Around 8 p.m. one evening in early November last year, a group of six federal public servants closed off an online video call with a plan to meet again exactly one week later at the exact same time. The agenda? To figure out what they could do from inside the Government of Canada to stop the genocide unfolding in Gaza.
As members of the third-largest federal public service union, the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE), a notoriously conservative union with a history of business-model unionism and a more recent past of controversial former presidents, forcing national union leadership to take any stand on Palestine was a long shot – but one they were willing to attempt.
After weeks of unprecedented bombings on Gaza and nothing but an email from the head of the public service with a passing mention of Islamophobia (and none of anti-Palestinian racism), CAPE members were galvanized into seeking an outlet for their rage, grief, and disappointment with Canada – both as a country and an employer.
The combination of a silent union and unreliable government leadership made starkly obvious the urgency to advance meaningful Palestinian solidarity in the federal public service and CAPE for Palestine (in association with Canada’s Labour 4 Palestine) was established as a union caucus in November 2023. But even with newly elected national executive leadership at CAPE taking office January 1, 2024 and a growing CAPE for Palestine membership, the question on everyone’s mind was “What does Palestinian solidarity in the federal public service even look like?”
Despite a noteworthy history of Canadian labour participation in the call for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) in support of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa in the 1980s, unions have been slow to show consistent support for Palestine. Leftists’ long-standing discomfort with Palestine has contributed to isolating Palestinian solidarity activities over the years to the point of stymying union-led solidarity initiatives at local and national levels.
Intentional or not, while progressives continue to hot potato the ‘issue’ of Palestine, only a handful of Canadian unions had committed to BDS for Palestine prior to 2023. (more...)
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