing industry. Non-Indigenous fishermen destroyed their catch, vandalized their boats, and even burnt down an associated lobster pound. The Indigenous fishermen were fishing with legal right under Canadian law. So why the anger? What is the way forward? To understand, we must look at who is really profiting from the lobster fishery in Nova Scotia and benefitting from the conflict.
Corbyn suspended by British Labour Party – this means war!
SOCIALIST APPEAL – BRITAIN ★ OCT 30, 2020
The suspension of Jeremy Corbyn is only the latest in the Blairites’ attacks on the left of the Labour Party. The Blairites aim to completely liquidate the left. The left must launch an immediate fightback to defend Corbyn–a gloves-off battle, with no holds barred. It must show the Blairites that the left will not be pushed around so easily and fight for a Labour Party with a socialist program!
Lessons of Nigeria’s October 2020 Youth Protest
OLA KAZEEM – NIGERIA ★ OCT 23, 2020
State violence has claimed thousands of lives in Nigeria in recent decades. This accumulated anger boiled over when, on Oct. 3, a young man was killed by the State Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian police force. This sparked a mass movement against state violence. The masses took to the streets, and the movement spread rapidly to at least 20 cities. Terrified, the ruling class tried to violently put down the protests, but this only fueled the fires of insurrection.
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