In this video health workers speak to the WSWS on the experiences in their workplaces and the intolerable conditions they face. The workers call on their colleagues in the healthcare sector, along with teachers, students and workers in all industries to attend the Socialist Equality Party’s (SEP) online public meeting on Saturday. February 12 at 4 p.m. (AEDT). Click here to register.

The meeting is called in support of New South Wales (NSW) nurses who have voted in favour of holding a statewide strike on February 15. The vote was called by the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA).

As the SEP has warned: the last thing the union wants is a statewide strike on wages and conditions. The NSWNMA will do everything to call off the strike. Even if it is compelled to allow the stoppage to proceed, the union will isolate and divide it up as much as possible, while directing nurses to make plaintive appeals to the very governments responsible for the crisis.

The health workers speak on the broader role of the unions, which have supported and enforced the government’s “let it rip” policy that has resulted in a massive COVID surge across the country over the past six weeks. The coronavirus explosion has pushed chronically under-resourced and under-staffed hospitals across the country to the breaking point.

The health workers also emphasis the importance of the formation of rank-and-file committees to take the fight outside of the control of the unions. They call for workers to unite, across the country and internationally, in a struggle against the pandemic.

We urge you to attend our meeting and participate in this vital discussion. Click here to register.