I'm Suing My Union for Discriminating Against Me as a Jew | Opinion

I am tired of the hate I feel from my union and it needs to stop. That is why I am suing them for discrimination.

I have been a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) for the last 16 years. This isn't by choice. I am required to be a member of the union to work for my current employer. For many years, my union, which is supposed to defend and support me, has done the opposite—because I am a Jew. CUPE leadership has adopted radical anti-Israel positions, with zero consideration for the impact it has on its Jewish members.

It's not for lack of trying to be heard on our part. Along with a group of fellow Jews, I have been trying for many years to engage CUPE leadership to change its ways through internal channels. We've participated in provincial and national conventions, requested meetings with local, provincial, and national leadership, and sent countless emails explaining how they are making our union unsafe for Jews.

It has all fallen on deaf ears.

This became crystal clear when Hamas carried out its horrible attacks on Oct. 7. Babies were killed. Women were raped. Families were burned alive. Young adults at a music festival were gunned down. It was the biggest massacre of Jews in one day since the end of the Holocaust.

I would have expected that my union, which prides itself as being a human rights organization, would have condemned the horrors.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

The very weekend of this pogrom, which was coincidentally the weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving, Fred Hahn, the president of the Ontario branch of the union, posted to social media that he is thankful for the power of workers and "the power of resistance around the globe."

This was just one day after the horrors of Hamas' butchers were exposed.

Federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan denounced Hahn, along with many others, for his "glorification of violence." Meanwhile, on another social media site, Hahn shared an image of a Palestinian mother and child with the caption, "From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free"—a slogan used in the Hamas charter.

While still reeling from grief and disbelief of the atrocities in Israel, I was subjected to the celebratory response of Fred Hahn and another CUPE local tweeting, "Palestine is rising, long live the resistance!"

I was disgusted and hurt.

But sadly, I was not surprised. I have come to expect antisemitism from the leadership of my union, which I am forced to be a part of and pay dues to. This is what Jewish members of Canada's public union must suffer through: the president of CUPE Ontario, who is also the Vice-President of CUPE National, openly celebrating the massacre, kidnapping, torture, and rape of innocent people in Israel.

In CUPE, Jewish lives do not matter! I do not matter!

It was the final straw for me and many others. The celebration of the unthinkable violence in Israel by CUPE leadership proved that the union has lost its moral compass.

I knew it was time to fight back, this time in court.

How can I continue paying dues to this hateful organization? How can I be forced to support a union which takes biased positions against the world's only Jewish state—again and again? How can I accept my union's support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel? How can I keep standing alone at the microphone at conventions, simply asking people to keep an open mind and to try to understand the full story?

I can't. The celebration of the massacre of Jews is simply unacceptable.

More than 70 Jewish members of CUPE have decided to join the fight, to stand up to CUPE's antisemitism and discrimination against Jews. Together, we started legal proceedings in the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal.

Enough of discriminating against Jews. Enough of our union not only not having our best interests at heart, but actively working against our interests and core values, even though we are members. Enough of our dues being used against our safety and security.

What we are asking for is simple: We want damages for the pain and suffering CUPE has caused us. We want to re-direct our union dues to a Jewish charity of our choice. We want CUPE to create meaningful policies to combat antisemitism and real antisemitism training for its members, starting at the very top.  And we want CUPE to cease engaging in discrimination and hate toward Jewish members and stop spreading antisemitic misinformation and propaganda.

Jewish lives matter.

Now we are taking the necessary steps for our union to finally understand this.

Carrie Silverberg is an education worker, a natural advocate, and a long serving union member fighting injustice regardless of obstacles and deeply ingrained intolerance.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.