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Postal workers pass anti-Israel resolution By Paul Lungen, Staff Reporter, Canadian Jewish News Toronto – A regional conference of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has passed a resolution supporting the boycott of Israel and pledging an educational campaign about “the apartheid nature of the Israel [sic] state.” The resolution, which also called for research into Canadian involvement in “the occupation” and for support for sanctions until Israel recognizes Palestinian self-determination, was presented by the Scarborough local and adopted at the union's 23rd Ontario regional constitutional conference in London. It will be presented for consideration to the union's national convention in April. Jeff Levinson, a letter carrier for 24 years and a member of the Scarborough local, said he learned of the resolution from a colleague who attended the conference and told him it passed by a substantial margin, despite some opposition from the floor. The resolution “is pretty biased to the Palestinians,” he said. “It distresses me. I've been working with these guys for years.” Levinson, who lived on an Israeli kibbutz for a time and calls himself a Zionist, said passage of the resolution “bothers me in that it's a political issue that is outside the mandate of the union. It should stick to union and labour issues.” He called the resolution “one-sided” and said he planned to write to CUPW national president Deborah Bourque to ask her to oppose adoption of the resolution at CUPW's national convention. Levinson brought his concerns to Canadian Jewish Congress, which has been meeting with a number of Canadian unions and churches in a bid to moderate their statements on the Middle East. Pointing to similar anti-Israel resolutions passed by the Canadian Union of Public Employee's (CUPE) Ontario wing and a regional unit of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), Congress CEO Bernie Farber said “CUPW is the latest labour body to contemplate a one-side anti-Israel resolution. “Such unbalanced resolutions are not helpful nor in the best interests of the membership,” he said. Large unions such as CUPW have members who try “to advance whatever agenda they have,” whether it be the environment, the Middle East or health and safety issues. Farber noted that CUPE National and the OFL were both faced with anti-Israel resolutions from locals and neither entertained the motions at their conventions. As well, the United Church of Canada, at its summer session, rejected a biased resolution for one that was more balanced, he said. Gerry Deveau, national director for the Ontario region of CUPW, said, “I understand that from looking at the resolution alone, it may appear to be lopsided. But if you look at [the union's] other policies, they don't talk about Palestine, but they do talk about terrorism and peace. “We're saying Israel is assembling the wall and it's causing social, economic and medical hardship to the people in the area. “If you look at our constitution as a whole, while this looks like it's one-sided for Palestine, we're not saying that Israel doesn't have the right to self determination,” he said. Deveau said there were no CUPW resolutions advocating Israeli self-determination, adding, “I don't think anybody on the national executive board would disagree with that.” Farber said Congress hopes to meet with CUPW's national officers and ask that any union resolution passed in April be “balanced and fair. CUPE National understood that message and took it to heart. So did the OFL.”
************************************** Originally published in Canadian Jewish News at www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13716&Itemid=86 Fair Use Notice: The above newspaper article is copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. |