On April 7, health care workers from the top of British Columbia to the tip of South America mark International Health Workers’ Day.
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In Fort Nelson, B.C., Hospital Employees’ Union/CUPE members read the April 7 statement of principles, actions and demands to recognize the day.
“On International Health Workers’ Day we send a message of support and solidarity from workers in the Northern Hemisphere to our sisters and brothers in the Southern Hemisphere,” said Donna Ashdown, chair and shop steward of HEU at Fort Nelson General Hospital.
International Health Workers’ Day is a time to celebrate the contributions made by health care workers in Canada and around the world. It is also a day to support the right of citizens of all countries to have universal access to health care delivered by public sector workers.
April 7 was first designated International Health Workers’ Day at a meeting of the health care workers exchange, a project initiated and supported by CUPE’s Global Justice Mondiale Fund, the HEU, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions and CUPE Ontario.
Unions in Canada, Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil and other countries of the hemisphere endorse April 7 as International Health Workers’ Day. It falls on the same day as the World Health Organization’s World Health Day.