Internacia Laboristo Associo AIT/IWA Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores / International Workers Association / Associaton Internationale des Travaillleurs / अंतररा ीय िमक संघ / Internationale Arbeiterassoziation / Internationale Arbeiders-Associatie / 国际工人协会 / Между - Mi ędzynarodowe / ﺍﻧﺟﻣﻥ ﺑﻳﻥ ﺍﻟﻣﻠﻠﯽ ﮐﺎﺭﮔﺭﺍﻥ / народная ассоциация трудящихся Stowarzyszenie Pracowników / Internationella arbetar-associationen / Uluslararası ﺟﻣﻌﻳﺔ ﺍﻟﺷﻐﻳﻠﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻣﻳﺔ / הסתדרות / ,Emekçiler Birli ği / Me đunarodno udruženje radnika Asosiasi Pekerja Internasional / Associação Internacional dos / הפועלים הבינלאומית Trabalhadores / Международно работническо сдружение / Διεθνής Ένωση Εργατών / আজািতক িমক সংগঠন (আই ডািউ এ) / Medzinárodnej asociácie pracujúcich / Internasjonale Arbeider - Assosiasjonen

Information Bulletin – Special Covid19 SRAS2 – Health and care Workers

The Coronavirus pandemic affects all countries and will have an impact - direct or indirect - on the lives of billions of people. It is important despite the crises we are going through to keep our critical mind, to try to understand how we got into this situation, how to cope, and how to imagine solutions for after the crisis. IWA is the International Workers Association. It brings together worldwide workers, gathered into national sections, who recognize themselves in the principles, tactics and purposes of anarchosyndicalism. We want to contribute to this necessary work of collective critical reflection about the situation. By this bulletin, we have gathered texts produced by IWA sections, or groups we feel close to, who are active in the health and care sector. It emerges from these articles that overall the situation is the same everywhere: lack of means, lack of training, staff sacrificed by an unpreparedness of the health services which have been destroyed for several years in the name of managerial efficiency and financial profitability. Today we see the effectiveness of these restructurings ... total havoc … This disorganization and even this chaos are not the fruit of chance, they are not due to anarchists, they are the result of the combined action of the State and . To save humanity, we have no choice but to organize collectively to put an end to the state and capitalism. If you wish to continue receiving this newsletter, contact your AIT section in your country (contact list is on http://iwa-ait.org ) or the AIT secretariat: [email protected] "Anarchy is the highest expression of Order. "(E RECLUS) Let’s finish with the Chaos of State and Capitalism! CONTENT Care worker organising in a pandemic (Sol Fed, UK, 2020-04-10) ...... 2 War triage, containment and the role of the working class (CNT-AIT, Spain, 2020-04-03) ...... 3 Careworkers: Cannon fodder to the coronavirus? (SolFed, UK, 2020-04-08) ...... 4 In front of the current folly, we oppose experience. Statement from the CNT-AIT Madrid’s Health Section (CNT- AIT, Spain, 2020-03-28) ...... 6 Professional elections are not protective for unionists, they are a lure and a trap ! No to repression against workers in Health sector ! (CNT-AIT, France, Spain, 2020-04-07) ...... 8 Even (and especially) during a crisis, get the goods ! (CNT-AIT, France, 2020-04-07) ...... 9 Care workers are not soldiers! (CNT-AIT, France, 2020-04-05) ...... 9 Mutual aid in action: IWA sections exemples of concrete solidarity (BASF-IWA Bangladesh, ZSP-IWA Poland, March 2020) ...... 10 This System is Making Us Sick (IWA Secretariat, 2020-03-16) ...... 10 Workers Autonomous of Bulgaria position in connection with the Global pandemia and introductoin of the emergency state (ARC, Bulgaria, 2020-03-13) ...... 12 Coronavirus : while politicians chitchat, workers are suffering ! (CNT-AIT, France, 2020-03-08) ...... 13

Care worker organising in a pandemic (Sol Fed, UK, 2020-04-10) Care workers right now are facing a huge challenge. We were overworked, at risk and underpaid before Covid-19 came along. A lot of us are facing massive upheaval in our work and personal lives. Lockdown is stopping us from seeing our friends, and colleagues, and the demands nowaced on the NHS, care homes and other workplaces have increased and changed rapidly. So now more than ever we are asking, what can we do?

What are we facing? Some of the issues we are facing are new, and some are old problems exacerbated by the current crisis. The first one we are going to look at is the most common and well known right now.

PPE If you didn't know how important PPE was a few months ago, you probably know now. PPE (Thats Personal Protective Equipment in case you missed it) is desperately needed. Because Coronavirus is a respiratory virus, you are at risk of contracting it if you are in close contact with anybody (Hence social distancing measures). That risk is increased massively when working with patients who are displaying symptoms, and even more so if your work involves procedures that are aerosol generating (opening airways, ventilating etc). The PPE you need, as advised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Public Health England (PHE) is detailed online, depending where you work and what kind of work you do. The highest level of PPE, and therefore the safest, is: - Gloves - Gowns (arm or leg covering) - FFP3 mask - Face visor Every single item of this should be single use and not re-used. I know personally that workers such as myself, at the highest level of risk, are not being provided with the correct equipment, or being asked to re-use it to save on PPE. This is hugely dangerous and puts everyone at risk, yourself, your family and any other patients you come into contact with.

What can we do? First step is to find out what PPE you need to do your work safely. Do not ask your managers what this is, and do not trust what they tell you. Go online and find out what the guidance is, or ask colleagues what they have heard. Chances are there will be varying opinions and stories, advice has changed almost every day since lockdown, so its important you find out what your colleagues and you need to protect yourselves. If there is an issue (there will be) then raise it with everyone. Start with your colleagues, discuss the importance of pressuring management to provide you with a supply of correct PPE and make sure it continues. Emphasise that unless you are protected as workers, you cannot possibly care for and protect your patients properly. Also emphasise the huge risk to yourselves and your loved ones, doctors nurses and healthcare assistants have all died of Coronavirus during this pandemic, this would not have happened if they were properly protected from day one. What can you expect? Management are most likely going to try and push your concerns aside, they will cite shortages and ‘advice’ from other management about what you need and it will not be what you want. Unfortunately, you can also expect some pushback or apathy from your colleagues. Care work has an unpleasant tendency for some workers to adapt a ‘get on with it’ approach. So used to cutbacks, poor pay and overwork, this is not surprising, but it needs to be challenged and overcome as much as possible. How can we get what we want? This will depend hugely on what work you do, your colleagues, patients, management etc. The first thing to think about is how to apply pressure, what do management want more than anything, and can you use that as leverage. Right now, the continuation of the service is top priority, if you and your colleagues feel at risk with the PPE being provided, or not provided with any, then try and stop that service. This may be a big challenge, and will take a lot of discussion. Emotional blackmail is one of the things we often encounter when organising as care workers, ‘who will look after the patients’, ‘people will suffer’ even ‘people will die’. But remember, this is a very unique situation, nobody has faced a working environment like this in living memory, so it is vitally important that we start trying to counter attitudes and beliefs which put the patient over the safety of workers. If we get sick, if we die, there then will be nobody to provide the care that is needed. We are a specialised workforce, and regardless of how badly paid and treated we are, we are not easily replaced. Our experience and training means we must stay safe if the management want that work to continue, because we all know they aren't able or willing to do it… Publicity is another potential pressure point. Most organisations, especially the NHS (National Health Service), are trying very hard right now to appear as though things are ‘under control’, even when we know as workers that it is far from the truth. If you feel like putting out information about the dangerous working conditions will help your cause, then find a way to do it. Just be aware that it will most likely be best to be as anonymous as possible. The ? If the law wasn't a huge amount of use to us before, then it certainly isn't now. However it is still useful to have some backing when convincing colleagues and threatening management. There are which surround safety in the workplace, adequate PPE and so on. Its not worth your while learning all of these back to front, however there are certain passages of law it can be useful to quote and share around, section 100 of the 1996 Employee act is a good start. It essentially covers workers who stop working because of facing dangerous situations in the workplace.

Stick together and fight We have to start fighting for more and better PPE now, and we have to look after each other. This is a hugely stressful and frightening time for care workers, so now more than ever we need to stick together, look after each other, and have each others backs. We can't let this issue slide like we have in the past, this is not simply a pay cut, another understaffed shift, or extra job for you to do. This is our wellbeing, our lives and our health. If we don't fight back now, we may never get another chance.

Manchester Solfed War triage, containment and the role of the working class (CNT-AIT, Spain, 2020-04-03) The members of the CNT-AIT Union of Albacete, and particularly of its section at the residence for the elderly Alábega, we address the entire working class in order to publicize the struggle that our anarcho- union leads against the Provincial Directorate of Social Protection of Albacete. It is not the first time that the CNT-AIT has denounced the minimalist services put in place by the State and by companies in this sector, with their insufficient results, despite the legal provisions in force (decree of 04 / 06/2013, of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs by which the minimum conditions of centers for the elderly in Castile and Manche are regulated, modifying the decree of 2001). It's not a question of paperwork, on that side they have everything they need ... The situation was so serious in the residences that the health emergency, produced by COVID-19, highlighted the lack of available to the elderly. This situation was not and is not an isolated situation, or limited at the present moment, on the contrary. Despite everything, in many residences the service continues to be provided, thanks to the significant efforts made by the staff, despite heavy workloads, despite the lack of staff, the lack of technical equipment. However, the COVID-19 health crisis caused the precariousness that lived in this type of service to explode, and made it obvious that everything relies on workers' efforts.

In fact in seniors' residences there is only one problem, which we may well call the infamous "geriatric management business". During these years, the minimum services of the residences, in addition to being insufficient, could not meet the needs of the elderly, mainly because the minimum services had been sanctioned by the cuts planned to support the profits and the profitability of managing companies, at a time when we are witnessing an aging population. It is estimated that about 75% of people over the age of 65 suffer from chronic illnesses and 20% from mental illnesses. This abandonment situation is no different from other Spain regions. The capitalist system and its individualist ideology have not only strengthened the State apparatus but have generated a destructuring of society, especially in the health and care sector, solidarity and mutual support. A social breakdown that has generated, on the one hand, social isolation, and on the other hand, the strengthening of the economic model of private management of care in retirement homes. As of March 26, of the 4,366 people who died in Spain, 1,517 were from seniors' residences, with a total percentage of at least 37% of people dead across Spain. In the community of Madrid alone, at least 1,065 people have died from this type of residence. The aging of the population has developed in our country an economic sector which sees increasing its profits aimed at exploiting the trade of veterans of the working class. The activity of these centers is extremely profitable. During 2020, these groups of companies were expected to see their profits increase by 20%. International capitalism not only does not shy away from this kind of enterprise, but in addition it has managed to find the formula to exploit workers for as long as possible, continuing to exploit them once they are no longer sufficiently productive and directly profitable. The infamous health trade is even more disgusting when the working class is forced to use this type of service. The application of capitalist criteria to health care is nothing new. When profit is what counts more, it is always directly proportional to the savings made on facilities, care, personnel and equipment. Even if they are unhappy with this situation, the elderly have only one guarantee to preserve the quality of their situation as much as possible: the workers in the health sector. However, these workers increasingly see their rights violated, convention after convention, without generating any considerable improvements. The ICU (Intensive Care Unit) admission protocol is an example of the application of capitalist criteria that is widely used in hospitals. The intervention protocol - also called "triage" - of selecting and classifying patients is used by emergency and disaster medicine. This protocol does not aspire to satisfy the population’s health needs, but to save health centers from a possible crisis. These protocols only make sense in a situation of limited resources in the current health system. The criteria used by emergency or disaster medicine protocols no longer work with the maxim of “saving the greatest number of lives”, but with the criterion that some lives are more important than others. These selection and classification procedures could be described as war triage , which mainly responds to the rescue of the greatest number of usable troops, according to the concept of patients' quality of life. As health personnel who are members of the Albacete Syndicate of Albacete of the CNT-AIT, we denounce these protocols - which could be defined as social eugenics protocols - directed against the most vulnerable population. Even more so because if these protocols are to be used, it is because the health support on which the population depends has been destroyed and it is unable to bear the current workload. Furthermore, we are making it clear that all of the are responsible for this destruction of the health infrastructure and it is more than necessary that the responsibilities be sought in each of them. One of the most aberrant cases is that which brought together the Ministry of Health of the Generality of Catalonia and the Sistema d'Emergències Mèdiques (SEM) (System of Medical Emergencies of Catalonia), which recommended to professionals of health care intensive care units (ICU) do not welcome patients over 80 years of age in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. This political and health recommendation cannot be other than that resulting from this type of infamous protocols. From the Albacete Syndicate of Albacete of the CNT-AIT, we denounce the health trade and the multinationals of geriatrics, and we will fight so that our health is not a trade in the hands of companies, whether they are Mutuals, private or state-owned companies. We are not going to allow them to amass their fortune with our blood. CNT-AIT Albacete union Careworkers: Cannon fodder to the coronavirus? (SolFed, UK, 2020-04-08) It is well known by anyone who has ever worked in, or been around the social care system, how much employers in that sector try to exploit their staff and just how badly they treat them. Care workers have long felt they are viewed in low regard by both local authorities and the , until recently being described by both local and national politicians as being ‘low skilled’. This has started to make headlines in the national press and get into the public consciousness and never has it been more apparent than during the current Coronavirus crisis, where employers have shown a complete disregard for the safety of not only their workers, but also for the people who use their services. Careworkers have shown an unwavering commitment and compassion to the people they support by continuing to travel to work to support them every day despite the risks, with some workers going so far as to move into their places of work, leaving their behind at home, in order to help shield the people they care for from the virus. Meanwhile care employers have shown their usual commitment and compassion to their employees by treating them as badly as they possibly can in order to protect profit margins. Most care workers have never been eligible for sick pay and receive only Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and this has continued during the current crisis. Workers have said they have been pressured to go into work and do shifts even though they are isolating at home either because they themselves have become sick or due to a sick or shielding family member and some of those that live in a household with a high risk family member and who want to self isolate to protect them have been told that they will not even be eligible for SSP and will go unpaid, as it is not they themselves who are sick. Care staff have also been pressured to provide sick notes for all time spent off self isolating due to having Cornavirus symptoms, despite the government advice being that you only need to provide an isolation note, which can be applied for online to help ease pressure on GP surgeries, and of course the fact that all absences 7 days or less can be self- certified. The government’s mixed messaging on pay for workers who are shielding due to health issues has led to complete confusion as to whether care staff who are shielding at home for 12 weeks are entitled to be furloughed as per the government’s program and receive at least 80% of their regular wage. Some workers are saying that their employer has agreed to place them on furlough while others have said that they have been told they will only receive SSP for 12 weeks. Some staff have even been told they will be placed on furlough only to be told later that their employer will not be doing so. For low paid staff who are on and often have no savings, the prospect of being on SSP, which is currently only £94.25 a week, for at least 12 weeks with no idea of when this will be over, is a pretty daunting one and one that may not be affordable for many. The lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as gloves, masks and aprons as well as hand sanitizer and cleaning equipment for care workers is a national scandal and is leaving both care workers and the people they care for at massive risk of contracting, or spreading through no fault of their own, the Coronavirus. So desperate has the situation become that companies have tried to source PPE from local nail bars and vet’s practices with up to 80% of providers saying they do not have adequate PPE. One worrying report emerged from the GMB union in Scotland of a care home locking PPE in a cupboard away from staff. Care staff have been receiving varying, if any, advice on how and when to use PPE with some being told by their employers that some PPE will only be provided if a service user is showing symptoms of Coronavirus and they have to perform personal care, despite the fact that the virus seems to be extremely contagious, easily transmissable and spreading at a rapid rate and by the time the company has got around to deciding to provide PPE, it may be too late. The lack of Coronavirus testing also means that care staff are having to isolate for up to 14 days without knowing if they, or someone they live with. has the virus and also leaves them open to being pressured by management to return to work, not knowing if they still have, or have had, the illness. The very human cost of the lack of resources from government and the negligent practices of care companies is being tragically demonstrated across the country as the death toll grows higher and the virus spreads. One care home in Glasgow has lost 16 residents after Coronavirus spread through the service and another in Liverpool has also been hit badly where 9 residents have died with the home manager saying two thirds of her staff were off ill. Several care workers across the country have now sadly died from the virus. Care workers have described the current situation as feeling like they are ‘cannon fodder’, the phrase coming from armed conflict where soldiers, historically from poor and working class backgrounds, would be sent to the front lines and were seen as disposable. The similarity here is that once again the working class is seen as expendable and little thought is given to their welfare by the bosses and politicians as long as work is being done and services being provided or profit being made. For too long care workers have been described as low skilled and they remain some of the lowest paid workers in the country, yet recently we have seen their dedication and bravery in working through the Coronavirus. A workforce that is overwhelmingly made up of female and migrant workers, which has a lot do with the exploitation they have been subjected to, has shown just how essential they are whilst the bosses and those in positions of authority have demonstrated once again just how incompetent and cowardly they are with care company CEOs, directors and senior managers safely working from home but expecting frontline staff to take huge risks. When we hopefully, eventually get through this crisis it is obvious the care sector needs to be completely transformed to work for the people who need its care and the people who provide it, rather than in the interests of profit. The way the system is now just cannot continue. If you want to organise your workplace and improve your conditions please get in touch with and we can help. Manchester Solfed

In front of the current folly, we oppose experience. Statement from the CNT- AIT Madrid’s Health Section (CNT-AIT, Spain, 2020-03-28)

Among so many information and disinformation media, we want to offer data on the people who are experiencing this pandemic more closely: caretakers, assistants, nurses, doctors and hospital cleaners. Each with an experience, each with his helplessness and despair.

From Madrid, where in theory are the largest hospitals in Spain, the ones with more resources and more specialized services; to the smallest hospitals of other Spain provinces such as Salamanca or Valladolid and towns of Cáceres and Lugo, all healthcare in the Spanish geography is being affected by the mismanagement of politicians, advisers and hospital managers. Poor foresight, even with 's example so close, and continued inadequate decision-making continues to put all health personnel, and thus all citizens, constantly at risk. The health professionals of the biggest hospoital in Madrid (Gregorio Marañón, La Paz and October 12) that emergencies are a real disaster in terms of lack of organizational protocols, occupational hazards and staff training. This translates into: working without protective equipment or sharing material, such as glasses and gowns or diluted mixtures of alcoholic gel with water "to make it last longer". The equiment appears when staff puts pressure on the authorities responsible for the hospital; unequal distribution of the protection material by hierarchy, so that the cleaners, even though they are the most exposed, are the ones that receive the least protection. Action protocols are constantly changing, the one that should have been followed yesterday, is not valid today and ironically it adapts to the amount of material that exists and not to information on the behavior of the virus itself. The mobilization of the personnel of many other emergency services and the lack of training of personnel in the field of infectious diseases are causing a malfunction, in addition to its overflow. The anesthesia or cardiology residents, mostly unfamiliar with emergencies of this type and less trained in action protocols against these diseases, are at the forefront of those infected, who, due to their number, have neither the means nor the time nor the space to serve. In addition, many health professionals who know they are infected by the conditions in which they are carrying out their work, obeying to their own personal or professional ethics, continue working under the same conditions. In other regions of Spain, although with the same technical and organizational problems, smaller hospitals are suffering the withdrawal of part of their material, such as respirators, which are being sent to Madrid, leaving these health centers with a derisory number of the more than recognized necessary appliances. The emergencies of these other hospitals outside Madrid, although the virus came later, have already been overwhelmed for some days and, according to informants from The Ministry of health, this continues to rise. The improvisation of isolation rooms, in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and corridors such as examination rooms, are becoming a routine for personnel who, as we have already said, are little or nothing familiar with this type of disease. Another totally opposite vision that shows a good example and bring some hope is the work in the Infectious Unit (not in the emergency room) of the Carlos III hospital. These health professionals, from doctors to cleaners, are trained in infectious materials (This hospital had to deal with Ebola patients in the past) that allows them, even with a reduced amount of material, to use the maximum of the possibilities of their situation without exposing themselves to becoming infected, working in an environment of greater tranquility and security and offering patients and their families (something that seems to have been forgotten with so much confinement and isolation) better and greater healthcare. In this place, we work with very established protocols and internalized by the personnel that, we hope, managers and directors of the rest of the hospitals would be willing to imitate. CNT-AIT affiliates from Madrid who work in this hospital have sent us the way in which Carlos III approaches the current pandemic following its protocols, which has proven to be effective in containing and treating epidemics. We believe that its widespread implantation in all public and private centers where patients with coronavirus have to be treated is of extreme need, with the inevitable investment in resources by Hospital executives, no matter if they are businessmen, shareholders or State owned. We reproduce his letter:

(…) As a result of the experience with Ebola, in out unit we currently have 3 different plants dedicated to coronavirus. A closed window has been added to each room in each door, so that we can communicate with the outside and also be aware of the patient and of our companions when they enter the room. We have a register book where we write down all our entries: who enters, name, ID, telephone, time of entry, time of exit and who is in charge of “mirroring” the staff in the room. We always have a person outside the room, whom we call a “mirror”, who is in charge of giving all the necessary support to the colleagues who are inside, helps in everything they need and, in the end, helps them to get out of the room without making mistakes, in case the person inside gets nervous. Inside the room we have 3 black waste bins : - One with a blue bag, where the used clothing of the patients is deposited. This bag is taken out when it is full, following a procedure that consists of: first, taking it out of the black bucket, it is sprayed with Virkon 1 and passed to the mirroring partner who is outside the room; he receives it without touching it by putting in another blue bag, which is tightly closed and re-sprays with Virkon; from there it goes to cage carts whi 2ch is taken to the linen service to be washed, according usual procedure. As the Community lingerie service to which we sent the dirty stuff it is privatized, we do not know how clothes are handled there. - The other two black waste bins inside the room are for the waste of the sick or for all the disposable material of the workers who enter the room to attend to the patients (food remains, sponges, serums, leftover medications, diapers , soaps, water bottles, plastic cups, gauze, etc.) and for disposable items related to our safety, such as our dressing gowns, masks, gloves ... Inside the room there is be a small table near the door, in which we have Virkon, alcohol, Purell (disinfectant for use on the skin), a glove box of size L - in case it is necessary to put on a glove at some point in time - disposable cardboard pans (containers), sponges, blue garment bags, large green bags, and small green bags (necessary for disposing of diapers, soaps, or all residual material for patient hygiene). We also have a yellow container to dispose of any sharp material that, when full, will be thrown into a black container. These containers, when full, are tightly closed, sprayed with Virkon, and delivered to our mirror, which will pick them up and spray them with Virkon again. Thus they go to the cleaning service that will collect them and take them to the place indicated for their destruction. Outside the room we have another table that will have: Virkon, alcohol, Purell, disposable pads, gloves, surgical masks, green robes, blue bags for clothes, large and small greens, soaps and antiseptic and disinfectant wipes and another black bucket to dispose in case of need. At the beginning of the day, we make a meeting when patients are attributed to several tandems formed by a TCAE (Technician in Auxiliary Nursing Care) and a nurse, according to the staff we have. Before entering the rooms, each group assesses who enters, where and what is to be done. In order to save material without taking risks and to be able to take care of patients adequately, especially those who are dependent on what their basic needs must be covered (eating, personal hygiene, taking medication, reassuring them, etc.), we go through all the rooms that have been attributed to our team with the same surgical gown, FPP2 mask and waterproof glasses, and we change our gloves (which we will wear in two pairs one above the other to change them without risk of contact), a disposable green gown and a surgical mask that we put, before entering, above the FPP2. In each room, before leaving for the next, we discard the green gown, the gloves and the surgical mask, keeping the surgical gown, the FFP2 mask and the waterproof glasses. Of course, any TCAE-nurse tandem needs the support of another group from the outside, so there is always be someone waiting for us. Our mirror is waiting with a soaker on the floor of the exit of the room impregnated with Virkon and he sprays it also on our clogs. We go to the next room and we put on a green gown, gloves and another surgical mask in front of the FFP2. When we finish all our rooms, we dispose of our waterproof glasses in a yellow bucket to be sprayed with alcohol, then washed with soap and water and dried, to reuse them. We put our FFP2 mask in a plastic bag with our name, and we use it all the shift we work. The staff who are mirrored outside the rooms put on a green gown, surgical mask and non-waterproof glasses. Inside the room we have a thermometer for each patient and a cuff for every two patients. Every time we have to take blood pressure or saturation, we introduce the necessary devices. When we leave the room, our mirror receives you at the door when we have finished, spray Virkon on the wheels of mobile equipment on clean the rest with disinfecting wipes. He writes down on a sheet from the outside all the constants that we are telling him, since we cannot put paper and pen in each room to write.

1 Virkon is an effective disinfectant product against viruses for sanitary use 2 Cage carts are cage-shaped carts that are used for the accumulation and transfer of clothing and other items in large quantities. The food is served in disposable containers, which are thrown into the black cubes. What can’t be thrown is taken out of the room and always after being sprayed with Virkon. For any action that does not require contact with the patient, such as introducing food, taking a deceased into their sealed bag (which we have previously sprayed with Virkon) or any other act without contact and at a distance, we use the green gown, FPP2 mask and non-waterproof glasses, since there is no risk of secretions or contact with drops carrying the virus. The cleaning staff belongs to a private company, since it is outsourced, and they use the same procedure as we do, although they are using the nursing material because their company does not provide them with the necessary (...) For all this, we demand a greater organization of emergencies and units of all Spanish hospitals, explicit training of workers to face this situation, as well as sufficient material to protect professionals (whether public or private employees) and patients. In addition, we recognize the enormous physical and moral effort of all these health workers who are working in the worst conditions, as well as the sick and relatives who, forced to be in hospitals, are witnesses to the lack of ressources and organization. CNT-AIT Madrid Heath Section

Professional elections are not protective for unionists, they are a lure and a trap ! No to repression against workers in Health sector ! (CNT-AIT, France, Spain, 2020-04-07) Many of us, workers in the health sector, we want to express our revolt against this disorder created by the criminal policy of Capitalism and the State and by the incompetence of our management. But we must be careful because the exercise of critical speech does not please managers. They do not hesitate to repress workers who dare to say out loud what all colleagues think in a low voice. We must also be wary of the “false friends” that are the official unions and professional elections.

In Spain, dismissed from a senior citizen center for refusing ... to vote in professional elections. On February 19, our colleague, nurse and affiliate of the CNT-AIT union in Toledo, was dismissed from the Nuestra Señora de la Natividad residence for informing the company that she was not ready to be threatened again and forced to participate in union elections which were to take place in the company. The boss had already chosen his representative, a worker having “sold out” to the management, and everyone was forced to vote for him under threat of dismissal. Our compañera refused to play this infamous masquerade, especially since by essence anarchosyndicalists do not participate in professional elections. This therefore led to her dismissal by the management of the company. This heinous act, in the midst of the Coronavirus crisis, is a threat to our colleague and to the working class, violating and of association.

In France, the status of elected staff representative does not protect against repression In Northern France, a unionist from an alternative left-wing union (SUD) believed that she was protected by her status as a union representative at the hospital’s Works Council (equivalent to the NRLB in the USA). She was fired for saying the truth out loud that management did not want to hear. There are other reported cases of idenical dismissal for same reasons. Employee representatives, elected in Works councils, believed that because they have been elected according a legal procedure, they are protected by law and so they could say what they thought. IWA sections and anarchosyndicalists, we have been saying for years that elected staff are not protected by law: they are only protected when they actually agree with their boss / manager, but in case of disagreement legal protection is a lure. And now it is even a trap: all those who officially registered sections, all those who stood for professional elections, they have given their names to the authorities, and so they are identified and marked as potential sources of revolt. While the government in France is taking more and more laws to limit public and is moving towards a "hard ", it is necessary to campaign more discreetly and to get back to the struggles’ tactics of the beginnings of unions, at a time when there was no workers' law or other false protection. Some hospital workers with whom we had been talking for several months, and who insisted on officially declaring a section to the management of their hospital, while we told them that it was not necessarily a good idea, because we think that 'there is no need to register a union section to be active on the ground (union registration is not compulsory in French law) are now beginning to understand our point of view and fully agree with us. As we can see by hose exemples, bosses want docile workers. Professional elections only serve to give the illusion of democracy. Only the construction of a balance of power, based on the workers' self-organization outside of any institutional scheme, will allow them to gain autonomy, a prerequisite for our victories against exploitation. Healh workers of CNT-AIT Paris union Even (and especially) during a crisis, Direct action get the goods ! (CNT-AIT, France, 2020-04-07) The Director of All Paris Hospitals (AP-HP) wanted the 3d year grade nurse trainee to work in Covid-19 special unit, which is understable but without paying them – or only 1,40 euro / hour (in France the minimum wage for unqualified job is 10 Euros). Fortunately, these students did not wait for the Unions to fight ... They gathered spontaneously and organized an autonomous nurse trainee comitee. They sent a petition to the Manageme, requiring to get a fair value for their work, because in the covid units they are doubly exploited .... Used as caregivers and nurses, finally they got 1400 euros per month ... Care workers are not soldiers! (CNT-AIT, France, 2020-04-05) Practice nursing, toilet, change, give food ... The caregivers are not soldiers. We don’t sacrifice ourselves, it’s the President, Macron, who sacrifices us, and with us all the workers. The only war, his war, it's a class war. Since we are not doomed to sacrifice ourselves, more and more of us are demanding screening for all those who want it. We share below a petition circulating in some Parisian hospitals on this subject.

Right to systematic screening for hospital staff who so desire. Open letter from caregivers at Cochin Hospital to management We have the right to know, we want a Covid screening test for all categories of staff who want it. -A single-use care mask type FFP1 costs to the hospital’s budget 3 cents. A FFP2 mask costs 15 cents. How much does Covid screening test cost? We don't know and we won't count: it's about saving lives! And our lives are worth more than money! Each of us caregivers, internship, nurse, social worker, Physiotherapists, Laboratory Technicians in virology or others, doctors, surgeons, executives, administrative staff, cleaning workers, security workers, kitchen workers, technical service workers, stretcher bearers, radio handlers, dieticians ... are facing this pandemic, and are for many of us in contact of the patient, including in Hospital Broca where the situation has worsened and continues to deteriorate ... Why don't the media show the refrigerated trucks parked outside our hospitals? The management tells us that we can only be tested if there are visible signs when at that time it is too late ! We are entitled to be tested if we want so ! We want to know our state of health, to reassure us, but also to inform our loved ones as much as the sick people we treat and also to inform our colleagues. At our request to our managers or doctors in the service, we are entitled to obtain a systematic test. Macron's speech announces "means" to confront this new disease, but in reality the « white coats » are sent to the front, destitute of everything. Shall we suffer the fate of the “liquidators” (name given to the sacrificed Chernobyl workers, sent with a cloth over their mouths and a pair of boots, to shovel vitrified rubble of radioactivity). After closing beds, services, hospitals, Martin Hirsch, director of the All Paris Hospitals (AP-HP) told the TV news : "I beg all French people to apply the announced measures". After its systematic demolition of the health system in France, what remains of Macron and Hirsch ? Only supplication. We colleagues, of all categories and from all units, require the hospital management to carry out systematic screening for workers requiring it. This question must be debated and settled with workers, otherwise we will go and find our answer ourselves. Our request is legitimate: Right to systematic screening for hospital staff who so desire. Some workers of Paris hospitals Mutual aid in action: IWA sections exemples of concrete solidarity (BASF-IWA Bangladesh, ZSP-IWA Poland, March 2020) Many IWA sections have taken concrete solidarity actions, especially toward Health care workers. Just two exemples amongst many : In Poland members of the ZSP-IWA in the city of Krakow provided high protection masks to hospital workers from a specialized COVID-19 team.

Western countries such as France, Spain or Italy are already strongly impacted, due to the inadequacy of medical infrastructure or the insufficient number of protective equipment such as masks. In so-called poor countries, the situation is even worse. Sometimes the basic minimum is missing, starting with soap, when we know that the first barrier is to wash your hands regularly. Companions from the Bangladesh IWA section, BASF-AIT, launched a fundraising campaign with Australian companions to buy and distribute soap to workers at the tea plantations in Shyllet. They are among the poorest and most exploited in Bangladesh, often surviving on less than 2 euros a day for themselves and their families. To help poor workers to protect themselves is helping the healthcare workers, as it decrease the need for people to go to hospitals.

This System is Making Us Sick (IWA Secretariat, 2020-03-16) Statement of the IWA Secretariat in Response to the Situations Surrounding the COVID-19 Pandemic In many countries now, people are confronted with a huge health issue. Due to the nature of the capitalist system and its abuses towards working class people on so many levels, many more of us may become victims of ruling class negligence and disdain – the disease that already afflicts our society and social-economic relations. In this situation, like all others, we really need to rely on each other to preserve our health and our lives.

The Sections of the International Workers' Association have responded to their local situations in different ways. As advocates of the to weaken the power of those who oppress and abuse us, we see no better time for the working class of certain countries to use this tool of struggle, to act in self-defense, to protect their health and promote the strength of collective action against the power of state coercion and capital. Our unions have put forth various demands and calls for action on the local level and are engaging in some concrete struggles in a number of workplaces. On the global level, there are several general positions and demands which need to be propagated in response to the current pandemic. 1. All workers who have been forced out of work because of state-enforced measures employer decisions, economic cutbacks or other reasons or who are ill need to receive paid leave. A great majority of the working class around the world barely make ends meet and cannot afford to lose income. Those that do are threatened to become victims again – among others, the victims of landlords and creditors. Several have already announced aid packages to businesses, but the elites are much less generous to working people. After the pandemic has decreased, the working class must struggle to make paid leave a permanent right for everybody. 2. We advocate the immediate stoppage of work (with paid leave) for all the workers of non-essential industries and services in all areas which are threatened by the spread of this virus. Where the bosses or state threaten and coerce people to continue working despite the risks, we call for the organization of strikes, solidarity strikes and other forms of direct action. We need concerted solidarity and mutual support to show that we will not be stopped. 3. We demand immediate and significant wage increases for all medical workers (including other „non-medical” personnel in medical centers, such as cleaners). These wage increases are to be permanent. One of the greatest pathogens facing many countries around the world is lack of access to healthcare, caused by gross underfunding, as governments decide to divert money elsewhere, away from the most essential human needs. Many medical workers are severely undervalued and have spent years in struggle. They are exploited and disrespected on an everyday basis – yet we expect their total dedication to saving other people's lives in situations like this and it is sometimes at great risk to their own health and well-being. We must struggle to force the State – which we view as only the temporary custodian of our public collective money – to properly secure the health security of the population by readjusting social priorities. Further, the IWA reminds the working class that the State has usurped the power of people to decide things themselves and usually acts mainly in the interest of capital. We must take power back from it to introduce a truly social and egalitarian system of taking care of all the members of our society collectively. 4. We demand immediate bonus payments to all the other workers who are needed in various functions still so vital to keeping things running smoothly – from supermarket cashiers to food deliverers, producers and suppliers, from social workers to sanitation workers. Anybody who is working in increased risk and still working while others stay in their houses deserve our mutual aid and support. Where possible, we also call on people to help these people with their jobs, to give them a rest and to share the burden. If such workers are forced to work a lot of extra hours due to the situation, they should be given extra paid leave as soon as possible when the situation stabilizes. We need to stress that many of these categories of workers, without which life itself would be barely possible in urban centers (such as farmers and other workers on the food supply chain) are among the worst paid workers in many countries. We must agitate and struggle to egalitize the value of labor and eliminate the huge contradictions of the capitalist logic, which fails to adequately compensate huge parts of the workforce they consider only as replacable parts, not as vital members of our human community. 5. We demand absolutely free access to health services for all who may be affected by this current crisis. We must keep this demand as an area of permanent struggle. 6. We demand special emergency assistance for all people who do not have a roof over their heads or who live in poor sanitary conditions. In general, homelessness, housing poverty and various forms of tragic displacement lead to many deaths and illnesses each year, on top of the general misery. This is a problem of huge proportions on the world level. It must be dealt with, in particular by society's assistance and a permanent struggle against the class of those with capital who profiteer off their access to and possession of private . The world has also responded poorly to numerous humanitarian crises caused by war and natural disaster, leaving its victims in precarious and often life- threatening conditions. 7. We demand that any materials which are needed by the population be provided, especially where people cannot afford it. Our collective public money should be used to ensure that vulnerable segments of the population have access to hygenic products, profilactics and medicine. These seven demands are the minimum we need to push for and, in order to make the situation a little healthier in the end, we need to press for more social protection for the general population. This cannot remain a privilege of the rich. The working class should finally realize that it is not the state or the bosses that keep the society running, but the working people themselves. The expenditures we demand, to ensure the safe and fairer running or society as a whole, is our collective money and we have the absolute right to decide what kind of society we want to live in: one that treats the elderly, sick, less- privileged masses of people like expendable or one that cares for everyone and treats everybody as important and with respect. The State, the bosses and the others that live off the labor or working people must not be allowed to run things like they have any longer. Too many people have been made ill by this all and it has been going on for years and years. Enough is enough! The system is ill and we need to cure it. The best medicine against the disease ravaging our populations – and we are not talking about Coronavirus now – is mutual aid and solidarity of people. During this time when many people are affected, we have witnessed various acts of solidarity initiated from the bottom up, sometimes so necessary where the system has failed to protect a vulnerable member of our human community. We call on people to embrace solidarity and to make it a part of their lives, not only in times of tragedy, but also as something regular. Solidarity builds community and community is something that can help any social struggle to gain benefit for everybody. From the IWA, we wish all working class people health, safety and strength in the struggles and challenges you may face at this time. Remember that solidarity is our weapon, one that is so useful in times like these. We all need to organize – not only for now, but to fight for a better world for us all in the future. IWA Secretariat Warsaw, March 16, 2020 Workers Autonomous Confederation of Bulgaria position in connection with the Global pandemia and introductoin of the emergency state (ARC, Bulgaria, 2020-03-13) The situation is more than serious and should not be underestimated. The spread of the virus will have grave consequences on the Bulgarian people and the economy. Neoliberal capitalism is a much scarier virus. It destroys social systems, and healthcare. It destroys social ties, promotes , selfishness and . Not surprisingly, the contagion came from northwestern Bulgaria, where social devastation drove the population into forced labor migration, in particular in Italy. Against the background of the chaotic actions of the authorities, the ARC calls for people to stay united, to stand in solidarity with one another, to stand in solidarity with doctors, medical specialists, orderlies and all frontline healthcare professionals. Show the culture and attitudes of human beings, not the homo neolibericus, which fights for toilet paper on malls and hypermarkets ... We warn the authorities and the entire ruling class that if they use the state of emergency for political purposes or to restrict the rights and freedoms of Bulgarian citizens, they will meet a resistance they did not expect. Autonomous Workers' Confederation Coronavirus : while politicians chitchat, workers are suffering ! (CNT-AIT, France, 2020-03-08) To date, unlike what happened with H1N1 in 2009, many of us healthcare workers have not received our endowment of FFP2 masks needed to treat patients. While the state had two months to build up reserves of these much-needed protections, it seems it has done nothing. A practitioner explains: "Not shaking hands with our patients is insufficient, will not protect us from contamination by air, it should be understood that the shortage of FFP2 masks can quickly lead to the shortage of caregivers, by their quarantine, with the consequences that this implies. ". Obviously, the budgetary choices have been made, on the one hand, the State have enough budget for organizing summits, meetings and even a State National Security Council, intended to divert and deceive the people, on the other, the State leaves health workers unprotected.

SHORTAGE OF FFP2 MASKS and PHASE 3 OF THE #CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC As we indicated last Saturday, the stocks essential for the protection of workers do not exist, Health Ministers Buzyn and Veran lied to us and are still lying to us. The few million masks that will be distributed are surgical masks that do not protect against contamination. The transition to Phase 3 is the referral of coronavirus patients out of the hospital that will be overwhelmed towards the city. Doctors and nurses will have to work unprotected with hypercontagious patients, the right to opt-out is ethically impossible for them. To the politicians who run the administrations, who lay down standards that are as absurd as they are useless, we have only one word to say: Bastards ! On the other hand, the stocks of rubber bullets and grenades, that have been used by thousands against the Yellow vests, are full …. On June 16, 2019, the French government was able to anticipate with sufficient time to order 25 million assault rifle cartridges and 40,000 anti-riots grenades, to be delivered for early 2020. Obviously, the State does not have the same priorities as the population Other workers in public transport, hypermarkets, etc. must ask their employers for fully-paid hourly breaks to wash their hands, hydroalcoholic gel if necessary, and adequate masks or otherwise exercise their right to opt-out.

RIGHT TO OPT-OUT FROM WORK PLACE The absence of collective or individual protective equipment legitimizes the recourse to the right of employees to opt-out : Article L4131-1 of the French labor code stipulates that "The worker immediately alerts the employer to any work situation which he has reasonable grounds to believe presents a serious and imminent danger to his life or health and to any defect which he finds in the protection systems. He can withdraw from such a situation. The employer may not ask the worker, who has made use of his right of withdrawal, to resume his activity in a work situation where a serious and imminent danger persists, resulting in particular from a defective protection system. " CNT-AIT Health care workers

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