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 ডাি!উ 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 Capitalism. 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, Direct action 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 Confederation 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, family 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