As we mark Rosh Hashanah and welcome a new year, we extend our warmest wishes to all our Jewish union members and their families. Shanah tovah u’metukah! This is a time to reflect on the year behind us and look ahead with renewed commitment to the values that unite us: solidarity, dignity at work, fairness, and justice. As Jewish workers and union members, we carry forward a proud tradition of standing together and standing up for one another. May the year ahead strengthen our movement, deepen our solidarity, and bring greater justice and security to working people and our communities.

The CJLC Team

Organizing against antisemitism and antizionism in educator locals

At the local level a number of ETFO and OSSTF members are working with CJLC to organize at the local level in preparation for the coming year of union meetings. Jewish members are developing strategic plans to ensure their voices are heard at committee meetings, general membership and council meetings and rep meetings. In addition, with the support of CJLC, Jewish teachers in the public education system are filing human rights complaints about antisemitism in their unions, in their schools, and in their boards. Together we are developing and implementing strategies, using union bylaws, meeting rules of order and other union structures to ensure the mainstream Jewish voice is heard - and listened to. If you would like to get involved in organizing or working with others in your union’ local to combat antisemitism in your union and/or board of education, please contact us and we will work with you to make that happen.

Is there antisemitism in your union?

Every month, the list of unions whose Jewish members reach out to CJLC for assistance and support grows longer. We currently working with members in 44 unions across Canada, both in the public and private sectors, and our labour consultants continue to hear from new Jewish members who need support on a regular basis.

Our labour consultants are experienced former union activists and leaders. They work directly with Jewish union members and allies at all levels of experience and engagement. They can help you and your colleagues to understand the rules of order so you can confidently participate in debate and decision making; work alongside you in the development of strategies to deal with antisemitic and antizionist ideas and behaviours; guide and support you in using union or employer processes to file formal complaints about antisemitic and antizionist hate. If you would like to talk about the rising acceptance of Jew hatred in your union and how to combat it, please reach out to CJLC to speak with a Labour Consultant.

Jewish Equity caucuses

Most unions have official Equity Caucuses or Committees. Caucuses in support of Workers of Colour, LGBTQ+, Women, Francophone, and Human Rights, live safely within union spaces and are generally funded by the union. At the present time however, there are only two official Jewish Caucuses in Canada - one in the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEFPO), and one in the union representing Ontario’s Professional Employees (AMAPCEO), newly formed in 2026.

These Jewish member-led caucuses provide a safe space for Jewish members to celebrate their history and share Jewish joy with allies. Sadly, there is a much longer list of unions that have refused to support the creation of a Jewish caucus or that have made it impossible to form one. Instead, members tell us their union leaders weaponize rules of order and by-laws to control and prevent Jewish Caucuses.

CJLC is proud to have supported both OPSEU/SEFPO and AMAPCEO members in the development of the strategies that resulted in the creation of Jewish caucuses. Our Labour Consultants are available to help you, too. If you are interested in learning how to start this process within your union or in learning how you can work to have the Jewish voice raised - and heard - in your union, we can help you navigate your union's rules and connect you with other members of your union who can support you. Reach out to us here.

Anti-zionism vs Antizionism - It's just semantics, right?

The difference is subtle: one, little hyphen, and the use of an uppercase ‘A’. But there is a distinct historical and ideological difference hidden in the presence or absence of those elements.

Anti-Zionism is a term used to identify a debate internal to the Jewish community, one that predates the 1948 creation of the State of Israel. Included in historic Anti-Zionism were traditional religious arguments that only with the arrival of the Messiah could Israel be rebuilt; and that the creation of a political movement was a sin. It also included secular arguments that Jews should fight for rights, equality and cultural acceptance wherever they lived rather than return to Israel to build a new nation.

Antizionism is a modern-day hate movement which begins with the premise that Israel should not exist as a Jewish State. Incorporating 1940’s-era Soviet propaganda coupled with Arab nationalism, the antizionist views the mere existence of Israel as an inherently racist endeavour and as an immoral crime against humanity.

The arguments used by antizionists weaponize current human rights language by attributing to Israel the most heinous of all modern day human rights violations: white supremacist colonialism. Proponents of this hate movement use Holocaust inversion to attribute to the Jewish State a Nazi-equivalent genocidal quality, and rely on these erroneous arguments as their moral, ethical basis for advocating the dismantling of Israel as the Jewish State. In this way, the antizionist hate movement not only marks Israel as inherently evil in today’s human rights terms, it also marks Jews globally as reasonable targets for exclusion and violence.

In summary, Anti-Zionism was the pre-State internal Jewish community debate about identity and belonging; antizonism is an external hate movement aimed at destroying Israel as the Jewish State, targeting Jews for exclusion, and worse, around the world.

To learn more, visit the website of The Movement Against Antizionism (MAAZ).

Antizionism and unions

It is the position of the Canadian Jewish Labour Committee that union leaders must take proactive steps to ensure that Jewish union members are protected from antizionist hate within their unions, and in their places of employment. To do this union leaders must understand that Jew hatred changes with the times. They must recognize the complicity in this hatred of movements such as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions program to which some of them have signed on, and they must ensure their organizations treat Jew hatred in all its forms, including antizionism, with the seriousness it requires. If you would like our support to work within your union to begin to challenge Jew hatred, please contact us here.