Nurses strike against sexism

JOLIET, ILLINOIS, July 21—For the past 16 days, nearly 700, mainly women nurses gathered for a courageous anti-sexist strike braving summer heat and rain. Taking action after their contract with AMITA Health St. Joseph's Medical Center expired, these Black, Asian, and white nurses joined the ranks of workers worldwide who are fighting back against increased abuse, hypocrisy, and exploitation from the capitalist healthcare bosses during the pandemic.
For the first time in nearly 25 years, the workers of AMITA authorized a strike through their union to demand sufficient staffing, livable salaries and benefits, and an end to the bullying working conditions. While the sellout Illinois Nurses Association (INA) signed a new contract today, nurses have shown that the fight is far from over. Reforms under capitalism can always be reversed. Comrades from the international Progressive Labor Party (PLP) salute the bold striking nurses for their example, and invite them and all workers to fight for genuine power through revolution. We fight for the line that only a worker-run egalitarian society can guarantee freedom from pandemics, racist police terror, sexism and war. By fighting for communism, we are fighting for our collective health!
The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the deadly sexism and racism that fuels the capitalist system. The overwhelming majority of frontline workers thrown into dangerous and unknown working conditions as the infections ramped up have primarily been Black, Latin, Asian, and immigrant women (see page 2). Thousands of workers nationwide have already been sent to an early grave in the bosses’ ruthless scramble for profits. But thousands and thousands of workers, especially women workers, have fought back and set a militant example for others to follow.
Picket against capitalist exploitation
Shortly after learning about the strike, PLP comrades visited the nurses’ picket on multiple occasions to extend antisexist, antiracist communist solidarity to these working-class fighters. We instantly received warm welcomes from the nurses, and praise for our homemade signs attacking racism and capitalism. Practically everyone on the picket took CHALLENGE, and we were able to engage in conversation with many and make new contacts.
The nurses personally confirmed many of the bosses’ attacks, including chronic short-staffing and the proposed elimination of sick pay for new hires. They openly called out the hypocrisy of the hospital bosses for their empty words that have hailed healthcare workers as “heroes” throughout the pandemic, but who have consistently failed to address the dangerous conditions inside for nurses and patients alike. In a field that is 91 percent women, these working conditions are inherently sexist.
Many nurses on the picket line were immigrant women from the Philippines. Coming to the U.S. and signing work visa contracts with hospitals, they historically have been harassed and intimidated against organizing or even speaking out against the bosses’ sexist working conditions.
Their energetic leadership in this struggle and in so many others shows clearly that the most oppressed workers under this rotten system are suited to give some of the most militant and revolutionary leadership against it.
#unionfails
The INA did nearly nothing to draw wider working-class support into the struggle.
After spending more time on the picket lines, PLP learned that negotiations were really going nowhere, and that there was no real vision or political leadership on the direction or goals of the strike.The first contract offer was so bad, that over 70 percent of nurses voting rejected it (NBC Chicago, 7/12). Over 170 nurses didn’t even bother to vote on the second proposal (Patch, 7/20). Many were clearly discouraged after realizing that they were basically only “breaking even” after a two-week strike.
The fact that the union failed to take any kind of real stand for the nurses should come as little surprise. At their core, unions exist under capitalism to limit workers’ struggle within acceptable limits for the bosses, and to decide the terms of our exploitation through periodic contract negotiations.
Contrast this with a communist society, where institutions like hospitals and clinics would be organized and run by workers, for our own benefit. There would be no bosses to rip us off and put us and our patients in danger, no leeches profiting off our labor. We would make decisions collectively and advance workers’ health tremendously, just like was done after the communist revolutions in Russia and China in the 20th century (see CHALLENGE, 7/8).
A world to win
But such a society requires a mass international workers’ movement, under the revolutionary leadership of the communist PLP. The reform struggles that we find ourselves in today, both big and small, can arm our class with the consciousness and courage that we need to take on the capitalist bosses as we build for revolution.
We are thankful to learn and draw inspiration from our fellow working-class fighters, from the nurses in Joliet to workers all over the world. We call on all our class sisters and brothers to connect their struggles against capitalist exploitation, unemployment, hunger, and disease together and fight to wipe them all out by fighting for an egalitarian communist society. We have a world to win!