Police State: Hazardous to Public Health

Los Angeles, October 26 —  Recently, nearly all of the healthcare providers of our HIV organization and dozens of our patients held our first public demonstration against the worsening “assembly line” working conditions in our clinics.  We are medical doctors, nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants. Additionally, we are threatening to strike to win union recognition.
We made a conscious effort to organize with our patients and had an integrated group of patients speak at our rally. Five of our patients gave powerful, heartfelt testimonies, moving many to tears. We distributed a
leaflet and CHALLENGE.
This small demonstration was organized in spite of the union. The union reps talk big, but at the end of the day wanted us to simply wait while the National Labor Relations Board decided on whether our petition is valid or not. Meanwhile, the bosses continue to intimidate workers and suspended one provider for three weeks without pay. The union did nothing to get his job back and if it weren’t so difficult for them to get a scab he would still be suspended! It is inspiring to work with such providers who do not back down. They correctly recognize the union double-talk and push for more actions.  
One friend and coworker who receives CHALLENGE and helped with this article always emphasizes the point that our reform struggle “is a war.”  She’s absolutely correct. However, the larger understanding that this union supports the politicians and ultimately the ruling class, our real class enemy, is still developing.  
For instance, the UN recently released a report on Syria stating that the Assad government is attacking hospitals in rebel-controlled areas and that this “denial of medical care” is “a weapon of war.”  The same is true in the U.S. or anywhere workers’ healthcare is at risk — it’s a declaration of war! As the ruling classes of the world move closer and closer to world war, the U.S. bosses need to maximize profits at home by allowing the insurance companies to set prices for coverage and drug companies to decide costs of medicines.  Building illusions is ever more important for the bosses, which is why unions and the Democratic Party are in bed together, already launching a missile attack on us!
Both sides of this reform fight produce a lose-lose situation for workers and patients. That is why we must do a better job writing for and distributing CHALLENGE, which has been reporting on other healthcare struggles involving the Party. Like our NY comrades, we are also watching movies about class struggle as a social event. We’ve watched and discussed Matewan and Norma Rae, and will recommend Salt of the Earth for our next one.
We are also trying to expand this struggle.  Just this week, a young teacher and comrade put forward a motion for her union to support our unionizing effort. At their House of Reps meeting, the teacher and healthcare comrades spoke briefly, comparing the attacks we face in healthcare and the effects on our patients to the attacks teachers face and their effects on their students. The union voted unanimously to support us.  While the unions have proven to be very valuable resources for the bosses to mislead workers, they are also full of workers open to communism if we work hard within them. 
We are now pushing our union to do more than symbolic one-day “strikes,” perhaps have sit-ins, where we keep the clinics open, get more workers and patients involved and continue to see our patients. But we can turn them into free clinics.
Within this reform struggle there is the potential to learn some valuable lessons such as providers learning from their patients, having confidence in each other that we as workers and patients can lead this struggle and we don’t need union hacks or bosses to run a clinic. This could produce a vision of the future, a vision of communism. More CHALLENGE readers AND distributors are crucial! Power to the workers and patients!