The problem
Lack of safety equipment, the need for decent wages… essential workers are facing multiple challenges and yet, the government may be about to bailout the oil and gas industry.
And there’s more: while people are warned to remain at home due to COVID-19, the oil and gas industry is continuing work along pipeline routes and pushing forward with mega-projects. Workers on these projects are living in “man camps”, where they are unable to quarantine, putting their health and the health of Indigenous communities at risk.
All that, to profit a dying industry that is contributing to the climate crisis.
The solution
Despite the devastating impacts of the coronavirus crisis, we have to think about the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic now.
We have the opportunity to break with the past and collectively say no to business as usual: we will not go back to the way things were.
We can build a “new normal” where people come before profits and environmental limits are respected.
A world where good jobs are created by investing in a clean energy transition, communities are resilient, housing is affordable, clean water and free health care are accessible.
A world where essential workers are given the gratitude and the care that they deserve.
