CHICAGO, December 14 — On an unseasonably warm and rainy day, about twenty PL’ers and friends gathered in front of Stroger hospital, under an overhang, to protest the deadly cuts in the Cook County public hospital system. Stroger Hospital was moving forward with planned layoffs even though the holidays were almost here. We handed out fliers while calmly holding our signs and giant photographs of patients who are losing their healthcare, including one who recently died as a result. CHALLENGEs were distributed.

It wasn’t long before the kkkops told us to move from “private property.”

“What are you talking about? This is a public hospital and I work here!” a protester snapped. Together, we decided to march twenty-five yards away, but still on county property. We marched as a group chanting, “They say cut back, we say fight back!”

After establishing a picket line, we took turns on the bullhorn, denouncing the layoffs and service cuts. A few union hacks tried to talk to the demonstrators to divert our anger, but we kept spreading the word to the hundreds streaming by. We distributed all of our fliers and made a few contacts with patients and their families who were inspired to see workers fighting for their county healthcare system.

Last week the administration laid off eight respiratory therapists. This is a direct result of the closing of Oak Forest Hospital (see CHALLENGE, 11/2/11). Respiratory therapists from Oak Forest with more seniority are being transferred to Stroger Hospital. Rather than increase the staff of respiratory therapists at Stroger to help take care of the flood of new patients, management decided to fire the therapists with less seniority.

New patients are crowding into the ER, setting records for the number seen per day. They are coming from Oak Forest and from dozens of private hospitals, where thousands of patients are no longer welcome since they lost their health insurance.

The day after the layoffs, management asked the remaining respiratory therapists to pick up night shifts and work overtime! The therapists have been actively fighting these layoffs. Most of the night shift went as a unified group to protest to the head of the Intensive Care Unit. A few days later, fifteen workers went to SEIU union headquarters to confront the union president. Workers were invited to a negotiation that morning that resulted in a week’s postponement of the layoffs. Respiratory therapy workers have been at every one of the three pickets held in front of the hospital since October.

The lead organizing force for this demonstration was a community group called Chicago Healthcare Justice, which was founded a year ago. Members have been discussing healthcare, racism and capitalism, and also participating in some rallies and demonstrations with the Occupy movement and others.

These young workers felt they were finally ready to try to lead an action. They decided to demonstrate against the attacks on health workers and patients at Stroger Hospital. Two members researched the history of Cook County healthcare as well as current spending and put it together into a fact-filled flier. The flier demonstrated that Cook County has been cutting back on services and staff since long before the Great Recession, which is used to justify current cuts. Our group then spent time at Occupy Chicago events promoting the rally, making contacts and discussing the movement’s issues. Although this action was relatively small in size, it was a huge step forward for the Chicago Healthcare Justice group.

One member of the group translated the leaflet into Spanish for distribution  by the family of one of the former Oak Forest ventilator patients, who now lives in the Medical ICU at Stroger. Protests at Stroger have maintained attention on this patient, David Moreno, and probably prevented the hospital bosses from sending him to a death-trap nursing home, as they did with some of his fellow Oak Forest patients, now deceased.

Fighting against every attack is essential but is not enough. We know this was a modest step. We also know that the only way workers have ever won anything from the bosses is by fighting back. We plan to take the momentum from this action into the new year and keep learning and fighting back together.

Those of us in Progressive Labor Party will continue pointing out the failures of capitalism and the desperate need for a better, communist world. We will struggle to win these workers to join PLP.