= Steelworkers International
President Leo Gerard warned

against an Americanized health
care system. PHOTO TOM KIRKPATRICK

Health care system must not
deny social justice to citizens
When Steelworkers’ International
president Leo Gerard appeared
in front of the Romanow
Commission in April of 2002,
he told the commission that
the union was concerned
about the preservation and
enhacement of a health care
system it fought to establish in
Canada. In the 1940s, 50s and
60s, the union stood alongside
Tommy Douglas and the CCF
as it battled doctors, private
insurance companies and hos-
pital associations, to establish
universally accesible, publicly-
funded heath care, first in the
province of Saskatchewan and
later nationally. Gerard said
that in the U.S. there were over
40 million citizens without
health care coverage. In ‘02
only 63 per cent of Americans
had employer-paid health care
benefits (only 49 per cent of
part-time and 6 per cent of
temporary workers had the
same). He said a system that
denies some citizens universal
medicare, is “denying the
entire society a necessary
measure of social justice” and
that “social justice is not
confined to a system of
commercial exchange.”

= The unlon is fighting to protect Canada’s health care system, which provides complete and
universal coverage to all it citizens, regardless of their economic status. pHoTo NORMAN GARCIA

STEELWORKERS JOIN BATTLE TO SAVE UNIVERSAL MEDICARE

Against two-tiered health care

A QUEBEC SUPREME Court decision
has shaken up the Canada Health Act. In
June the Court ruled that a Quebec Citizen,
George Zelotis, has a right to use private
insurance for a hip replacement. The deci-
sion shocked defenders of public medicare,
including the Steelworkers.

Ken Neumann, the union's National
Director reacted strongly, expressing con-
cerns that the decision opens the door for
a health care system where the wealthy
will get better services.

The decision said
Quebecers can’t be
denied the right to pay for
medical service covered
under Medicare. It said
waiting lists are a primary
issue, and that patients
are suffering as a result.

“We disagree with the solution,” said
Brother Neumann. “Allowing private,
for-profit clinics only solves the prob-
lems for people with the ability to pay.
We call on the federal, provincial and ter-
ritorial governments to ensure equal
access to the health care system for all.”

The union supports the 2002 report of
the Commission on the Future of Health
Care in Canada (the Romanow report),
which made 47 recommendations
including calls for strong leadership and
governance of Medicare; a system that is
more responsive and accountable; and
strategic, short-term investments to deal
with priority concerns, as well as long-
term strategy to put the system on a sus-
tainable basis.

IWA Council chairperson Norm
Rivard says the Steelworkers’ union is in
the forefront of the fight to preserve and
improve our universal-
ly-accessible system.

“Our union views
universal health care as
an issue that is clearly
rooted into social jus-
tice,” he says. “Our fun-
damental values as

Norm Rivard =~ Canadian workers say
that we — every single citizen of any back-
ground ~ have a right to a health care sys-
tem not based on individual wealth, but
based on our equality as human beings.”

THE ALLIED WORKER DECEMBER 2005 | 19