Corrupting the Function of Unions

"I put up my hand, and I said I would like to speak to the fact that what you're wearing is a political statement, and it makes me feel very uncomfortable."

"And then, before I really could get any [more] words out, she mutes me."

Unidentified union member, fearful of repercussions

"Part of Israel's military occupation, apartheid and genocide ...is the erasing of cultural symbols such as the keffiyeh."

"Intimidating and harassing individuals for wearing traditional cultural clothing is a form of racism ... we do not tolerate racism in union meetings."

"Without resistance there is no union. A union is about caring for each other and struggling together for better. When you stand up to injustice I want to be there with you, because together we have the courage to never back down. I hope to serve as your Member At Large. And, let's never forget -- free Palestine!"

"Yes, I believe that Palestinians should be free from occupation, free from living under apartheid, and free from genocide and I will always stand for that. Being a union leader, when you are seeing people being massacred, that is a time when you need to open up your mouth and speak and say that is wrong -- just like I stand with the rights of workers -- I will always stand by the rights of oppressed people."

Canadian Union of Public Employees Toronto chapter union 905 president Katherine Grzejszczak

 

"Our union president speaks of inclusive spaces, but without Jewish perspectives."

"When the person who was supposed to represent us all wears clothing that has roots linked with terrorism, we do not feel safe or represented."

"Her personal views should not represent our union views."

Unidentified Union member, fearful of repercussions

In this screenshot from a video meeting, Katherine Grzejszczak’s laptop can be seen adorned with a large Palestinian flag sticker.

Toronto area CUPE 905 representing 6,000 municipal government and library workers across York Region held a video conference on remote-work policies on April 17. They were greeted with an unusual sight. Union president Katherine Grzejszczak's laptop facing the audience had a large Palestinian flag sticker facing the audience. One member responded by altering their own display picture with an Israeli flag. In the video Grzejszczak is first seen wearing a black T-shirt, then changing to a flowing red keffiyeh.

Upon which when one union member protested the sight of the union president swaddled in the keffiyeh, she responded: "We're not allowed to talk about anything political." The protester responded: "By you putting on that scarf, you're making it political". The response from the union president was to mute the protester. "We're all very afraid of the repercussions", one union member confessed in a journal interview.

Later at a follow-up meeting Grzejszczak brought forward a motion to fund her candidacy for another position with the union. Her campaign emphasized the concept of "resistance". CUPE 905 members who wee taken aback by the situation said that after the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas they are still awaiting any reference by her to the hostages taken by Hamas, on the terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians, much less steadily rising antisemitism in Canada. "I don't feel it's a safe place for Jewish people", a source stated.

 

A woman wears a keffiyeh during a rally in support of Palestinians. The scarf's ubiquity in anti-Israel protests since Hamas’s October 7 attacks has made it a divisive symbol for many of Israel’s supporters. Photo by Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images

A female participant at the meeting who was herself wearing a black keffiyeh pledged her support for the president's candidacy, elaborating at some length on the importance of Free Palestine and the history of the conflict, as she saw it. "I was silenced for this topic. She is being political. Why is she not being muted?" asked the union member who had protested and had been muted as a result. She was thereupon once again muted. 

Additional members of the union expressed their own feelings of frustration over a labour forum purportedly dedicated to public-sector workers in York Region being diverted by its president for personal political reasons, to focus on a conflict occurring thousands of miles distance from Canada. "It's so bad that  you can't even concentrate on labour because this is ongoing, all the time", another union member reported.

 

Grzejszczak’s pitch to members centres on the concept of “resistance.”

 

"What we did in the Ontario legislature was make sure that our Jewish members and our Jewish constituents feel safe and able to debate with merit rather than props [when the Speaker of the Legislature banned the keffiyeh's presence in the chamber]."

"I would suggest that, given the class action lawsuits that I've seen crop up against the province as a result of antisemitism in some of the unions, union leaders should be more cognizant of the harm that they may be doing to people's mental health."

Ontario MPP Lisa McLeod