Canadian Union of Public Employees
Encyclopedia
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE, French
: Syndicat Canadien de la fonction publique) is a Canadian
trade union
serving the public sector
- although it has in recent years organized workplaces in the non-profit and para-public sector as well. CUPE is the largest union in Canada, representing close to 615,000 workers in health care, education, municipalities, libraries, universities, social services, public utilities, transportation, emergency services and airlines. Over 60% of its members are women, and almost a third are part-time workers. CUPE is affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress
.
by merging the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) and the National Union of Public Service Employees (NUPSE). The first national president was Stan Little, who had previously been the president of NUPSE. Having led public sector unionism through a period where almost no workers had the right to strike, Little has been credited with bringing public sector unions "from collective begging to collective bargaining." By the time of Little's retirement, CUPE had already grown to 210,000 members and had eclipsed Steel as the largest affiliate to the Canadian Labour Congress
.
Little was followed in 1975 by Grace Hartman, a feminist activist who was the first woman to lead a major labour union in North America. Hartman led CUPE to involve itself in broader struggles for social justice and equality, and emphasized the role of social unionism, as opposed to the more conservative business unionism
practiced by many North American unions. She was arrested for leading Ontario hospital workers in defying a back-to-work order from the Ontario Supreme Court in 1981 and sentenced to 45 days in jail. She retired in 1983.
Hartman’s successor as president was Jeff Rose
, a Toronto city worker. Rose's time as the defining face of CUPE was marked by membership growth from 294,000 to 407,000 members (largely through organizing), a strengthening of CUPE’s infrastructure and rank-and-file skills, and his outspoken opposition to Brian Mulroney
-era wage restraint, free trade
, the GST
, privatization
, deregulation
, and cuts to public services. Under Rose’s leadership, CUPE was particularly effective in improving pay and working conditions for women. He stepped down in 1991 after eight years, becoming deputy minister of intergovernmental affairs for the Ontario NDP
government.
In 1991, Judy Darcy
followed Rose and became the defining face of CUPE. One of Canada's most visible and colourful labour leaders, Darcy was a vigorous opponent of privatization
, two-tier health care
, and free trade
agreements. Darcy was firmly committed to the union's involvement in broader social issues, and under her tenure CUPE strongly attacked the invasion of Iraq, condemned Canada's involvement in ballistic missile defense, and spoke out loudly in favour of same-sex marriage
. Darcy stepped down in 2003 after 12 years as president, and was replaced by Paul Moist
.
where it belongs; critics believe that it makes it difficult for it to organize concerted action and leaves the union highly balkanized with policies and strategies varying widely from local to local and sector to sector. This decentralized structure is often described as "CUPE's greatest strength and its greatest weakness." This political decentralization is mirrored by an organizational decentralization. Although CUPE has a national headquarters in Ottawa, it is relatively small—the vast majority of its staff are scattered across over 70 offices across the country.
CUPE locals are affiliated directly to the National body, and affiliation in Provincial CUPE bodies is optional. CUPE National provides locals with support and assistance through National Representatives, who are employees of CUPE National. National Representatives are assigned to specific locals to assist the democratically-elected officers of CUPE locals in various aspects of the operation and functioning of the local union. They primarily assist in more complex issues, such as conducting Grievance Arbitrations, bargaining, disability/accommodation issues, human rights, preparation of legal documents, local elections and education. National Representatives also have authority to place a CUPE local under administration, pursuant to the CUPE Constitution, which effectively means that the Representative runs the local for a brief period of time in an extraordinary circumstance and suspends the locally-elected officers, usually only in very serious cases of fraud or gross incompetence or misconduct. In addition to servicing National Representatives, CUPE National employes Research Representatives and Legal & Legislative Representatives, who provide research and legal support to locals through their servicing representatives.
Organizationally, there are provincial divisions for each province, as well as the national organization. Nationally there are two full-time political positions—the National President (currently Paul Moist
), and the National Secretary-Treasurer (currently Charles Fleury). Provincial organizations do not provide any servicing or support to the locals on specific operational items, focusing primarily on provincial lobbying, policy development and union education.
In May 2006, the Ontario
wing of CUPE voted unanimously to pass a resolution to support the “international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions
against Israel
until that state recognizes the Palestinian
right to self-determination.”
CUPE National responded to the Ontario resolution by stating that: "CUPE National respects the right of its chartered organizations to take a stand on all issues. As a national union we are governed by policy resolutions adopted at our national conventions. And as such, we will not be issuing a call to our local unions across Canada to boycott Israel."
The United Church of Canada
's Toronto Conference has expressed support for CUPE's position as did the Congress of South African Trade Unions
and the Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians
(now Independent Jewish Voices (Canada). Columnist Lysiane Gagnon
in the Toronto Globe and Mail and the editors of the Canadian Jewish News
took issue with some CUPE leaders comparisons between Israel's policies and South Africa's apartheid system.Abraham Foxman
of the Anti-Defamation League
labelled CUPE's action as "deplorable and offensive." The Ontario regional director of the Canadian Jewish Congress
, Steven Schulman, characterized the vote as "outrageous."
In January 2009, CUPE Ontario's University Workers Coordinating Committee proposed a resolution banning Israeli academics from speaking, teaching or researching at Ontario universities. CUPE Ontario president Sid Ryan
stated that "Israeli academics should not be on our campuses unless they explicitly condemn the university bombing and the assault on Gaza in general." Ryan argued that the resolution was a reasonable response to Israel's attack on the Islamic University
, which he likened to the torching of books
by Nazis during the Second World War. Ryan subsequently apologized for making the comparison.
The resolution was criticized by Leo Rudner of the Canadian Jewish Congress
, who stated "I think it's ironic individuals who speak about freedom of speech jump to the opportunity to take that freedom away from other individuals."
Paul Davenport, President of the University of Western Ontario
stated that his university will not participate in any boycott of Israeli academics.
CUPE's national president, Paul Moist, issued a statement declaring that the resolution "would violate the anti-discrimination standards set out in the CUPE Constitution and that "I will be using my influence in any debates on such a resolution to oppose its adoption." CUPE Ontario subsequently removed its call to boycott individual academics from its website with a statement that "this is not a call to boycott individual Israeli academics. Rather, the boycott call is aimed at academic institutions and the institutional connections that exist between universities here and those in Israel." Despite his initial statements, Ryan later stated that he agreed with Moist and that the original resolution calling for boycotts of all Israeli academics who did not condemn Israeli military tactics was wrong. He defended the new resolution which he stated "broadens and deepens" a 2006 resolution on Israel to support a campaign of economic boycotts, divestment and sanctions
against Israel for its occupation of Gaza. Ryan also stated that CUPE will investigate whether its pension plans are investing in companies developing weapons in Israel.
On February 22, 2009, CUPE's university workers committee passed a version of the original resolution which called for members at Ontario universities to boycott working with Israeli institutions doing research that benefits that nation's military, but not individual academics. The resolution was intended to protest Israel's military action in the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
"
Bernie Farber
, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress
(CJC), claimed the resolution was discriminatory and anti-Semitic. B'nai Brith Canada
called it "discriminatory and racist."
CUPE 3903 spokesperson Tyler Shipley said his local would be supporting the boycott, and that it would be "unconscionable for us not to take some sort of action."
Conservative Prime Minister
Stephen Harper
called the resolution "intolerant" while his Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism
claimed that CUPE was "singling out and targeting the Jewish democratic state of Israel for opprobrium." Opposition
Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff
wrote an op/ed piece which stated that his party "condemns the CUPE resolution in the strongest possible terms."
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: Syndicat Canadien de la fonction publique) is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
serving the public sector
Public sector
The public sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector, is a part of the state that deals with either the production, delivery and allocation of goods and services by and for the government or its citizens, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range...
- although it has in recent years organized workplaces in the non-profit and para-public sector as well. CUPE is the largest union in Canada, representing close to 615,000 workers in health care, education, municipalities, libraries, universities, social services, public utilities, transportation, emergency services and airlines. Over 60% of its members are women, and almost a third are part-time workers. CUPE is affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Labour Congress
The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in English Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.- Formation :...
.
History
CUPE was formed in 1963 in a fashion resembling industrial unionismIndustrial unionism
Industrial unionism is a labor union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union—regardless of skill or trade—thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in bargaining and in strike situations...
by merging the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) and the National Union of Public Service Employees (NUPSE). The first national president was Stan Little, who had previously been the president of NUPSE. Having led public sector unionism through a period where almost no workers had the right to strike, Little has been credited with bringing public sector unions "from collective begging to collective bargaining." By the time of Little's retirement, CUPE had already grown to 210,000 members and had eclipsed Steel as the largest affiliate to the Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Labour Congress
The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in English Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.- Formation :...
.
Little was followed in 1975 by Grace Hartman, a feminist activist who was the first woman to lead a major labour union in North America. Hartman led CUPE to involve itself in broader struggles for social justice and equality, and emphasized the role of social unionism, as opposed to the more conservative business unionism
Business unionism
A business union is a description of a particular type of trade union, or of a trade union with particular characteristics. The meaning of business unionism has changed over a period of time. The term is believed to be of American derivation, and has been applied in particular to phenomena...
practiced by many North American unions. She was arrested for leading Ontario hospital workers in defying a back-to-work order from the Ontario Supreme Court in 1981 and sentenced to 45 days in jail. She retired in 1983.
Hartman’s successor as president was Jeff Rose
Jeff Rose
Jeff Rose is a Canadian trade unionist and former public servant. He is national president emeritus of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, having served as national president of CUPE from 1983–1991, and was deputy minister of intergovernmental affairs for the government of Ontario from...
, a Toronto city worker. Rose's time as the defining face of CUPE was marked by membership growth from 294,000 to 407,000 members (largely through organizing), a strengthening of CUPE’s infrastructure and rank-and-file skills, and his outspoken opposition to Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
-era wage restraint, free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
, the GST
Goods and Services Tax (Canada)
The Goods and Services Tax is a multi-level value added tax introduced in Canada on January 1, 1991, by then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his finance minister Michael Wilson. The GST replaced a hidden 13.5% Manufacturers' Sales Tax ; Mulroney claimed the GST was implemented because the MST...
, privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
, deregulation
Deregulation
Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...
, and cuts to public services. Under Rose’s leadership, CUPE was particularly effective in improving pay and working conditions for women. He stepped down in 1991 after eight years, becoming deputy minister of intergovernmental affairs for the Ontario NDP
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
government.
In 1991, Judy Darcy
Judy Darcy
Judy Darcy is a Canadian trade unionist. She was president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees from 1991 until 2003.-Early life:Darcy was born in Denmark and came to Canada with her parents when she was 18 months old...
followed Rose and became the defining face of CUPE. One of Canada's most visible and colourful labour leaders, Darcy was a vigorous opponent of privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
, two-tier health care
Two-tier health care
Two-tier health care is a term used to describe a situation that arises when there is a basic health care system financed by government providing medically necessary but perhaps quite basic health care services, and a secondary tier of care for those with access to more funds who can purchase...
, and free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
agreements. Darcy was firmly committed to the union's involvement in broader social issues, and under her tenure CUPE strongly attacked the invasion of Iraq, condemned Canada's involvement in ballistic missile defense, and spoke out loudly in favour of same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
. Darcy stepped down in 2003 after 12 years as president, and was replaced by Paul Moist
Paul Moist
Paul Moist is national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees , Canada's largest trade union.-Career:Moist has been a CUPE member since he was a teenager, working first as a lifeguard, then as a greenhouse attendant for the City of Winnipeg...
.
Internal organization
CUPE has an extremely decentralized structure, in which each local elects its own executive, sets its own dues structure, conducts its own bargaining and strike votes, and sends delegates to division and national conventions to form overarching policy. Advocates of this system claim that it places the power in the grassrootsGrassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
where it belongs; critics believe that it makes it difficult for it to organize concerted action and leaves the union highly balkanized with policies and strategies varying widely from local to local and sector to sector. This decentralized structure is often described as "CUPE's greatest strength and its greatest weakness." This political decentralization is mirrored by an organizational decentralization. Although CUPE has a national headquarters in Ottawa, it is relatively small—the vast majority of its staff are scattered across over 70 offices across the country.
CUPE locals are affiliated directly to the National body, and affiliation in Provincial CUPE bodies is optional. CUPE National provides locals with support and assistance through National Representatives, who are employees of CUPE National. National Representatives are assigned to specific locals to assist the democratically-elected officers of CUPE locals in various aspects of the operation and functioning of the local union. They primarily assist in more complex issues, such as conducting Grievance Arbitrations, bargaining, disability/accommodation issues, human rights, preparation of legal documents, local elections and education. National Representatives also have authority to place a CUPE local under administration, pursuant to the CUPE Constitution, which effectively means that the Representative runs the local for a brief period of time in an extraordinary circumstance and suspends the locally-elected officers, usually only in very serious cases of fraud or gross incompetence or misconduct. In addition to servicing National Representatives, CUPE National employes Research Representatives and Legal & Legislative Representatives, who provide research and legal support to locals through their servicing representatives.
Organizationally, there are provincial divisions for each province, as well as the national organization. Nationally there are two full-time political positions—the National President (currently Paul Moist
Paul Moist
Paul Moist is national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees , Canada's largest trade union.-Career:Moist has been a CUPE member since he was a teenager, working first as a lifeguard, then as a greenhouse attendant for the City of Winnipeg...
), and the National Secretary-Treasurer (currently Charles Fleury). Provincial organizations do not provide any servicing or support to the locals on specific operational items, focusing primarily on provincial lobbying, policy development and union education.
Internal Labour Relations
CUPE's employees have organized into two main bargaining units. The Canadian Staff Union (CSU) is the larger of the groups. It represents National Representatives and specialist staff in Area and Region Offices across the 10 Regions of CUPE. In 2008 CSU absorbed the Administrative and Technical Staff Union which represented about 60 administrative and technical staff at the Ottawa National Office. The Canadian Office and Professional Employees union (COPE) Local 491 represents support staff workers in the National, regional and area offices of CUPE. Additionally, a handful of CUPE Locals have dedicated CUPE staff working in their own offices.Disinvestment from Israel and boycott
In May 2006, the Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
wing of CUPE voted unanimously to pass a resolution to support the “international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause ".....
against Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
until that state recognizes the Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
right to self-determination.”
CUPE National responded to the Ontario resolution by stating that: "CUPE National respects the right of its chartered organizations to take a stand on all issues. As a national union we are governed by policy resolutions adopted at our national conventions. And as such, we will not be issuing a call to our local unions across Canada to boycott Israel."
The United Church of Canada
United Church of Canada
The United Church of Canada is a Protestant Christian denomination in Canada. It is the largest Protestant church and, after the Roman Catholic Church, the second-largest Christian church in Canada...
's Toronto Conference has expressed support for CUPE's position as did the Congress of South African Trade Unions
Congress of South African Trade Unions
The Congress of South African Trade Unions is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the biggest of the country’s three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions, altogether organising 1.8 million workers.-Establishment:COSATU was established in...
and the Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians
Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians
Independent Jewish Voices describes itself as representing Jews in Canada who have in common a strong commitment to social justice and universal human rights.The organization was founded in 2008 as a result of the national Independent Jewish Canadian Conference.IJV promotes the expression of...
(now Independent Jewish Voices (Canada). Columnist Lysiane Gagnon
Lysiane Gagnon
Lysiane Gagnon is a journalist based in Quebec. She has written for Montreal's La Presse since 1980 and Toronto's Globe and Mail since 1990.- Biography :...
in the Toronto Globe and Mail and the editors of the Canadian Jewish News
Canadian Jewish News
The Canadian Jewish News is a weekly, English-language tabloid-sized newspaper serving Canada's Jewish community. Though independent, the newspaper has been, since 1971, owned by a group of Jewish leaders involved with Canadian Jewish Congress...
took issue with some CUPE leaders comparisons between Israel's policies and South Africa's apartheid system.Abraham Foxman
Abraham Foxman
Abraham H. Foxman is the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League.-Early life:Foxman, an only son, was born in Baranovichi, just months after the USSR took the town from Poland in the Nazi-Soviet Pact and incorporated it into the BSSR. The town is now in Belarus...
of the Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
labelled CUPE's action as "deplorable and offensive." The Ontario regional director of the Canadian Jewish Congress
Canadian Jewish Congress
The Canadian Jewish Congress was one of the main lobby groups for the Jewish community in the country, although it often competed with the more conservative B'nai Brith Canada in that regard. At its dissolution, the president of the CJC was Mark Freiman. Its past co-presidents were Sylvain Abitbol...
, Steven Schulman, characterized the vote as "outrageous."
In January 2009, CUPE Ontario's University Workers Coordinating Committee proposed a resolution banning Israeli academics from speaking, teaching or researching at Ontario universities. CUPE Ontario president Sid Ryan
Sid Ryan
Patrick Cyril "Sid" Ryan is president of the Ontario Federation of Labour and a longtime Canadian labour union leader and politician.-Biography:...
stated that "Israeli academics should not be on our campuses unless they explicitly condemn the university bombing and the assault on Gaza in general." Ryan argued that the resolution was a reasonable response to Israel's attack on the Islamic University
Islamic University of Gaza
Islamic University of Gaza is an independent Palestinian university established in 1978 in Gaza City, Palestinian territories. The university, according to its website, has 10 faculties capable of awarding either B.A., B.Sc., M.A., M.Sc., Diploma and higher diploma in their respective disciplines...
, which he likened to the torching of books
Book burning
Book burning, biblioclasm or libricide is the practice of destroying, often ceremoniously, books or other written material and media. In modern times, other forms of media, such as phonograph records, video tapes, and CDs have also been ceremoniously burned, torched, or shredded...
by Nazis during the Second World War. Ryan subsequently apologized for making the comparison.
The resolution was criticized by Leo Rudner of the Canadian Jewish Congress
Canadian Jewish Congress
The Canadian Jewish Congress was one of the main lobby groups for the Jewish community in the country, although it often competed with the more conservative B'nai Brith Canada in that regard. At its dissolution, the president of the CJC was Mark Freiman. Its past co-presidents were Sylvain Abitbol...
, who stated "I think it's ironic individuals who speak about freedom of speech jump to the opportunity to take that freedom away from other individuals."
Paul Davenport, President of the University of Western Ontario
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...
stated that his university will not participate in any boycott of Israeli academics.
CUPE's national president, Paul Moist, issued a statement declaring that the resolution "would violate the anti-discrimination standards set out in the CUPE Constitution and that "I will be using my influence in any debates on such a resolution to oppose its adoption." CUPE Ontario subsequently removed its call to boycott individual academics from its website with a statement that "this is not a call to boycott individual Israeli academics. Rather, the boycott call is aimed at academic institutions and the institutional connections that exist between universities here and those in Israel." Despite his initial statements, Ryan later stated that he agreed with Moist and that the original resolution calling for boycotts of all Israeli academics who did not condemn Israeli military tactics was wrong. He defended the new resolution which he stated "broadens and deepens" a 2006 resolution on Israel to support a campaign of economic boycotts, divestment and sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause ".....
against Israel for its occupation of Gaza. Ryan also stated that CUPE will investigate whether its pension plans are investing in companies developing weapons in Israel.
On February 22, 2009, CUPE's university workers committee passed a version of the original resolution which called for members at Ontario universities to boycott working with Israeli institutions doing research that benefits that nation's military, but not individual academics. The resolution was intended to protest Israel's military action in the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
The Gaza War, known as Operation Cast Lead in Israel and as the Gaza Massacre in the Arab world, was a three-week bombing and invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israel, and hundreds of rocket attacks on south of Israel which...
"
Bernie Farber
Bernie Farber
Bernie M. Farber is the former chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress and a social activist. He has testified before the Canadian courts as an expert witness on hate crime....
, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress
Canadian Jewish Congress
The Canadian Jewish Congress was one of the main lobby groups for the Jewish community in the country, although it often competed with the more conservative B'nai Brith Canada in that regard. At its dissolution, the president of the CJC was Mark Freiman. Its past co-presidents were Sylvain Abitbol...
(CJC), claimed the resolution was discriminatory and anti-Semitic. B'nai Brith Canada
B'nai Brith Canada
B'nai Brith Canada is the Canadian section of B'nai Brith . It was founded in 1875 and is the country's oldest Jewish service organization.-Members:...
called it "discriminatory and racist."
CUPE 3903 spokesperson Tyler Shipley said his local would be supporting the boycott, and that it would be "unconscionable for us not to take some sort of action."
Conservative Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
called the resolution "intolerant" while his Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism
Jason Kenney
Jason T. Kenney, PC, MP is Canada's current Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. He has represented the riding of Calgary Southeast in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997....
claimed that CUPE was "singling out and targeting the Jewish democratic state of Israel for opprobrium." Opposition
Leader of the Opposition (Canada)
The Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition , or simply the Leader of the Opposition is the leader of Canada's Official Opposition, the party with the most seats in the House of Commons that is not a member of the government...
Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff
Michael Ignatieff
Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...
wrote an op/ed piece which stated that his party "condemns the CUPE resolution in the strongest possible terms."
National Presidents of CUPE
- Stan Little 1963-1975
- Grace Hartman 1975-1983
- Jeff RoseJeff RoseJeff Rose is a Canadian trade unionist and former public servant. He is national president emeritus of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, having served as national president of CUPE from 1983–1991, and was deputy minister of intergovernmental affairs for the government of Ontario from...
1983-1991 - Judy DarcyJudy DarcyJudy Darcy is a Canadian trade unionist. She was president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees from 1991 until 2003.-Early life:Darcy was born in Denmark and came to Canada with her parents when she was 18 months old...
1991-2003 - Paul MoistPaul MoistPaul Moist is national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees , Canada's largest trade union.-Career:Moist has been a CUPE member since he was a teenager, working first as a lifeguard, then as a greenhouse attendant for the City of Winnipeg...
2003-