The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 3902 Endorses Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel
In
a landslide vote at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday 27 April
2015, the Canadian Union for Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3902 voted
to endorse the global campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
(BDS) against Israel.
CUPE
3902 represents over 7,000 teaching assistants, course instructors, and
sessional faculty at the University of Toronto. This vote comes on the
heels of the union’s Unit 1 strike earlier this year.
"After
impassioned debate, members present at the CUPE 3902 Annual General
Meeting on April 27 showed their strong support for the BDS campaign,”
said Erin Black, CUPE 3902 chairperson. She added, "The motion of
support was carried by a very clear majority.”
During
the recent strike at the University of Toronto, Palestinian students
and faculty from Al Quds University sent a message of solidarity, and
affirmed that the struggle for access to higher education and workers’
rights is a common struggle from Palestine to Turtle Island. CUPE 3902
has now expressed its solidarity with the Palestinian struggle against
the Israeli settler colonial and apartheid system.
The
resolution included support for the University of Toronto Graduate
Students’ Union (UTGSU) divestment campaign which calls on the
University of Toronto to divest from companies that facilitate and
profit from violations of international law in Palestine. Companies
targeted for divestment include Northrop Grumman, Hewlett Packard and
Lockheed Martin.
“UTGSU
regards this as an important victory for the BDS work on campus and
across the country,” said UTGSU BDS Committee chairperson, Susanne
Waldorf. “CUPE 3902 members have affirmed their commitment to BDS and
the divestment campaign,” added Waldorf.
CUPE
3902 joins CUPE Ontario, CUPE 3903 at York University and CUPE 3906 at
McMaster University, which have also passed resolutions endorsing BDS,
heeding Palestinian trade unions and popular movements’ calls for
international solidarity.
This
resolution is a milestone for BDS actions in North America. It supports
the Palestinian trade unionist call for a military embargo of Israel,
and demands that the University of Toronto sever partnerships with
Israeli universities that are complicit in Israel’s colonial and racist
apartheid policies and its ongoing violations of Palestinian human
rights.
Below is the full text of the CUPE 3902 resolution:
WHEREAS,
the Palestinian trade union movement, with support from the Congress of
South African Trade Unions and its affiliates, is unanimously calling
on trade unions internationally to take immediate action to stop the
Israeli massacre in Gaza and hold Israel to account for its crimes
against the Palestinian people.
THEREFORE, Be it resolved that CUPE 3902,
1) dissociate from Israeli trade unions which are complicit in the occupation and support the GSU’s divestment campaign;
2) support the Palestinian trade-union movement's call for a military embargo on Israel;
3) share information with members about the siege and destruction of Gaza;
4) ask members to boycott Israeli commercial products and companies that actively support the violation of human rights;
5)
recommend that the University as well as the members of our Local
withdraw their participation from partnerships with Israeli universities
that actively support the violation of Palestinian human rights.
For media inquiries, contact:
Susanne Waldorf, Chair, UTGSU BDS Committee
647-781-4714
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