CJLC Statement on CUPE Ontario’s Endorsement of ‘Hands off Iran’ Demonstration

The Canadian Jewish Labour Committee is deeply alarmed by CUPE Ontario’s endorsement of the “Hands off Iran” protest - a demonstration that whitewashes the violent repression of one of the world’s most brutal regimes.

This is a regime that murders its own citizens, silences women like Mahsa Amini, jails union organizers and violently represses workers, students, and protesters.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is directly responsible for terror and for the downing of Flight PS752 that killed 176 people, including 55 Canadians, and is officially listed as a terrorist entity by the Government of Canada.

If this is CUPE’s way of extending its anti-Israel ideology, it has done so by supporting a known terrorist regime. It’s long overdue for CUPE to prioritize the rights of its workers instead of using its platform to advance a political agenda.

This is not solidarity. This is betrayal.

The CJLC calls on CUPE National and the wider labour movement to act now. Condemn these endorsements. Reaffirm that Canada’s unions stand with workers fighting for freedom, not the regimes that oppress them.