Oh no. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has labelled Israel an “apartheid state” and has therefore passed a resolution to support a boycott, divestment and sanctions against it.
The Internet and private couriers seem well on their way to making our inefficient “snail mail” system obsolete and Canada’s rural post offices (and therefore jobs) are fast disappearing. But CUPW doesn’t have time to deal with such menial issues. Instead, it used its annual convention in April to take on the real issue of concern to Canadian postal workers — resolving the millennialong dispute between Arabs and Jews.
Jimmy Carter couldn’t do it. Bill Clinton couldn’t do it and neither could George Bush or the United Nations. But the union bosses at Canada Post are going to bring about peace in the Mideast?
Not exactly a reasonable goal. No wonder modern-day unions are labelled irrelevant and Canadians (outside of the union’s last stronghold, the public sector) no longer take them seriously.
Yet CUPW has resolved that it will call on Israel “to immediately withdraw” from occupied territories and “abide by UN Resolution 242.” It will take this stand until Israel “recognizes the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination . . . (and) Palestinian refugees return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.”
While muddling about in foreign affairs, CUPW also called on the Canadian government to “immediately withdraw troops from the war in Afghanistan and provide genuine humanitarian aid to the people.” Apparently protecting citizens from the brutal Taliban, getting them working again, building roads and schools, and ensuring that girls have access to education instead of rape and executions at soccer stadiums simply aren’t “humanitarian” enough for the union.
Perhaps union leaders would like to personally go there and carry out these activities without the protection of soldiers. I’m not even a union member, but I’d gladly pay dues to make that happen.
CUPW isn’t the only union with grand delusions. Two years ago, the Ontario division of Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), passed a similar resolution. In a demonstration of true union solidarity and inclusivity, there was no prior warning that such a resolution would be presented and it was voted on at a Saturday meeting when Jewish union members would likely be at home celebrating the Sabbath.
As it was then, the current anti-Israel resolution has been widely pilloried in the media and CUPW president Denis Lemelin has been busy attempting to clarify CUPW’s position. In an April 30 letter to the National Post, Lemelin stated that the union had no plans to disrupt mail service to and from Israel “as of yet.”
That’s not exactly reassuring. In fact, the words essentially suggest that such a proposal is under active consideration. So he clarified his clarification in a May 2 letter to the Post, saying “as of yet” simply means “never say never.”
Will CUPW’s position on Israel lead to postal workers withholding or censoring mail delivery? “Never say never.”
Postal workers have reacted quite strongly to their new anti-Israel position.
A CUPW member wrote on a National Post blog, “I do not want anything to do with this boycott or anything outside labour relations with my union. Unions are to represent their members, not engage in activities that . . . have totally nothing to do with causes like this.” Others stated: “I am thoroughly disgusted . . . that tens of thousands of our union dues were spent on delegate wages and administrative costs to discuss this issue” and, “We are terribly disgusted and embarrassed by the actions of those who take our union dues.”
Union members are obviously quick to associate (and condemn) the use of their dues to support radical union policies that have absolutely no connection to work-related issues under a collective agreement. On the other hand, CUPW leaders also seem quick to connect dues and policy issues — it interrupted its foreign policy meetings to pass a resolution to raise union dues by 3.4 per cent.
It’s insult on top of insult to unionized Canadians, who are among the last employees in the developed world to be forced to join a union and to hand over union dues that are subsequently used for political purposes that they don’t support.
Workers in Australia, New Zealand and the 47 nations in the Council of Europe cannot be required to pay dues to support the union’s political (and other) purposes that are not related to the workplace.
It’s considered a violation of their human rights, and it’s now the law.
In fact, in 2007, Sweden was found in violation of human rights because of the mere suspicion that a union was using the dues of unionized employees (who were not union members) for political activities.
In the case of CUPW, there is absolutely no doubt that it is using forced dues for political purposes that many of its members don’t support.
CUPW leaders who are so keen to have Israel uphold UN policies and human rights might want to take a minute to think about this: their days of using forced dues for to support the radical political agenda of union leaders may be running out as Canadian workers look at the basic human rights that are now afforded union members in most other countries.
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