Cupe Ontarios Sponsoring für pro-iranische Protest wirft die Augenbrauen an

Is it antisemitic that a union seems to join/organize protests that concern Israel when it comes to foreign affairs? Probably, however, I’m not sure when was the last time they protested against Xinjiang or Sudan…list is endless. And considering some of the other points raised by the people interviewed for this article, I can’t say I trust this framing.

Also, as a quick aside, I think CUPE-Ontario should be focusing solely on Bill 5 atm considering its attacks on labour rights instead of participating in a protest that doesn’t really seem to involve Canada. Very much the Americafication of Canadian politics.
The idea presented by the talking heads in this article that Israel is liberating the Iranian people from the theocracy should ask the Iranian opposition how they feel about these missile strikes. Hint they are the opposite of enthused about it.

Michael Jordan endorsed expensive sneakers, getting large fees from the manufacturer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republicans_buy_sneakers,_too

> „Republicans buy sneakers, too“ (also commonly rendered as „Republicans buy shoes, too“) is a quote by NBA superstar Michael Jordan, often cited as an explanation for his refusal to publicly endorse Democratic candidate Harvey Gantt in the 1990 United States Senate race against Jesse Helms in Jordan’s home state of North Carolina. The remark has since become emblematic of Jordan’s long-standing reluctance to engage in political or social activism during his playing career, a stance often attributed to his desire to maintain broad, bipartisan commercial appeal.

Elon Musk didn’t care that „Democrats buy EVs too“. Wading into US politics on Trump’s side has cost a lot of sales for Tesla.

Unions are supposed to be bargaining agents for their members in contracts with employers… period… end of story. Taking sides in a complex, emotionally-charged, highly-polarized issue is guaranteed to piss off part of your membership, regardless of which side you choose. The case of unions is even worse than Elon Musk. If you don’t like Musk’s politics, you can buy another brand, or even a gas car. In the case of a union at the office, you don’t have a choice.

CUPE is controlled opposition at this point. Its run by the employer and its leadership gatekeep as good as hockey Canada.

I am very pro-union and its disheartening to see what many unions devolved into. CUPE is all over the place…even promoting mass immigration at various times..dafuq?

Three things:

1. This is a Toronto Sun tabloid article masquerading as “Yahoo News.” The framing of an anti-war protest as “pro-Iran” and anti-genocide protests as “anti-Israel” is extremely, *extremely* biased—also demonstrated by their choice to put Olivia Chow at the top of the article for literally no reason. We know American-owned media outlets like the Sun [heavily favour Israel](https://theintercept.com/2024/01/09/newspapers-israel-palestine-bias-new-york-times/) in their coverage.

2. CUPE’s statement and their long history of opposing Iranian anti-worker policies, as acknowledged in this tabloid article, makes it clear that they do not support Iran, they support peace.

> Interestingly, CUPE Ontario has a history of speaking out against the Iranian government.

> A May 2013 report from CUPE Ontario’s international solidarity committee highlights a resolution adopted at the union’s May 2012 convention, condemning the persecution of labour activists by the Iranian government and the regime’s policy of outlawing organized labour.

3. The conservatives quoted in this article and whining in this thread that CUPE should only focus on domestic issues ignore the extremely long history of international solidarity that’s a basic tenet of labour movements and unions. It’s deliberate.