Québec’s two biggest labour federations have launched a joint campaign to fight health care privatization.
Under the slogan: “Le privé en santé, un cadeau empoisonné” (Private health care: a poisoned gift), the Fédération des travailleurs du Québec (FTQ) - to which CUPE belongs - and the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) launched the campaign in December.
The federations, which together represent 750,000 workers in Québec, put up billboards across the province urging people to sign an online petition against privatization of health care.
“Health care experts say it, the OECD says it and even certain employers are starting to realize it: a universally accessible, public health care system is a benefit to our society. Private health care, even as it costs more and delivers worse results, is synonymous with exclusion and discrimination,” said CSN president Claudette Carbonneau and FTQ president Michel Arsenault in a joint statement.
The campaign was launched in anticipation of the release of the Charest government-ordered Castonguay report, which most expect will push the Liberal government’s privatization agenda.
