Racist Hospital Closings Spur Militant Fight-back

BROOKLYN, NY, February 14 —  This is a racist attack on the residents of Red Hook.  The State of New York is coming for our patients’ lives. The power to stop this comes from us when we are united…Writing letters will not do it!
That’s what a Long Island College Hospital (LICH) paramedic said to hundreds of co-workers and community residents at a rally to stop the proposed hospital closing. And it brought the crowd to their feet!
Hundreds of hospital workers are struggling to stop the closing of Downstate Central and LICH. These hospitals serve primarily black, working-class neighborhoods. LICH serves Red Hook, an area devastated by superstorm Sandy and the massive public housing projects there.
These closure threats follow the attack on Brookdale Hospital and the closing of Peninsula Hospital in Far Rockaway a year ago. The largest of all the hospital unions, Local 1199/SEIU, with over 200,000 members in NY, has kept the workers at each of these sites isolated from each other. Rather than mobilize the workers to shut the City down and up the ante against the racist profit system, they handle each case individually, citing mismanagement and corruption as the root of the problem.
When Brookdale was threatened with closing almost two years ago, LICH 1199 leaders argued that Brookdale should close because it would mean more job security at LICH! Then last summer, this same crew called the cops on a retired 1199 member who attended a meeting about the LICH closing and argued for a strike. Not only did they have him removed, these rats had him arrested and falsely accused him of making terrorist threats. Now the chickens have come home to roost!
No doubt, there is a cesspool of corruption as the politicians throw millions of dollars at private consultants, subcontractors and the corrupt hospital management firm, Continuum. These thieves make obscene salaries while hospitals are short on toilet paper and the most basic supplies. But more to the point, Democratic Governor Cuomo and the Feds are cutting Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals by 50 percent. These cuts are racist to the core, aimed at the unemployed, children and the elderly. As the black woman doctor who heads the neo-natal unit said at the rally, “We’re fighting for our babies.” 
Cuomo says they “are running out of money for these hospitals,” yet the rulers have deep pockets for their continued carnage in Afghanistan and Pakistan and potential imperialist attacks on Iran and N. Korea. Ultimately, these spreading wars are potentially headed to another world war between the U.S. and China.
The good news is that healthcare workers and patients are in a fighting mood. PLP has a base at both hospitals, including hundreds of CHALLENGE readers who have led mass actions. Together we can try to lead workers past the obstacles the unions, courts and politicians place before us. Maybe we can stop the closings and maybe not. But by fighting back we can build the revolutionary communist movement which is the only way we will ever have free health care for all. Having a healthcare workers contingent at this year’s May Day March is our next big test.