CHICAGO, May 22—Over 30 workers from Mount Sinai Hospital on the city’s west side united this morning to boldly challenge their racist and sexist bosses. What began as a mild speak-out organized by the union around contract negotiations, evolved into a much more militant action, as workers courageously decided to sharpen this reform struggle.
Communist workers in the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) are in this fight to improve working conditions and help build for an egalitarian society without racism or sexism. We envision a bright future when we smash the capitalist profit motive, and replace it with communism, a society that filfulfills the needs of our working class brothers and sisters.
Black, Latin, and white workers, young and old, male and female were all present in an inspiring display of multi-racial unity. Many different job classes were represented, from dietary workers to nurses, from housekeepers to respiratory therapists, as we sharpened our understanding of our common interests against the bosses’ exploitation.
 Marching on the bosses
Today marked the start of new contract negotiations between the Mount Sinai workers, represented by the SEIU healthcare union local, and the bosses. Among our chief demands for a new contract are higher wages, safe staffing, dignity and respect on the job, and employer-paid healthcare. We are also making the demand that all other groups of hospital workers get recognition from the bosses and become part of a wall-to-wall hospital-wide union.
The union first organized us to speak at a rally in front of the hospital, then march inside to deliver a poster board with our collective demands signed by hundreds of Mount Sinai workers to the CEO, Karen Teitelbaum. The entire group of workers crammed into the executive office, only to be informed that she had not yet arrived. (Funny that, workers have spoken up about being disciplined for being just one minute late while the boss can stroll in whenever she wants!)
Thinking the action was drawing to a close, we left the poster board in the office and started making our way out of the hospital. Just then who should we see walking in the hallway but Teitelbaum herself. We wasted no time in confronting her.
A worker shouted, “We want better working conditions!” At this, Teitelbaum showed her true colors, condescendingly raising her finger and insisting that we be silent out of respect for the patients. As if she really cared about the patients over profits! Flustered, she stammered something about “proper time and place” and a “chain of command” before storming off in a huff.
Not boxed in by bosses or unions
Most of us were pretty shocked by her response, and the union organizers started to usher people back to the entrance of the hospital to start talking to the media. But one nurse wasn’t having any of it. She marched directly after Teitelbaum to confront her personally in her office. Like many others, she knew that individual workers who try to go through the “chain of command” are ignored or pacified with little or no action by the hospital administration. It becomes obvious the bosses are there to oppress workers and to keep a lid on any fightback.The nurse was fully ready to confront Teitelbaum by herself, but a PLP comrade quickly
organized the majority of workers in the hallway to go back into the executive office to support the nurse’s bold move. More than 20 of us found ourselves back in the office, demanding to address our complaints then and there, not waiting for the official start of the bargaining meetings. This was workers learning how to organize ourselves to fight back. This was a taste of workers’ power. This was a glimpse of a communist future when workers run all of society.
Our class enemies, were clearly shaken by our initiative. They agreed to an impromptu meeting in which workers took turns blasting them for the racist and sexist working conditions. They pretended to be concerned and made notes about our grievances. It was satisfying to see them squirm as the workers briefly got the jump on them.
It was also satisfying to see workers move past the boundaries of the union’s passive action and turn it into something more militant. The unions have a lot of resources and talk a big game, but at the end of the day, their role is to put caps on the workers’ movement and keep the racist and sexist capitalist system intact. Only by fighting for true workers’ power – communism – by building a mass PLP can we ever expect to overcome the deadly attacks of capitalism and create a society that serves our needs.
Workers deserve communism
The working class is capable and deserving of more than what any union or boss can offer them. It’s up to those of us in PLP involved in this campaign to broaden the scope of this anti-sexist, anti-racist struggle and win more comrades and friends to the only real fight for workers’ liberation: communist revolution. More on this fight to come!