Border City Woes During A Pandemic

By J.G. Markham, YCL-LJC member in Windsor-Essex

At the onset of the pandemic, the border was restricted and then mostly closed. Then began the Trump-Trudeau battle of words over medical supplies and using border-crossing nurses as pawn pieces. Public transit halted. Tempers and anxieties flared across Windsor-Essex. The region suffers from outbreaks in its long-term care (LTC) facilities, the same deplorable conditions seen across Ontario and Quebec. Then, a secondary outbreak among its migrant workers in the greenhouses, causing several deaths. These situations are related to Capitalism’s inherent greed – the desire for profits above all else, even human lives. Austerity measures implemented by the provincial Liberals and Conservatives have included the privatization of our healthcare system, and in turn the reduction of services, staffing, and funding. These austerity measures have also negatively impacted community services which play an important role in  preventative, upstream healthcare.

Workers spoke out against disastrous LTC facility policies, including workers forced to share face shields with each other, sponges of the headbands dripping with other people’s sweat. Workers complained of management keeping PPE (personal protective equipment) under lock and key, accessible only upon request. This created a sense of panic among workers believing that they were lacking crucial PPE supplies. There was no shortage, it was merely an artificial one created by putting profits above workers and vulnerable residents. By the time PPE was openly provided, the pandemic had been raging on for over a month.

Across Essex and Chatham-Kent Counties, greenhouses and farms depend on the seasonal return of migrant workers. These migrant workers are also the latest victims of the pandemic. Far from home and desperate for work to pay for essentials like food and medicine for their families, companies greedily exploit these workers. They live in cramped, run-down bunkhouses, and transportation consists either of overpriced shuttles or cramming together to carpool. In Canada at large, they face further discrimination, and their job markets are devastated by disastrous imperialist policies like the USMCA.

Since June 10th, there have been hundreds of cases and two deaths from COVID-19, both young men. Greenhill Produce in Chatham-Kent had 65 cases amongst its workers by May. Desperate workers, discriminated against and stripped of their basic rights by the egregious Temporary Foreign Workers Program, are being sacrificed to ensure the bourgeoisie can maintain their access to cheap and quick labour. Capitalism is risking the lives of racialized migrant workers, desperate and lacking any labour rights, for the sake of profits.

High Park Gardens Cannabis, a subsidy of Tilray Inc, is eliminating 120 jobs from Leamington. Despite rising demands, an 11% increase in profits and a 16% decrease in cost of operating in the last quarter of 2019, Tilray would rather repay its essential workers – the same workers who toiled and increased profits – by eliminating the entire workforce “as a cost-saving measure”. Tilray guaranteed investors that the public health crisis would not cause a dent to their profits. Thus, the community is left out to dry by yet another transnational corporation.

In sharp contrast to Windsor, the surge of COVID-19 cases in the Detroit area caused much concern for Windsorites. Their services, not much unlike our own, were slow to respond. Many facilities went without supplies, having to share gowns and masks. COVID-19 disproportionately affects lower income workers, as well as the African American community. The Motor City has been deprived, underfunded, and neglected – all despite the working class’s resilience and organizing efforts – due to being robbed and exploited by corporations and corrupt politicians, ignored and antagonized by a racist system.

The Public Health crisis in the United States is disproportionately affecting Black Americans, a consequence of their racist, for-profit system. Black Americans have died at a rate of 50.3 per 100,000 people, compared with 20.7 for whites, 22.9 for Latinos and 22.7 for Asian Americans. More than 20,000 Black Americans – about ONE in 2,00 of the entire black population in the US – have died from this virus.

Due to the material conditions brought on by the measures of austerity introduced by provincial governments, healthcare workers are often forced to work in multiple facilities or cross the border daily. Although there is genuine concern for healthcare workers crossing into Canada and working multiple facilities, we cannot necessarily blame our fellow workers for trying to find stable employment with full-time hours – to pay off high student loans, pay for rent and other basics. A Canadian nurse working in Detroit stated “If this was your only way to maintain steady hours in your profession, you would do it too. You sure as hell would not quit your career giving you steady hours and reliable income, like so many have blindly told me to do”. This is our current economic reality. One moment being called heroes and thanked for “their sacrifices”, like they’re expendable cannon fodder, and the next, being discriminated against and stigmatized while waiting in grocery lines or getting gas or banking – discouraging, a slap to the face, and a stab to the back is how this feels. Our fellow workers are trying to sustain themselves and their families, like everyone else in this economic crisis, suffering from the same austerity measures as other workers.