the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Dec 7, 2020
On December 2, registered nurses at Keck Hospital of USC and USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles held an informational picket and car caravan “honk-a-thon.” They were protesting unsafe working conditions and hospitals’ policy changes that “discourage” health care workers from taking time off, even when experiencing COVID-19 symptoms!
This was only the latest of many, many protests that have taken place throughout the state of California against unsafe conditions at work in the middle of the pandemic. The protests are for hospital staff, and for the patients’ safety as well.
For example, stories abound of hospital employees not being able to get tested for COVID-19 from their own hospital! In the middle of a pandemic, regular testing should be automatic.
Why doesn’t it get done? One, it costs money. Two, the bosses don’t want to pay for results that reveal the need for increased staffing levels and for employees being quarantined.
The fight of the hospital employees against their own management is a matter of life and death ... for the employees and their patients. Safety costs money and the bosses have to be forced to give it up.