Monthly Archives: May 2020

International Nurses’ Day

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On International Nurses’ Day we applaud and salute the work and professionalism of nursing staff throughout the world.

While such praise is due to these workers at all times, it is imperative under current conditions where nurses, along with other workers, stand courageously in the frontline in dealing with the coronavirus. 

Praise is not enough

Praise, however, is not enough. We applaud the courage and commitment of healthcare workers but solidarity is vital. When just a few months ago nurses had to take industrial action to secure pay parity and safe working conditions, demands which had been denied them for years, the Workers Party stood in solidarity with them. Now that they have been placed in danger by the lack of appropriate measures, including personal protection equipment, we stand in solidarity with them again.

For decades health service budgets have been slashed. The new problems created by the Covid-19 pandemic has to be considered in the context of the underfunding of public health infrastructure and the commercialisation and privatisation of health and social care in the pursuit of profit which fulfils the privatisation agenda of the European Union.

Creeping privatisation

Nurses must be provided with all the protective equipment which they need. There must be an immediate end to “creeping privatisation” of health and social care and to the outsourcing of health services and jobs to the private sector. We demand the strengthening of the public health and social care system Health and social care must remain publicly funded and free at the point of delivery.

This crisis has revealed the deep structural problems of the capitalist economy. We acknowledge the bravery and commitment of nurses in the midst of this pandemic, we offer our sincere condolences to those nurses who have lost their lives and we demand that nurses’ pay and safe conditions of work be guaranteed. 

On this day, as on all days, we stand in solidarity with nurses. All workers must defend their rights in a system which is based on their exploitation. The Workers Party will work to end that system and to build a better socialist future.

Photo credit: istockphoto.com/sturti

Easing Lock-down has to be safe, scientific and agreed

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the courage, expertise and and professionalism of our front line and support workers society would not have been able to respond as it has.
Without the courage, expertise and and professionalism of our front line and support workers society would not have been able to respond as it has.

We are living thorough the world’s worst pandemic in more than a century. Thousands of people have died and thousands more have been hospitalised. Without the courage, expertise and and professionalism of our front line and support workers, society would not have been able to respond as it has.

Safe, Scientific and Agreed

As governments, and others, start to talk about easing lock-down, a return to work and the ‘new normal’ it is important that any steps that are being considered are safe, scientific and agreed.

Covid 19 should cause us to re-think our attitude to health and safety at work as well as public well being. Whether an easing of restrictions is being planned for public transport, schools, factories, offices, warehouses or public spaces, the same tests and rules must apply.

A full risk assessment must be undertaken for every area of life being considered for a lock-down relaxation.

For workplaces, that assessment must involve the staff, trade unions, management and owners. The specific risks must identified, decisions must be based on evidence and best practice and everyone involved must be consulted. It must be Safe, Scientific and Agreed

Each workplace plan needs to be signed off by either the trade union health and safety representative or by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) to make sure that they meet all requirements including two metre distancing, PPE and hand hygiene.

All workplace risk assessments must be communicated to workers before they return to work. For schools, any new arrangements need to be made available to support staff, teachers, pupils, parents and relatives. For public transport, staff , commuters and passengers all need to be clear in advance about how health and safety and two metre distancing are going to be safeguarded. For offices, warehouses, factories and for retail outlets the priority must be a ‘safe, scientific and agreed’ path to easing lock-down .

Simply and sensible as that sounds it cannot be taken as a given or as a foregone conclusion.

Too often during this crisis the health and safety of front line and support workers has been taken for granted and casually jeopardised. The lack of PPE and other safety equipment has been an on going issue. Too often solutions to these life threatening risks have been replaced by jingoism, sound bites and the pursuit of profit

Easing the lock-down restrictions has to be governed by a different approach and a different set of rules. We owe it to each other, we owe it to the front line workers and those who support them and we owe it to the all those who have lost relatives and friends and to those who have given their lives saving others.

If securing a safe, scientific and agreed easing of lock-down takes time to achieve then that is a price well worth paying.

75th Anniversary of the defeat of fascism

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Red Army soldier Meilton Kantaria raising the Soviet flag over the Reichstag
in Berlin in 1945

This weekend marks the 75th anniversary of the defeat of fascism in Europe.

Peace came to Europe in May 1945 – but at great cost. The Soviet Union played a decisive role in that struggle and sustained the biggest losses. Twenty million citizens of the Soviet Union were killed; 25 million lost their homes; 1,700 cities, 70,000 villages and 31,850 industrial enterprises were destroyed.

The Soviet Union, the Red Army, under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the communist partisans and resistance fighters of Europe were instrumental in securing that defeat, demonstrating the meaning of socialist internationalism.

The Workers Party salutes the Great Anti-Fascist Victory and the memory of the men and women from all countries, who fought and died in the fight against fascism. They shall not be forgotten.

75th-anniversary-of-the-anti-fascist-victory-in-europe

The 20-20 vision of Des O’Hagan

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Des O'Hagan - Wikipedia
Des O’Hagan

Between 2011 and 2018 the EU Commission made 63 demands that governments cut spending on healthcare and/or outsource or privatise health services.

As we struggle with the new problems created by the Covid-19 pandemic and the problems caused by capitalism’s underfunding of public health infrastructure and the commercialisation and privatisation of health and social care in the pursuit of profit which fulfils the privatisation agenda of the European Union we recall the telling words of Des O’Hagan written in a different time.

“The fightback has begun, to some extent, in different countries and at different levels.

But as capitalism develops its common European mansion with strategic headquarters in Brussels and Strasbourg, the urgency of our concern to begin building a common European home within which the citizen will be lord and master is clear.  

It demands a new unity of thought, of purpose and of action. It can draw on the strengths (and mistakes) of the past; it demands also that we create a leadership with a bright and inspiring vision of a world unified in the pursuit of human freedom.”

The words of Des O’Hagan who died on 5th May 2015

Domestic Abuse Bill must go further

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The ‘Domestic Abuse and Family Proceedings Bill’ currently being debated in the Assembly will be a welcome, and long overdue, addition to Northern Ireland’s existing legislation.

When passed, coercive control will be added to the list of domestic abuse offences which can be prosecuted in the courts.

Coercive control includes psychological, emotional or financial abuse and non-violent intimidation.

While that has long been a key characteristic of domestic abuse, up until now, it has not been a specific crime. Coercive control, can involve several types of abuse including:

  • Being told what to wear
  • Being isolated from friends and family
  • Having money taken away or controlled
  • Having social media accounts monitored or controlled, or
  • Being threatened with violence to behave in a certain way

The new Bill however falls short in a number of areas. It does not include stalking as a specific offence, for example, and it makes no provision for the appointment of a Domestic Abuse Commissioner, a post already in place in England and Wales.

A Domestic Abuse Commissioner for Northern Ireland would ensure that public bodies and Government Ministers were obliged to cooperate and respond the Commissioner’s recommendations on domestic abuse initiatives. A Commissioner would also carry out research, work with public authorities and voluntary organisations, and raise public awareness of domestic abuse.

The Commissioner’s office would also be able to advocate for specialist domestic abuse services such as refuges or specialist victim services.

Domestic abuse legislation has already been affected by the collapse of the Assembly. Now that there is an opportunity to make up for lost time the new legislation needs to be as comprehensive and effective as possible.

Legislating for a Domestic Abuse Commissioner would signal the Executive’s intent that the new legislation is to be taken seriously and that there is still much to be done

24 Hour Domestic Abuse Helpline number

May Day 2020: saluting the bravery of all key workers

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This year, May Day assumes a special significance as we salute the bravery of all the health, care, transport, shop-workers and other key workers and the sacrifices they are making to provide vital services in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic

The Workers Party sends greetings and solidarity to our fellow workers at home and abroad. Each year on May 1, workers across the world celebrate and commemorate International Workers’ Day (May Day).

 May Day commemorates past labour struggles and a commitment to renew the struggle for workers’ rights and a better future. It recalls the gains and achievements of the international working class.

Bravery

This year, May Day assumes a special significance as we salute the bravery of all the health, care, transport, shop-workers and other key workers and the sacrifices they are making to provide vital services in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. We send our condolences and stand in solidarity with the families of those key workers who have already lost their lives to Covid-19.

We call to account those who could have done more to protect them, whether by proper enforcement of social distancing, caring for workers with underlying health conditions or the provision of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep them safe.

In many cases during this crisis, the health, safety and lives of workers have been sacrificed to the pursuit of profit, a condition endemic to the social system under which we live.

This current crisis has further exposed the glaring contradictions in the capitalist system. Despite the repeated false narrative of the capitalist class that “we are all in this together” it is workers, the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, students and older working class people who have faced the brunt of the pandemic and who have been disproportionately impacted.

Read the Party’s May Day 2020 statement in full here:

workers-party-statement-may-day-2020