Jewish union members file human rights complaint against CUPE, accuse organization of anti-Semitism

Dozens of Jewish members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) – the largest Canadian union in either the private or public sectors – say they have had enough of the discrimination and anti-Semitism that they say is rife within the organization.

Carrie Silverberg is one of about 30 CUPE members who are filing a human rights complaint against the union and seeking $500,000 in damages. She has been a union member for 17 years and has occupied a senior position in a CUPE local.

“I basically felt alienated, isolated and alone,” Silverberg told CTV News on Monday, saying that the union has dismissed her complaints about anti-Semetic bias. 

She said that bias was ever more evident after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and CUPE responded with unvarnished glee and unambiguous support for the terrorists.

CUPE Local 3906, representing over 3,000 taxpayer-funded employees in the Hamilton area, made a since-deleted post on X in response to the Hamas invasion that declared, “Palestine is rising, long live the resistance.”

CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn also celebrated the “Power of resistance” as he egged on the terrorists.

“It made me cry and it made me sick,” Silverberg told CTV.

Although Hahn eventually apologized for his post, it took him two weeks to do so and he only regretted its timing. Silverberg says that was a “false apology …  That went through me like a knife.”

“This has caused the Complainants to feel isolated, unwelcome, scared, silenced, discriminated against, threatened and harassed. All of which has been expressed to Mr. Hahn numerous times, to no avail,” the claim reads.

Hahn told CTV that he has not read the complaint and can’t comment on the specific allegations but that it will be taken “very seriously.”

“We firmly believe there has been no violation of Ontario’s Human Rights Code and in any forum we will be happy to stand on our record of fighting discrimination and oppression in all their forms,” Hahn said in a statement.

The human rights complaint accuses Hahn of repeatedly telling CUPE members that Israel “stole” land from Palestinians and that he questions the right of the Jewish homeland to exist.

The complaint says the anti-Israel rhetoric has been a staple of CUPE conventions dating back to at least 2018 and that the union encourages discrimination against Jewish union members while it participates in the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement (BDS) that targets the legitimacy of Israel.

The complaint also demands $500,000 for “pain and suffering,” requests that complainants’ union dues be sent to a Jewish charity, asks CUPE to actively fight anti-Semitism and directs CUPE leaders to be educated about anti-Semitism.

Complaints of anti-Semitism in public service unions are not limited to CUPE. The president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE), Camille Awada, resigned from his position Monday after a slew of allegations that he was responsible for a series of anti-Semitic posts on social media.

The union has 23,000 members that include civilian employees of te RCMP, Statistics Canada and the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s department.