The national executive board of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) issued a shameful statement asking vice-president Fred Hahn to resign on Aug. 20 over a social media post. They are bending to the pressure from Conservative politicians, Zionist lobby groups and corporate media, who baselessly claim the video Hahn shared is “antisemitic.” As per usual, “antisemitism” for these people actually means standing against the genocide of Palestinians, and Hahn, who was also just re-elected president of CUPE Ontario, is one of the few labour leaders to consistently do so.
The Ontario Conservatives couldn’t miss this chance to attack the left-wing labour leader. Doug Ford called Hahn a “disgusting human being” and Labour Minister David Piccini told him to “stop hating Jews.”
These gentlemen are the last people with any right to lecture anyone about antisemitism and hate. In fact, both of them have personal ties to the far-right.
Ford is a long-time buddy of Faith Goldy, a white supremacist who’s been documented chanting “the Jews will not replace us.” Piccini enjoys the endorsement of an Instagram influencer with ties to the Hell’s Angels and other far-right biker gangs.
If anyone’s disgusting, it’s these people. They aren’t against antisemitism, they’re for the extermination of Palestinians.
It’s beyond cowardly that the executives of CUPE, Canada’s largest union, have bent to pressure from these hypocrites and other Zionist mouthpieces. Just a few months ago, CUPE was one of the unions to openly support the Palestine solidarity encampment movement. What happened to their backbone?
CUPE did issue a statement rejecting Ford’s comments, but this is laughable given that they still did exactly what Ford wants by trying to get rid of Hahn!
The RCP commends Hahn’s decision to stand firm and not resign. He is absolutely right to “utterly reject the charge of antisemitism” and call out the executive board for trying to “overturn the democratic decisions of CUPE members.” He has nothing to apologize for, and if he did, it wouldn’t appease the Zionists anyways. When he did apologize for any offense caused by his post, the Zionist lobby group, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, just accused him of “doubling down.”
Clearly, Hahn’s bravery has resonated with rank and file union members, who in a single day have sent in over 100,000 letters of support via a Labour 4 Palestine petition. These are the people CUPE must listen to—not Zionist enemies of the working class.
Solidarity with Hahn! Free Palestine!
