Like many other CUPE members, I have been confused by the actions of my National union since August 21 when the CUPE National Executive Board (NEB) emailed members with news of their non-confidence vote in General Vice President Fred Hahn. We all saw the most recent round of employer-friendly media and politicians smearing Hahn with accusations of anti-semitism and seeking his resignation. This is no surprise given how much employers would like to see a principled and militant labour leader removed from his seat. But it was the internal machinations within CUPE that caught many of us by surprise.
CIJA’s pressure campaign on CUPE
In March 2023 Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) Vice President Richard Marceau was photographed embracing CUPE National director of communications Karine Fortin. Marceau tweeted the photo, referring to Fortin as a “usual partner.” CIJA is a registered lobby group that aims to, “increase support for Israel, and strengthen the Canada-Israel relationship.” I would think it highly unusual that a group promoting the interests of a foreign country is lobbying unions but the smiling photo, taken at the Broadbent Institute Progress Summit event, speaks for itself.
Both Fortin and Marceau have been widely cited in the media reflecting the NEB’s call for Hahn’s resignation. It would appear that Marceau and Fortin are working in tandem. CIJA is running an active campaign to unseat Hahn, referring to it as “Fire Fred.” It’s their featured campaign on the landing page of their website, illustrating just how afraid they are that a well-liked labour leader may advance a broad movement to challenge Canada’s foreign policy of supporting Israel’s right to murder Palestinians to steal their land. This type of campaign is intended to not only remove Hahn from his elected union position but also implicity threatens workers with loss of employment if they criticize Israel for committing genocide against Palestinians.
If CIJA is influencing CUPE internally, it would explain why a video shared by Hahn criticizing Israel’s participation in the Olympics would be viewed as anti-semetic by the NEB. Israel’s lobby groups, like CIJA, have long been working to change the definition of anti-semitism to include criticism of the state of Israel. After all, you can’t commit a genocide without silencing opponents, and Hahn’s voice carries weight with workers, making him a worthwhile opponent. Jewish groups not tied to the state of Israel, like Independent Jewish Voices, have expressed that the video is not only not anti-semitic, but that the purposeful confusion between criticizing Israel with hatred of Jewish people or discrimination against people who adhere to Judaism (a religion) makes it more difficult to focus on and oppose actual anti-semitism. Anna Lippman, a Jewish CUPE member, recently wrote in The Maple: “While Israel works overtime to claim its actions are on behalf of all Jews, people like Hahn consistently stand with members of the Jewish community that have spent 11 months screaming, ‘Not in our name!’”
By caving to the CIJA definition of anti-semitism the NEB is helping employers discipline workers, including CUPE members, from expressing any criticism for Israel’s crimes.
Israel’s genocide should be the focus
Last October and again this May, Hahn was democratically elected by CUPE workers, who also passed a resolution at the October 2023 National Convention calling for a ceasefire, an arms embargo, ending the siege on Gaza and an end to diplomatic immunity for the state of Israel. In the last 11 months, the state of Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, while also imposing mass starvation and raping, torturing and killing Palestinian detainees. Israel has repeatedly bombed and attacked Palestinian hospitals and healthcare facilities including ambulances. Israel has also bombed refugee camps and massacred Palestinians at food distribution points, not to mention the daily bombings of Palestinian residences. They’ve targeted and killed over 100 journalists and 500 health-care workers. CIJA wants us to focus on the white AI-generated athlete so we forget about the real brown people being bombed in the same video. It’s white supremacy and CUPE leadership is following CIJA’s lead.
This raises troubling questions about whose interests the NEB truly represents. Is it the interests of a state committing genocide, whose lobby wants CUPE workers silenced or fired, or the workers who democratically elected Hahn and directed their union to oppose this genocide? To restore any faith in its leadership, the NEB needs to clarify where it stands. Instead they keep sending out confusing emails that make claims like: “contradictory realities can exist.” You cannot enact the wishes of your membership to end the diplomatic immunity of a state while simultaneously being successfully lobbied by and expressing the interests of that state.
When we said we want free democratic union, we meant it. A union that answers to the interests of a foreign government’s lobby, is not that. When we elected Hahn we meant it. We love you, Fred! Don’t ever stop talking about Palestine … Free Palestine!
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