CUPE Ontario is undemocratic, unrepresentative and unhinged, say some of its own members.
And, increasingly, the union leadership’s animus towards Jews is getting worse, they say.
CUPE Ontario’s 2025 draft “Action Plan” provides ample proof, they say. The lengthy document contains scores of statements by the union adopted at their recent convention. But the Action Plan doesn’t reflect members’ priorities, they say – and it reveals that the union, led by Fred Hahn, is no longer representing its members.
“They’re not accountable to us,” said a member of the union, who was granted anonymity in exchange for their views. “They claim that they are, but they’re not. The vast majority of CUPE Ontario members have no idea that this is going on…And [the Action Plan] really does nothing to advance worker rights here in Ontario.”
Evidence of that are not hard to find in the latest CUPE Ontario Action Plan. A sampling:
• “CUPE Ontario will continue to advocate for the rejection of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, including demanding a withdrawal of legislation which has adopted this definition.” The problem with that? The IHRA definition of antisemitism is the common-sense definition, and the one that dozens of countries have formally adopted – including every major democracy on the planet, critics of Israel included.
• “[CUPE Ontario will] continue to work with our allies to fight against ‘bubble zones’ that limit our constitutional right to protest.” The problem there? Fanatics have shown their willingness to attack people worshipping when they are at their most vulnerable, at mosques, synagogues or churches. Such “bubble zones” already are used to protect abortion clinics, so why doesn’t Fred Hahn’s CUPE Ontario object to that, too? We all know the answer.
• “Work with CUPE Nationals International Solidarity staff to advance education efforts on anti-Palestinian racism [APR].” The problem with that pledge is the benign-sounding “anti-Palestinian racism.” APR has been interpreted to mean that Israel is completely illegitimate – and that the Jewish state’s existence is considered “racist” towards Palestinians, and should therefore be wiped off the map. APR does not accept that Israelis and Palestinians can and should co-exist.
• “We commit unequivocally against genocide and for the rights of the Palestinian people.” The problem with that commitment, of course, is that the numbers – and the reality – simply don’t support the “genocide” blood libel: in April, no less than Zaher al-Wahidi, the head of statistics at the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, told Sky News that thousands of individual deaths in the Israel-Hamas war had been reclassified. “We realized a lot of people died a natural death,” he said.
And so on and so on. The CUPE Ontario Action Plan, to some of its own members, is an extremist manifesto, and one that doesn’t truly reflect what a union is supposed to be doing. And it’s wildly undemocratic, they say.
“[CUPE Ontario’s conventions] are the furthest things from a democratic process,” one says. “CUPE Ontario has roughly 290,000 members – but only about 1,100 have voting rights at conventions and attend conventions. And union locals have limits on who they can send – and [they are] very selective about who can go.”
And when anyone goes and tries to oppose the anti-Israel extremism? Says a member: “Other viewpoints, other opinions, they get shut down.” There’s no democratic process in CUPE Ontario, they say.
The most extreme example of that came last month, when CUPE Ontario actually endorsed and promoted a “HANDS OFF IRAN” protest at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto. Despite the fact that Iran is considered by many to have the worst human rights record in the world – despite the fact that Iran’s Islamist rulers murder, torture, imprison, dismember, rape and brutalize their own people, all the time – CUPE Ontario officially embraced the world’s number one supporter of terrorism.
Says one member: “We don’t truly believe that CUPE Ontario’s leaders are invested in workers rights anymore. Look at the ‘hands off Iran’ protest that CUPE Ontario put their stamp on…They’re so twisted in their ideology and where their allegiances lie, now.”
So, what can be done? Some members are looking at signing with other unions. Some are talking decertification. Neither is an easy process, however. But something has to be done to get CUPE Ontario back to representing its members, they say.
“Union members need to be made aware of what’s actually happening and where our money is going,” one says. “We need people to step up.”
So, CUPE Ontario members: step up!
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