2024 Labour Day message from CFNU President Linda Silas
Labour Day always reminds me of the incredible power of workers organizing together and the incredible power we have as nurses.
The labour movement started over a century ago during the industrial revolution when workers banded together to demand an end to exploitative working conditions. Later, the women’s labour movement grew to battle sexism and discrimination. They fought for fairness and respect – foundational tenets of our own nurses unions.
Today nurses unions carry on this important tradition of fighting for worker rights, just as we have for almost 50 years. We fight for equity, we fight to protect our health care system, and we fight for a better future for all.
Nurses play a unique role in our communities. We are often the first health care professional a patient interacts with and, sadly, too often the last. We provide care in every setting in every part of the country. We are uniquely positioned to see the cracks in our systems and to see the solutions.
One of these solutions has been a national pharmacare program. With nearly 40 years of nurses’ and health care workers’ tireless advocacy, our federal government is finally getting the prescription right and laying the start of a foundation for a national pharmacare program. This program is more than a policy change. It will save lives and put Canada on the right track toward a healthier future for everyone.
As we all know, our health care systems are facing a staffing crisis unlike anything we’ve seen before. But our history shows – when we work together, we can influence public opinion and shape policy. Working together, we have the power to turn ideas into concrete practices.
From primary care to how we care for our seniors, the CFNU is advocating to ensure all health care settings have the right conditions for patient safety through the federal Patient’s Bill of Rights. Why? Because safe patient care is the core of our jobs as nurses. Safe patient care means implementing mandatory nurse-patient ratios across the country, and it means holding our decision-makers accountable to workers and patients.
Our fight for better health care working conditions is a fight for better care for all. Our fight to keep health care public is critical to ensuring that every single person who lives and works in Canada has access to the care they need when they need it. Our fight for safer staffing is a fight for safer patient care. Together we will keep up the fight, and together we will win.
In unwavering solidarity,
Linda Silas, CFNU President
